ACADEMIC activities in the flood hit northern and north-eastern districts have become severely disrupted threatening the possibility for students to complete their annual courses at primary and secondary schools and local colleges. As per news report a total of around 3,900 educational institutions in the flood-hit areas are dysfunctional affecting several lakh students.
Its overall impact on the country’s education sector is feared to be too big and the losses to students in term of missing classroom lessons will be far too big. What is important is that the government should not miss time to start repair the damaged schools and other educational institutions to resume teaching in flood-affected areas.
As floodwater is receding school compounds and the floor of the affected school buildings are found covered now with mud and dirty water that need to be cleared. At many places the buildings were severely damaged that need immediate repairing. And on top of it local road network has been washed away at most places making it difficult for students to attend classes where schools and colleges are trying to resume classes.
Cleaning and repairing of buildings remained blocked at many places because homeless people have been sheltered in them. So long they can’t return home or find alternative places for living, it is difficult to resume academic activities in those buildings. Students have lost books and other reading materials at many places and post-flood rehabilitation require lot of efforts and it must start sooner.
The scale of devastation can be grasped from some statistics of affected and damaged school buildings in several districts. Alone in Lalmonirhat 318 state-run primary schools and five high schools were damaged. The number of affected schools stood at 685 in Dinajpur district; which include 421 seriously damaged and four almost destroyed. In Sirajganj, 260 primary schools were submerged and it is 254 in Jamalpur district. In northeastern districts of Sunamgonj, Moulvi Bazar, Habigonj and Kishoregonj the number of floods damaged schools and colleges are equally high.
Floods have left classes suspended and also forced school management at most places to delay mid-term exams in primary and secondary schools. We know that the Education Ministry has already compiled a list of affected schools and colleges to start repair. But what we want to emphasize is that preparing the list and making big allocation for repair are not enough. The concerned authorities must make it sure that the funds are not misused and the contractors are not grabbing it in connivance with corrupt field level officials leaving urgent work unfinished.
It is open secret that party men get such contract and since there is no accountability and proper monitoring corruption is rampant in such work.
