Damaged school needs urgent relocation

Educational activities of nearly 450 students of a partially damaged high school, in Jhalakathi’s Rajapur upazila, might be affected unless it is moved to a safer location soon.

Erosion of the Bishkahali river has already claimed almost half of Mathbari Union High School’s concrete structure as well as three-fourths of its playground and the remainder of the school might be lost to the river any time, said concerned locals.

With final examinations approaching at the end of the year, students and their guardians have been living in anxiety that studies of the students including the examinees of Secondary School Examinations (SSC) might be disrupted if the rest of the building collapses in the river. 

Sharmin Aktar, a ninth grader at the school, established in 1970 at Badurtala Bazar, said, “We are worried for our school. The entire school might go under water any time soon due to the erosion.”

“Every morning I come to school worrying that the river might have washed away the school,” said Mainul Islam, a tenth grader at the school. 

So far, the erosion of Bishkahali has destroyed around a hundred acres of agricultural land, 100 dwellings and a market.

“The erosion started around two years ago. But now the river has appeared with a fierce force, destroying many shops, houses and a vast swathe of land,” said Mohammad Hasib, a shopkeeper at Badurtala Bazar. 

Ayub Ali Khan, the school’s headteacher, said although the school needs to be relocated urgently as its main building and most of the playground have been eroded by the river, the authorities of the school do not have sufficient funds for the relocation.

SSC examinees of the school would be the worst sufferers if classes are suspended due to the closure of the school, he said, adding that the chairman of the school’s managing committee has been working relentlessly to find a solution to the problem.

Engr Golam Haider Khan, the chairman of the managing committee, said, “I contacted different departments [of the government] to save the school, but no result yet.”

His family has donated a piece of land at a safer location for the relocation of the school, he said, adding that they now need financial support from the government for constructing the new school building. 

Contacted, Rajapur Upazila Education Officer MD Basher said they decided to dismantle the school building to salvage bricks, iron bars and other materials from it.