Students attend classes in verandas as Meghna washes away school

Students of Batua Government Primary School in Barishal’s Hizla upazila have been attending classes in the verandas of a house for over two months as erosion of the Meghna River has washed away the educational institution.

Sohel Kamal, headmaster of the school in Dhulkhola area, said the school had been washed away on August 11 this year.

He said the school was established in 1943, and the Local Government Engineering Department reconstructed it in 1999.

When the school, like others across the country, reopened on September 12 after a long closure forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no way but to arrange classes in three verandas of the school committee President Belal Hossain’s house.

The school has 109 students and four teachers. 

The guardian of a student said pupils of three grades attend classes together in the verandas, making them unable to properly concentrate.

Students said they have trouble understanding lectures as there is always noise.

Some guardians said the fates of the 109 students had become uncertain after the school building had been destroyed.

The school’s Assistant Teacher Rabeya Khanam said students’ attendance was decreasing day by day as the school building had been destroyed and many families had relocated due to river erosion. That is why the education of the students was becoming uncertain, she said.

Belal said if a new school building was constructed, academic activities would start there.

Barishal District Education Officer Abdul Latif Majumder said, “I visited the area along with the deputy director after the school had disappeared in the river.”

He said a new building would be constructed if land could be arranged elsewhere.

Teachers were instructed to teach in the verandas of Belal’s house until a new building was built, he added.