Dilapidated school building in MP's Rajgarh requires immediate repairs to avoid Jhalawar-like episode

Rajgarh (Madhya Pradesh), July 26 (IANS) An old building of a primary school in remote village of Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh is seeking immediate attention from the state administration to avoid any unfortunate tragedy akin to the recent one at Jhalawar in Rajasthan.

One after another, incidents of falling of concrete parts from the rooftop of this dilapidated school building are creating a concern about safety of the children.

Many parents have in fact stopped sending their children to this school during this ongoing monsoon.

When this IANS correspondent visited the government-run primary school located in Dhaniyakhedi village in Rajgarh district on Saturday, it was noticed that rooftop of this building in dilapidated situation and it needed an immediate attention from the administration to ensure the safety of students.

A woman teacher said that they mostly remain scared as "this building can collapse at any time".

She said that a huge chunk of concrete material (plaster) of rooftop fell-off in a classroom on Saturday but no one was, fortunately, injured.

"We are really scared but as a teacher we have to come at any cost. Water seepage is common and falling of concrete material from rooftop has become a common thing here. Many parents have even stopped sending their children out of fear," she said.

Another teacher told IANS that repair work was done last year after roof of the building was damaged and water seepage was started in classrooms.

However, when the rain stated this year, the problem of water seepage and falling of concrete material started again.

"There are 43 children enrolled from class 1 to class 5... most of them are from poor families. We would request the government to provide an alternate building to run this school. We are already scared, and Rajasthan's recent incident has increased our fear," a male teacher requesting anonymity said.

Notably, seven school children died and over 28 injured after a portion of school building was collapsed in Jhalawar district in Rajasthan on Friday.

--IANS

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