A government primary school in Bihar’s Darbhanga district has been left with a makeshift support system after a pillar of its ageing building collapsed, with benches, desks, and bricks being used to support a portion of the roof.
The precarious structure at Kiratpur Primary School in Alinagar block has raised concerns about the safety of the 191 children enrolled there. Although classes are not currently held beneath the portion supported by the makeshift arrangement, students and teachers continue to pass through the area.
The school building, constructed in 1983 under the Centre’s "Operation Blackboard" programme, has developed several structural problems. The roof leaks during rain, while beams and pillars are in a dilapidated condition. Plaster has fallen off in several places, and reinforcement bars have become exposed.
After one of the pillars collapsed some three to four months ago, benches, desks and bricks were placed underneath the roof instead of constructing a replacement pillar, according to school authorities.
The school has classes from I to V, but only two rooms. Currently, one of the rooms is used to keep office furniture and an almirah, according to an official. Due to the shortage of space and a dilapidated building, classes are conducted in the open areas.
{{/usCountry}}The school has classes from I to V, but only two rooms. Currently, one of the rooms is used to keep office furniture and an almirah, according to an official. Due to the shortage of space and a dilapidated building, classes are conducted in the open areas.
{{/usCountry}}What teachers and villagers say
Assistant teacher Pawan Kumar 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 a solution.
“After the pillar collapsed, benches and desks were used to support the roof. The danger remains,” he said.
Villager Parjit Yadav said repeated appeals had been made regarding 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, and officials had inspected the school, but no permanent repairs or replacement building had been provided so far.
The official stance
When contacted on Saturday, Darbhanga district education officer (DEO) Vidyanand Thakur said steps had already been taken for the construction of a new building. He said the old building had been declared unsafe and that no teaching activities were being conducted there.
“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 existing building has limited usable space, with an almirah occupying one room and benches and desks kept in another room and in the verandah. He said an estimate for the construction of a new building had already been submitted to the department.
He said a new six-room school building had been proposed and would be constructed by the Bihar School Infrastructure Development Corporation. The old structure would subsequently be dismantled by the agency, he added.
Thakur also said the school had been included in the state government’s ‘Seva Sankalp Evam Kayakalp Abhiyan’, aimed at improving infrastructure in government schools through repairs, painting, and construction of boundary walls wherever required.
Of the 2,585 government schools in Darbhanga district, 1,968, including 1,300 primary schools, have been selected under the scheme, he said. The district also has 47 Sanskrit schools, 180 madrasas, and more than 554 registered private schools, according to the DEO.