Concrete chunks fall from ceilings at school
Students and teachers were unscathed at Madhabpur High School in Moulvibazar’s Kamalganj upazila on Saturday evening when large chunks of concrete and plaster from ceilings in three rooms came off at the school building.
Serious injuries or fatalities could be averted as the school was closed for Durga puja when the incident took place.
This is the only high school in Madhabpur union, inhabited mostly by tea garden workers, and the only centre for PEC and JSC examinations in the union.
The school building had been declared risky by district education engineer two months ago, said Assistant Engineer Mofizul Islam at Department of Education Engineering in Moulvibazar.
One of the three rooms on the building’s ground floor, where ceilings sustained damage, was being used as teachers’ room while the other two on the same floor were classrooms.
Construction of the two-storey building was completed in 1995 and a number of cracks developed in it four to five years ago, said the school authorities.
Monir Mia, a guardian of a student, said they were worried about the students’ safety as they also noticed many cracks on the school building.
Abdus Sobhan, the school’s headteacher, said they continued academic activities at the risky building after being unable to find any substitute facility.
Upazila nirbahi officer and upazila secondary education officer have been informed of Saturday’s incident, he said, adding that test examinations for SSC students, scheduled to start at the school on Monday, are now uncertain due to the incident.
Contacted, Kamalganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ashekul Haque said they would take necessary steps after inspection is conducted at the school building.
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