In a Bihar government school where a pillar has collapsed, benches and desks have taken its place — literally holding up the roof. At Kiratpur Primary School in Darbhanga’s Alinagar block, the makeshift support has raised concerns over the safety of 191 children.
The government primary school, which has classes from I to V, has only two rooms. But one room is currently occupied by office furniture and an almirah, leaving little space for regular classes. With the building in poor condition, lessons are now being conducted in open areas and a kitchen shed on the premises.
The two-room building was constructed in 1983 under the Centre’s ‘Operation Blackboard’ programme. More than four decades later, its roof leaks during rain, several beams and pillars are in a dilapidated condition, plaster has fallen off at multiple places and reinforcement bars are exposed.
The situation became particularly precarious after one of the pillars collapsed around three to four months ago. Instead of a replacement pillar, benches, desks and bricks were placed underneath the roof to support it, according to school authorities.
“After the pillar collapsed, benches and desks were used to support the roof. The danger remains,” assistant teacher Pawan Kumar Choudhary said.
{{/usCountry}}“After the pillar collapsed, benches and desks were used to support the roof. The danger remains,” assistant teacher Pawan Kumar Choudhary said.
{{/usCountry}}Choudhary said the education department and other officials had been informed several times about the condition of the building. Villagers have also staged protests, seeking immediate action.
Villager Parjit Yadav said repeated appeals had been made over the safety of the children. “If a new building is not constructed soon, we will launch an agitation,” he said.
Headmaster Rajendra Kumar said the school had informed officials from the block to the district level around five to six times. Written communications were also sent, while officials inspected the premises, but no permanent repair or replacement building had been provided so far.
The district administration, however, said a new building was now in the works.
Darbhanga district education officer (DEO) Vidyanand Thakur said the old structure had been declared unsafe and no teaching activity was being conducted there. He said steps had already been taken for construction of a new building.
“The existing two-room building was constructed as the first primary school in this village in 1983 under Operation Blackboard. At present, teaching is being conducted in the kitchen shed on the school premises,” Thakur said.
According to the DEO, the school has very limited usable space. One room is occupied by an almirah, while benches and desks are kept in another room and the verandah.
An estimate for the new building has already been submitted to the department, Thakur said. A six-room school building has been proposed and will be constructed through the Bihar School Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Once the new building is constructed, the old structure will be dismantled by the agency, he added.
The school has also been included under the state government’s ‘Seva Sankalp Evam Kayakalp Abhiyan’, which seeks to improve infrastructure in government schools through repairs, painting and construction of boundary walls wherever required.
The scale of the programme is much larger across Darbhanga district. Of the 2,585 government schools in the district, 1,968, including 1,300 primary schools, have been selected under the scheme, Thakur said.
Darbhanga also has 47 Sanskrit schools, 180 madarsas and more than 554 registered private schools, according to the DEO.