‘Dear Media, We Do Not Agree’: SBS School Students Pen Open Letter

As students of SBS, we strongly believe that the news of mass food poisoning is being handled poorly.

Image used for representational purpose.

(Photo: iStock)

On Thursday, 5 April, there was an incident in Step by Step School, Noida, that has been extensively covered by several news outlets. The cause has not been completely determined for this event. This letter is in response to the treatment of this incident as a piece of news.

There have been many claims that the school administration has been ineffectual and callous throughout the event. We, a group of Class 12 students from Step by Step, would like to directly challenge the position being taken and proffered by these sensational accounts of the event. We do this of our own accord and without any involvement of the school.

Some say the school did not take appropriate action.

In fact, the school responded immediately with a team of doctors that was called in to provide care for us. Sodexo, the food service provider for school, was suspended at once.

As students of SBS, we strongly believe that this news is being handled poorly.

There have been claims that the reason children were not moved to hospitals was to ‘cover up’ the incident, an example of the baseless accusations being leveled at the school. IV drips were set up in the school itself to provide better care for the students. Ambulances are always present in the school, in case of an emergency, and yesterday, additional ambulances were called in. Those who had complained of feeling unwell, before it became clear that the situation had become widespread, were sent home as per regular protocol.

Our teachers were also extremely helpful, they were taking rounds even in the classrooms where children who were not taken ill were seated, making sure everyone was alright.

The response was extensive enough that there are first-hand accounts of all members of the administration, including the school principal and headmistress, in the classrooms that were converted into sick rooms, who were helping to take care of their students.

We believe that news reporting on this issue has severely lacked any sense of tact or responsibility.

Some articles have run a misquote from the school statement, saying that the school called the situation ‘mild’. The actual words were that some students had experienced ‘mild to severe’ stomach aches, which was simply a statement of accurate information to the parents.

Of course, media outlets that profit from the sensationalisation of this story would rather paint an uncaring picture of the school and create needless accusations. Turning a debate against the school isn’t a complicated matter when outlets are willing to report irresponsibly, by not inviting anyone with an inside opinion to offer a counterpoint to the arguments they make.

Arguments clearly designed to incite outrage: The claim that there was no response. The accusations of a cover-up. The insistence that parents that we did see appear to provide statements in support of the school were pressured into it by the school.

Worse, there is an outright fabrication by an outlet, using a Twitter handle to fabricate a tweet from one of the students.

Here is a screenshot of the statements she tweeted to the outlet;

and this is what was displayed on their programme.

This is completely unprofessional and displays the degeneracy of reportage around this event. This may create a saleable story, but not one that we as students in the institution believe to be true.

We have seen in the past day a large outpouring of support from the school, both in the student community as well as amongst the Parents’ Association. As seen above, outlets would rather disregard viewpoints from inside the school. Several of the sick children are involved in the writing of this letter and are disappointed in the way this is being reported. We understand that the school must face consequences if they were responsible, due to negligence or for any other reason, for the incident that took place. However, due process must run its course before an administration that took prompt and effective action is vilified for the profit that the story of sick children generates.

To the news channels: We hear you.

We do not agree.

Tejaswi, Vidur, Daksh, Amna, Inaya, Anav, Katha,
Tanishq, Sidarth, Sumair, Reeha, Saisha, Vedika, Shashwat, Vrinda
Contact us at:
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