At least 30 students received injuries on Tuesday when the roof of a Lower Primary (LP) school of Goalpara district collapsed during school time.
The incident took place in Helapakhiri Tilapara LP School near Foresgate under the Matia educational block.
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The incident happened so suddenly that the students, who were attending classes, started making hue and cry, out of fear.
Only few students could come out on their own, but most of the students were taken out of the school by the teachers and locals, who arrived at the scene, hearing the huge sound as the roof collapsed.
The school’s roof was made of CGI sheets.
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“I helped several students in coming out from the school building. They were scared and crying,” remarked a local youth.
Himashree Das, head teacher of the school, told Northeast Now, “We have 300 students and two class rooms.”
“The incident happened in the room for Class-II when there was no teacher and we were busy with other students,” said Das.
“We rushed to the class room and helped the students come out. Two students were immediately given medical treatment in a nearby pharmacy. Six others were also given first aid afterwards,” she shared.
Meanwhile, the locals alleged that all the three teachers of the school always remain indifferent towards the students and arrive very late in the school.
“They not only arrive late, the teachers of the school also remain busy with their mobile phones,” alleged a guardian.
The head teacher alleged, “The locals don’t cooperate with us and pass racial remarks against us. I have already informed the Block Elementary Education Officer (BEEO) in this regard.”
Sutradhar, BEEO, however, said, “I don’t remember any such complaint.”
“The school has some other problems like excessive students, lack of coordination between the management committee and the teachers.”
“Even today, I was not informed about the incident first. I came to know about it later through the Cluster Resource Coordinator (CRC) only,” the BEEO added.
The school was granted in 2012 and prior to that it was an EGS (Education Guarantee Scheme) centre.
The school room where the incident occurred was fifteen years old. It was built with donations from Kasimuddin Ahmed, a local. The room has not been repaired in the last 15 years.
Head teacher Himashree Das admitted that a fund was allocated by the government to repair the building but they utilized that fund in procuring some desks and benches.
“The remaining amount is still in the school account,” she added.