There is no road to get there, and the only way across is a broken bamboo bridge. With even a little rain the school grounds disappear under water from the pond. For about six months of the year the pupils are cut off by waterlogging. In these conditions teaching is disrupted, attendance is falling and the risk of children dropping out is rising.
This is Kutubpur Government Primary School in Damurhuda upazila, Chuadanga. In the past year the number of pupils has fallen from 250 to just 120. Twenty-one years after it was founded, the school’s access and waterlogging problems have still not been permanently solved.
Kutubpur Government Primary School was founded in 2005 and has been beset by problems ever since. After two decades there is still no road for pupils to reach it safely. Every day young children risk their lives crossing the broken bamboo bridge to get to school, and pupils sometimes fall from it and are hurt.
Access is not the only hardship. The school’s other big problem is waterlogging. With even a little rain, water from the neighbouring pond floods the entire school grounds, and the school is under water for about six months a year. That makes it hard to move about normally or to hold classes.
The long years of hardship have hit enrolment too. According to the school’s figures, there were 250 pupils last year and only 120 this year. Many parents are worried about sending their children to school because of the risky crossing and the waterlogging, and the children’s regular schooling is suffering.
Parents say they have suffered for 21 years. They have repeatedly asked the authorities to build a road to the school and end the waterlogging, but there is still no permanent solution. How much longer, they ask, must children wait for the right to learn in a safe environment?
Damurhuda upazila primary education officer Abu Hasan said the matter had been reported to higher authorities and assured that quick action would be taken.
But local people, worn out by years of hardship, now want visible action, not just assurances. Pupils and parents have called for quick and effective steps to make the children’s journey safe, end the waterlogging and restore a normal environment for learning.
They hope the authorities will end two decades of hardship and bring Kutubpur Government Primary School’s teaching back to life.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report