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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | River-bed school lives on edge of the bench

River-bed school lives on edge of the bench

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published Published on Nov 30, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 30, 2011
-The Telegraph
 
Stress strikes the pupils of a Murshidabad school every day not because of impenetrable syllabus or unsparing teachers but because they fear the Padma river can rise up and engulf them any minute.

All it took for a wave of panic to crash in today was the rattle of tin cans on a truck and an exclamation from a teacher, which triggered a stampede in which 20 children were injured.

The school had narrowly escaped from being washed away in the Padma this monsoon.

“There was heavy erosion this July and the river came within a few feet of the school, sparking a continuous sense of fear among teachers and students. They feel the river could gobble up the school any moment,” said Subhra Sinha, the headmistress of Aurangabad Girls’ High School.

The irrigation department has packed the bank with sandbags to prevent erosion.

The school has about 2,000 students. But only 400 of them, who were taking their annual exams, were present today.

Around 12.30pm, there was a loud noise as a truck laden with empty tin cans sped past the school.

The teachers who were in the staff room rushed out to the veranda but by that time the truck had passed. This led to confusion as they could not find the source of the sound.

A teacher exclaimed, “My god, is the school going in to the river?”

On sensing a panic among the teachers, the girls who were sitting in classrooms for their tests, dropped their answer scripts and started rushing out of their classes.

The headmistress said 20 students were injured and of them three, Rokeya Khatoon and Hena Khatoon of Class IX and Susmita Das of Class VII, had to be admitted to hospital. “Had the whole school been present, more students could have been injured,” the headmistress added.

“The fear psychosis in the minds of the students and teachers played havoc today as soon as a loud rattling noise was heard. Some teachers started speaking about erosion and somehow the word reached the students who panicked. When 400 of them rushed out of their first floor classes and tried to reach the ground floor, there was a stampede,” Sinha said.

Hearing the hue and cry, the villagers, many of them also guardians of students, came running to the school.

Abdur Rahman, one of the villagers, said he had seen the truck loaded with tin cans that made the noise. “I saw the truck loaded with tin cans and it was making great deal of noise,” said Rahman.

Afzal Hossain, whose daughter was injured, said: “After the erosion during the monsoons this year, we are very worried about our children attending the school. My daughter also is very scared and fears that the school might subside into the river any minute.”

Suti block development officer Sukumar Baidya spoke to the guardians who demanded the classes overlooking the river be shifted to another block.

“Now the water level in the river is low and there is no immediate fear of any further erosion as the bank has been packed with sandbags. We have sent in a proposal to the district authorities to further strengthen the bank with boulders,” the BDO said.


The Telegraph, 1 December, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111201/jsp/bengal/story_14823229.jsp


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