A school without academic activities!

The local government has constructed a beautiful building with all facilities for a primary school in Dumki upazila before its academic activities started.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) constructed the building in the fiscal year 2015-2016 at Pangashia village on 30 decimals of land donated by a local family.

Md Zakir Hossain Badsha and his mother Nurjahan Begum donated the land to set up a primary school in the name of Badshah's father Rafiqul Islam as there is no school within four kilometres of their village.

“My father was a non-government primary school teacher who died in 2016. He had a dream of setting up a school at the village to spread light of education in the area, but he died before fulfilment of his dream. We have built a school here in his name,” Badsha said.

“We heard that the government has a programme to set up primary schools in areas that do not have schools. As per instruction of the local education office, we donated the land on which a nice looking building has already been built,” he said.

“We are happy that the school building has been built, but we will be happier if academic activities start there,” Badsha said.

Mosharraf Hossain said they are very happy as the school building has been constructed at their village. There is no school in the area and their children had to go about four kilometres away to attend school, he added.

Now, their children will be able to get education from the school, he hoped.

Dumki Upazila Education Officer KM Nazrul Islam Khan said the school building was built under a special project, titled Establishment of 1,500 Primary School in Unschooled Areas, taken up by the Primary and Mass Education Ministry.

The contractor has handed over the building to them with furniture, ceiling fans and arsenic-free deep tube-wells and separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls, he said.

They hope academic activities will start from next academic year, he added.

Dumki Upazila LGED Engineer Bipul Kumar Biswas said they constructed the building at a cost of about Tk 60 lakh with fund from the primary education authorities.

Patuakhali district Primary Education Officer Md Shahidul Islam said they are taking steps to start academic activities from the next academic session (January).