The students of Isdair Government Primary School are using their classroom benches as a bridge to cross the waterlogged school, to attend classes.
The school's newly constructed three-storey building in Narayanganj's Fatullah area does not represent the suffering experienced by: the students, their parents, their teachers, and the school staff . The school's waterlogging problem has been unresolved since 2004.
They have been using the bench bridge, set up by the primary school students—to enter and exit the school—as they have no alternatives.
Seeking to remain anonymous, one of the school's teachers, expressing his anger, said: "We have informed all the authorities concerned regarding our state of suffering. However, no one has yet taken the responsibility of solving this issue.
"The education officer concerned even visited the site, experienced our suffering first-hand, but showed his unwillingness to solve the problem. In fact, he told us to inform the local lawmaker to find a solution."
"A few days ago our principal fell and was injured while using the bench bridge. We took initiative and used sand as a temporary solution.
However, three classrooms are still flooded with water and cannot be used for teaching the students," he added.
Addressing the issue, Isdair Government Primary School Principal Latifah Nahar said: "The school was established in 1973. Currently there are 645 students at our school— three of whom are disabled—and 14 teachers. All of them are suffering immensely due to this longstanding waterlogging problem. We have to teach classes and continue all our school activities in this situation."
"We, along with students, even informed our local lawmaker Shamim Osman about the situation, but that effort has gone in vain.
"Things worsen during the monsoon season. This has led to the decrease in the number of students attending school and it decreases every day."
When asked for a comment regarding the current situation, Abdul Awal, president of the school committee said: "We are trying our best to overcome the waterlogging problem.
"We hope that this issue will be resolved when Narayanganj City Corporation constructs new drains here."