An exam centre for JSC kids indeed!
Set up amid unhygienic swampy surroundings of paddy fields, Badarpur Junior School in Patuakhali Sadar upazila has been selected as a centre for Junior School Certificate examinations starting today. Inset, muddy floor of a schoolroom.Photo: STAR
An examination centre of Junior School Certificate (JSC) examinations starting from today has been selected in a shabby schoolhouse surrounded by paddy fields in a Patuakhali village. The selected school does not have sufficient accommodation, sanitation, water supply, electricity and security system facility at the site. As a last moment arrangement the authorities built a makeshift toilet a couple of days ago. Barisal education board has selected 61 new examination centres in six districts and Badarpur Junior School is one of them. The school was set up in 2005 without the approval of the board and is yet to receive approval or MPO (monthly payment order) listing. Badarpur Junior School is situated on a paddy field, has a mud floor and does not have any permanent toilet. A tubewell in front of the school lies useless since Sidr. There is no electricity connection and no boundary wall, which is important to maintain security of the examination centre. It is a matter of concern how the centre will even accommodate the 192 examinees, as the schoolhouse is only 20 feet wide and 275 feet long. There are six rooms including an office room. The headmaster of Badarpur Junior School said, "Please do not publish a report in this regard. If you do, the education board might remove the centre from my school." Nurul Islam, headmaster of nearby Gabua Janata High School, said, "Thirty-seven students of my school will sit for the Junior School Certificate examinations at Badarpur Junior School and the centre has no facilities." Md Siddiqur Rahman, acting district education officer, said, "I visited the school and reported the lack of facilities to the higher authorities." Prof KM Enayet, who had signed the order for examination centre at Badarpur Junior School as the controller of examinations, said, "I have been transferred to Bakerganj Government College as its principal. The chairman of the board can say better about the centre." Dr Bimal Krishna Mazumder, chairman of Barisal Education Board, said, "About 90 percent schools in Barisal district lack proper sanitation." "We made the school a centre so that the children from nearby areas do not have to go to the town," Dr Bimal said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments