No primary school in 29 Gaibandha <i>char villages </i>
There is no government or non-government registered primary school in 29 villages in Jamuna char (landmass emerged from riverbed) areas in Fulchhari upazila under the district.
Besides, buildings of at least ten government and non-government primary schools in Fazlupur, Arendabari, Fulchhari, Gajaria and Udakhali unions went into the riverbed during the last five years, said sources concerned during this correspondent's visit to some remote chars in Fazlupur union.
Those have been shifted to other places after erecting makeshift sheds for the purpose.
Houses of five of the schools, namely, Sardererchar Government Primary School in Fulchari union, Nishchintapur Primary School in Fazlupur union, Bagbari Registered Primary School in Fulchari union, Singria Primary School in Udakhali union and Ziadanga Primary School in Gajaria union, went onto the riverbed last year, locals said.
Schooling of a large number of children have become uncertain as most of the students dropped out from classes due to shifting of the schools to distant places, said Monotosh Roy, chairman of Gajaria union parishad.
As the schools have shifted to distant places, the children could not attend classes covering five to seven kilometres way on foot under the scorching sun and rain, said Jalaluddin Ahmed, chairman of Fazlupur union parishad.
In char areas, influential people set up a few schools at their desirable places without considering erosion risk. And so, the schoolhouses went into the mighty River Jamuna within two to three years, said Rafiqul Islam, a guardian of Golna village in Gajaria union.
According to the upazila education office, there is no government or non-government registered primary school in 29 villages of different char areas in Fazlupur, Fulchhari, Arndabari and Gajaria unions and the areas are virtually detached from the main land and surrounded by the Jamuna tributaries.
Populations of those char unions are over 70,000 and there are nearly 9,000 children of school going age, but many of them could not attend classes for lacks of primary school.
Forty-five primary schools, including 25 government and 20 non-government registered ones, somehow cover schooling of children in 60 other villages of those unions.
Local NGOs, however, set up a few non-formal primary (NFP) schools in some areas where there is no government or non-government registered primary school. But an NFP school accommodates only 30 students with a single teacher and so, a large number of children remain deprived of schooling.
Rasel Ahmed Liton, chief executive of local NGO SKS Foundation, said they have set up 20 NFP schools in backward char areas of Fulchhari upazila. They have plans to set up more schools, if adequate fund is available from donor agencies.
Char areas in Jamuna basin are vulnerable to erosion and it is difficult to predict which area will be affected when, he said.
Another NGO Gano Unnayan Kendro set up 30 more NFP schools in char areas of the same upazila, but those are too inadequate to accommodate all the deprived children, said M Abdus Salam, chief executive of the NGO.
Frequent shifting of dwelling places by char people due to large-scale erosion by river is a main reason for drop-out of students there, he said.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, upazila education officer of Fulchhari, said, "Feasibility study is going on in 29 villages for setting up new government primary schools. In the first phase 10 to 12 schools will be set up in some remote char lands soon. Other deprived areas will also be brought under primary education network gradually."
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments