School near Mumbai makes students repair roof; probe ordered

After heavy rain in Palghar damaged the school’s roof and led to leakage last week, the zilla parishad school in Palghar asked its students to climb up and clean or replace broken Mangalorean shingles.

For primary students of a zilla parishad (ZP) school at Navapur in Boisar, Palghar, examinations are not the only worry. Repairing the shingled roof of the Gujarati-medium school is also part of their day at school.

A student fixes the damaged roof of the school building. (HT Photo)

Boisar is located around 110km from Mumbai city.

Rajesh Kankal, district education officer, Palghar, has ordered the block education officer to probe the incident.

Last week’s torrential rain in Palghar damaged the ridged roof, resulting in leakage.

In such trying times, the school on Saturday turned to its students and asked them to climb on the roof to replace broken Mangalorean shingles or clean them, said Nagnath Babar, social activist who filmed the incident.

“A student is supposed to learn and not take up such risky jobs, and it is the teachers who are at fault. We will not spare the guilty,” said Kankal.

“To my shock, I saw a few students climbing on the roof and replacing the broken shingles. The roof should have been repaired by the contractor, not students,” said Babar.

Babar said teachers were responsible for making students repair the roof. “Had any of the students slipped, the result could have been fatal,” he said.

Not long ago, a girl died after an iron gate fell on her at a ZP school in Wada.