10-hour ordeal for speech-impaired girl

A speech-impaired student remained trapped in the washroom of her school for over 10 hours in Shahrasti upazila of Chandpur.

Police said Sharmin Akter, an SSC examinee and daughter of Anwar Hossain of Dakkhin Asrafpur of the upazila, went to Hossainpur Girls School on Thursday morning.

Around 12:30pm, after school hours, Sharmin went to the toilet. However, office assistant Shahanara Begum Shanu locked the washroom from outside without checking if anyone was inside.

As the girl was speech-impaired, she failed to raise an alarm, police said.

Around 10:00pm that day, Al Amin, a resident of the area, heard the groaning sound of the girl. He immediately broke open the door of the school toilet with the help of local people and rescued the girl.

Amir Hossain, the headmaster of the school, said, "He left the school around 4:30pm but had not spotted anyone on the premises then.'

Shahrasti Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shirin Akter said, “A probe has been ordered to find out if there was any negligence on the part of the school authorities. Action will follow after the probe report."

The headmaster and the president of the school managing committee met the girl's family on Friday and offered their apologies.