Baramulla: Two years back, a school building at Frasthar in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district was declared unsafe by the authorities after finding out that the dilapidated condition of the building could result in a major mishap.
However, the school still operates from the building without caring about the lives of 50 enrolled students.
Government Boys Middle School Frasthar, located 15 km from the office of the Chief Education Officer (CEO) Baramulla is a glaring example of the indifference of the officials towards the safety of 50 students enrolled at the school.
There is not a single wall in the four-room school building that is without major cracks and the cracks are widening with each passing day.
“The building can collapse any moment,” said a teacher at the school. “Despite our repeated pleas to arrange an alternate building for the students, the authorities seem unmoved.”
The concern of the school teacher is echoed in the safety report of the building carried out two years ago.
“The front, back, right, and left side of the school building walls has deviated from the plum line. The stonework in the foundation and brickwork in the superstructure is massively damaged. The walls above it are thus vulnerable for collapse,” reads the safety report of the building issued by the Executive Engineer School Education Division Kashmir and addressed to CEO Baramulla vide No Edu/EXN/Div-1/2984-86/20 dated November 4, 2020. “The inner walls have bulged outward. About 70 percent of walls have developed major cracks from top to bottom which can’t be repaired. The subject building may collapse anytime and may cause harmful damage. As such the school building is unsafe for schooling and needs to be dismantled for carrying new construction that could be proposed at the said site.”
Accusing the Department of Education, Baramulla, of playing with the lives of the students, the locals said that though the report suggests dismantling the building owing to its deteriorating condition, the own report of the authorities does not make CEO Baramulla concerned about the safety of the students.
“If the same building collapses tomorrow, who will bear the responsibility for the loss of human lives? The administration needs to wake up before it is too late,” said Muhammad Ramzan, a local.
The Frasthar area witnessed major land sinking in the year 2015.
The land sinking caused damage to at least 20 residential houses and at least 10 such affected families are still residing in tin sheds.
Despite their repeated pleas for rehabilitation, nothing has been done for them so far.
CEO Baramulla, Ghulam Muhammad Lone said: “We have requested the Assistance Commissioner Development Baramulla to allow them to operate the school from a Panchayat Ghar building till a permanent structure is constructed. I am hopeful, he will allow temporary arrangements in the Panchayat Ghar till a new school building is constructed.”