We find it abhorrible that a school built in 1960 and declared unsafe by the Education Engineering Department (EED) in Jhenaidah in 2015 is still in operation. The two-storey building located in Kotchandpur upazila town has exposed iron rods and the plaster keeps falling off the ceilings and yet we find no effort by authorities to repair the structural problems that are putting the lives of some 600 students at risk. Why has such a crucial matter as maintenance of school buildings been treated with such neglect and apathy? We are talking about the lives of children here as well as their education, which is being severely disrupted because of this situation.
The children are in fear of when the plaster of their roofs may come crashing down on their heads and this is hardly panic working. Back in 2018, five students had to be admitted to the hospital due to injuries caused by falling plaster. We are informed that the building had sustained damage in an earthquake in 2017 but higher authorities have paid no heed to the matter and hence hundreds of children continue to go to a school that is considered unsafe. There has been no attempt to make necessary repairs.
It is high time the education ministry took this precarious situation seriously. If it is a question of fund constraint, it is the ministry’s responsibility to get those funds from the government and carry out such essential maintenance work. There is just no excuse for such disregard for children’s safety. We hope immediate steps will be taken to make sure that repairs will be made as soon as possible so that the children may go back to school without the risk of being injured or killed.
Source : The Daily Star
