Students attend classes at school’s Shaheed Minar

The education of 300 students at Garbhanga High School under Keshabpur upazila in Jashore is being hampered because of a lack of classrooms. The shortage of classrooms means that many students have to attend class at the Shaheed Minar of the school.

The fact that the school has a scarcity of teachers, no science laboratory, computer lab or common room is hindering the potential of the students.

It is bad enough having to hold classes outdoors or in makeshift classrooms,but matters get even worse during the hot and humid summer, the monsoon season and during stormy weather.

Sources at the school say that Garbhanga High School was established at Garbhanga village under Keshabpurupazila inJashore in 1965. A building consisting of six tiny rooms was built at the time with the help of local people. As the school could not accommodate the large number of students, another tin-shed building with four rooms was built through the initiative of local people. The government constructed an academic building consisting of three rooms in 1994.

There has been no renovation since the buildings were built, and the tin-shed building was declared abandoned about five years ago. The walls, doors and windows of the six-room building are also damaged. 

FatemaKhatun, a student of Class X of the school, said, "The seating arrangement at the school is inadequate.I feel uncomfortable because four students have to share a bench. We suffer even more because there is no separate toilet for female students." 

Atiar Rahman, assistant teacher at the school, said that science students suffer the most because the school has no science laboratory or computer lab. There are only nine classrooms, although 14 classrooms are needed. The playground of the school, one of the biggest in the area, goes under water even after moderate rainfall because of poor drainage.

The school has informed higher authorities of these problems many times, but nothing has been done about them yet, the teacher said. 

Liakat Ali, headmaster of the school, said, "The academic activities of the school are being managed by eight teachers and three staffers. There being no alternative, we have to hold classes at the altar of the Shaeed Minar. The shortage of teachers is seriously hampering academic activities. The teachers are under extreme pressure because they have to take six to seven classes a day."

Keshabpur Upazila Secondary Education Officer Rabiul Islam said, "I used to be the president of the school managing committee, so I am aware of the school's sorry state. A report on this has been sent to the higher authorities."