Same Name, Side by Side
<i>'Peaceful co-existence' of two registered schools!</i>
Set up on the same ground and only a few feet apart, these two schools at Futani Bazar in Dariapur union of Sakhipur upazila under Tangail district bear the same name -- Protima Bonki Uttarpara Registered Primary School, according to the record of the education department.Photo: STAR
Believe it or not, two government registered primary schools are running in the same name and on adjoining lands at Futani Bazar in Dariapur union of Sakhipur upazila under the district. Both the two schools, one housed at a two-room tin-roof building and the other in a three-room tin-made structure, bear the name Protima Bonki Uttarpara Registered Primary School. With four teachers each, the two schools have 168 and 253 students respectively. Abdul Malek, a former ward commissioner of Sakhipur municipality, founded the first institution as a community school in 1994. Later, it got government registration in June, 2011. On the other hand, Malek's cousin Billal Hossain founded the second school just a few feet away in 2002 and it got government registration in July, 2010. To identify the two schools separately, local people as well as staff of Sakhipur Upazila Education Office call them “Keya's School” and "Shamsul's School” after the names of headmasters -- Keya Akter of the school housed in the tin-roof building and Shamsul Alam of the other one. Both the headmasters admitted that running two schools at adjoining places in the same name is unjustified. "We the students of the two schools play together at the common ground," said Ishtiak Ahmed Rakib, a class V student of one of the schools. "Bells are not rung at the end of our classes as it can create confusion among the students and teachers of the two adjacent schools," said Masum Al Mamun, another student of class V. Expressing surprise over giving government registration for the two schools on the same ground and in the same name, Sakhipur Upazila Education Officer Kazi Halima said, “I came to know about the matter after joining the post recently. The name and location of one of the schools will be changed as soon as possible.”
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