At least 22 government primary schools in Dashmina upazila of Patuakhali district are in a dilapidated state, posing grave risks to the students. Some 3,178 students of the upazila are attending their classes at great peril to themselves. The lack of repairs in most of the school buildings means students are unable to sit in their classrooms. However, the students are attending classes in these classrooms despite the risk.
Not only that, students of Dakhhin Purbo Government Primary School are forced to attend classes under the open sky, making their guardians tense all the time. Abdur Rahman, head teacher of Dakhhin Purbo Government Primary School, Dashmina, said, “The school building was built in the 1994–95 fiscal year. At present, the classrooms of the building are in a useless condition as no repairs have been carried out. We perforce have to hold our classes in the school field under the open sky.”
Sources in the district primary education office (DPEO) said 150 primary school buildings in seven of the district’s eight upazilas are unfit for use, since there has been no proper maintenance. The DPEO has submitted a list of 107 school buildings to the authorities, seeking immediate repairs of those buildings constructed from 1980 to 2007. Among these, 25 buildings are in Baufal upazila, 22 in Galachipa, 15 each in Dashmina and Mirzaganj, 14 in Patuakhali Sadar, nine in Kalapara and seven in Rangabali.
In most of these schools, students suffer badly from the shortage of space. Rainwater enters the buildings through cracks, and the plaster has crumbled on the walls and ceilings. Tin-shed rooms have been erected in most areas to hold classes, they said.
Assistant district primary education officer Mollah Bakhtiar Uddin said, “We have sent a list of 107 vulnerable schools in seven upazilas to the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) for necessary steps, but have not received any reply yet.”
Patuakhali local government engineering department (LGED) executive engineer Abu Saleh Md Hanif said the DPE has sent them a list of vulnerable schools and also given allocations for the repair and renovation of the buildings.