In Barguna, schooling is underway at 348 risky buildings; of these, 34 have been declared abandoned. In six upazilas of Borguna, there are 800 primary schools and of them, half are risky.
Borguna zila primary education official, Md Mofizul Islam, said: “In 2013, the government decided to nationalize 26193 schools but the ones nationalized in Borguna were not in a pristine condition and, therefore, have become risky.”
Executive engineer of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), ASM Kabir, said: “Due to salinity and weather, the buildings became abandoned plus the failure to utilize maintenance funds also contributed to the dilapidation of the structures.”
We will inspect the list of buildings which are deemed risky and if we find them to pose any threat to students, then they will be declared abandoned.
District administrator of Borguna, Kabir Mahmud, said: “The children of today are the future of tomorrow and, therefore, their security is our responsibility; we have already identified risky buildings and have ordered the UNO to offer alternative education.”
Recently, one student died and five were injured when the beam of a primary school in Borguna collapsed.
In many of the buildings, classes are underway amidst falling plaster and masonry. Headmaster of a primary school, Abdur Razzaq, says: “The school was damaged during SIDR in 2007 and the authority declared the building abandoned; however, we are carrying out academic programme due to the absence of another building.”