300 kids suffer as their schoolhouse looted
Kids at Rajganj Government Primary School attend classes under a makeshift shelter after a local gang dismantled and looted the schoolhouse on Monday. Photo: STAR
A group of villagers dismantled a tin-roofed government primary school in Pangashia union of Dumki upazila in the district on Monday following a dispute with the managing committee over shifting of the institution from erosion-prone area to a safer place. While visiting the school yesterday, Abdur Rashid Gazi, chairman of the managing committee of Rajganj Government Primary School, told this correspondent that over 200 people of South Pangashia village, led by one Alauddin Mollah, came to Rajganj village in the union in two trawlers at around 8:00am. They dismantled the school and took away its roof made of CI sheets, bamboo enclosures and other objects, forcing at least 300 students to attend classes under a makeshift tin-shed, Gazi added. Md Nasir Kazi, a member of the managing committee, filed a case with the Speedy Tribunal tribunal, Patuakhali, yesterday accusing over 150 people, including Alauddin Mollah. The court asked the officer-in-charge (OC) of Dumki Police Station to treat the case as an FIR (first information report) and submit a report on the matter after proper investigation. Locals said the primary school was built 0.41 acres of land donated by Tufan Mollah of Rajganj village about 90 years ago. After independence, the school, the lone one in Pangashia union, comprising Rajganj and South Pangashia villages, became nationalised. But due to erosion by the river Paira, the school was shifter several times to different places at the village and Tufan Mollah's family and relatives donated land for this purpose. On January 24 in 2010, managing committee chairman Rashid Gazi sent a letter to Dumki upaziula education officer, urging him to shift the school to a new place to save it from the onslaught of the river. In reply to the letter, the education officer said they would shift the school if someone came forward to donate a land. Later, five villagers donated 0.33 acres of land through a registered deed. The UNO and the upazila education officer visited the land donated by the villagers and decided to build a new school building there. Alauddin's relatives Fazlul Haque Akond, Majed Akond, Abdul Hadi Akond and Abdur Rob Akond also donated 0.33 acres of land at South Pangashia village the same year and wanted to shift the school to the village. On May 2 last year, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) took up a Tk 51.86 lakh project under 3rd phases of Primary Education Development Programme (DPE-3) to build a school-cum cyclone shelter on the land. It also finalised the contractor selection process. Alauddin filed a petition with a Patuakhali court On May 29 last year, seeking injunction on the construction work of the school. After hearing, the court rejected the prayer on September 27 the same year. Contacted, Alauddin said we want to shift the school on the land which we donated at our village in 2010.
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