e_Paper, Friday, August 18, 2017

News 5
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017
DT
Flood disrupts school education
across the country
Flood relief still
inadequate
• Tribune Desk
CURRENT AFFAIRS
• Mahadi Al Hasnat
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Academic activities in around
4,000 primary and high schools,
colleges and madrasas in northern
and northeastern districts of the
country have been severely affected
by monsoon flooding that began
earlier this month.
Many schools have had to be
shut down due to dwindling attendance
of students who had taken
refuge in flood shelters along
with their family members.
Books and other instruments
have been lost or damaged while
mid-term exams have been postponed.
The number of affected education
institutions is increasing
across the country as new areas become
flooded every day. However,
government officials said that in
some areas, the floodwater has already
started going down.
Mahbub Elahi, the deputy director
of Rangpur division office of the
Directorate of Primary Education,
said a total 1,946 primary schools
had been shut down across the division
while 1,359 schools had been
closed due to flooded classrooms.
A further 587 schools were being
used as shelters.
“Three schools have been swallowed
by the river while some infrastructure
and educational goods
were saved,” he said.
“In cases of swallowed schools,
new schools will be built on government
land with the governmental
allocation, and educational
activities would be started soon. If
there is no land, then we would ask
local people for land for establishing
educational institutes.”
At least 3,000 primary schools
have been affected by the
flood in Joypurhat, Gaibandha,
Bogra, Kurigram, Panchagarh,
Nilphamari, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat,
Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Rajshahi,
Naogaon, Jamalpur, Tangail, Sirajganj,
Sherpur, Sunamganj, Sylhet,
Netrokona, Faridpur, Rajbari, Shariatpur
and Manikganj.
Deputy Director of Rangpur
divisional Directorate of Primary
Education Abul Khayer said school
teachers were hopeful the children
could make up time lost to the
flooding.
“They will pay extra concentration
in classrooms to minimise the
loss after the situation is improved
Almost the entire building of this primary school in Jamalpur is submerged in floodwater
so that they can do well in completion
and annual exams,” he said.
In Rajshahi division, academic
activities have been suspended
in around 131 schools in Sirajganj,
120 in Naogaon, 76 in Bogra, 19
in Pabna and three in Joypurhat.
Eight schools in Sirajganj, two in
Pabna and one in Naogaon were
swallowed by the river, the sources
said.
According to sources at the Rajshahi
divisional office of the Directorate
of Primary Education,
educational activities have been
interrupted in 564 schools from a
total of 8,840. Classes have been
suspended in 426 schools while 11
schools have been swallowed by
the river. Sixty schools are being
used as flood shelters.
Primary Education Director Md
Abdur Rouf (Planning and Development)
told the Dhaka Tribune
that they had been collecting field
level information on flood affected
schools but the total amount of
losses and damages have yet to be
The number of affected education institutions is increasing across the country as
new areas become flooded every day
DHAKA TRIBUNE
determined.
“Floodwater has entered the
classrooms and in many cases, the
buildings have been badly damaged.
We will get an overall idea
of the damage after the water has
receded,” he said.
According to Rajshahi divisional
office of the Directorate of Secondary
and Higher Education, 138
schools and madrasas have been
affected by the flood. Among them
87 institutions are in Sirajganj, 24
in Naogaon, 11 in Joypurhat, 11 in
Bogra and five in Pabna.
In Sylhet division, 33 educational
institutes have been affected in
Sunamganj district while academic
activities in eight schools and
madrasas have been interrupted,
source said.
Around 750 primary schools in
the division have been affected by
the flood while academic activities
of some 321 schools were suspended.
In Sunamganj, 567 primary
schools were affected while classes
and exams were suspended in 302
DHAKA TRIBUNE
schools, the sources said.
Prof Md Elias Hossain, director
(secondary) of the Directorate of
Secondary and Higher Secondary
Education, told the Dhaka Tribune:
“According to our primary
report, around a thousand secondary
schools, colleges and madrasas
have been flooded.”
Meanwhile, National University
authorities have suspended degree
pass and certificate examinations
of the students of 2015 (old syllabus)
scheduled for Wednesday and
yesterday because of the ongoing
floods.
A press release signed by the
National University acting examination
controller Badruzzaman
said that they suspended philosophy
fourth part exam for August 16
(Wednesday) and geography fourth
part exam for August 17 (yesterday)
due to the deteriorating situation.
“The new schedule of the suspended
examination will be announced
later,” the press release
added
On July 15, the examination
began with the participation of
267,000 students of 1,600 colleges
across the country.
Candidates of Primary Education
Completion Examinations and
Junior School Certificate Examinations
are the worst sufferers as the
exams are scheduled in November.
But the academic lives of many
students have become uncertain
as many schools have been left
severely ravaged or entirely swallowed
by the river.
Government officials said steps
will be taken to restore academic
activities in educational institutions
after the flood water is totally
gone. •
As flood continues to worsen in the
northern region, relief goods have
not yet reached many remote areas.
According to the Flood Forecasting
and Warning Centre (FFWC)
of Bangladesh Water Development
Board, the flood situation in
Kurigram and Rangpur districts
is likely to improve a little in the
next few days, but the situation in
Jamalpur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj
may continue to worsen.
Dinajpur
A total of 54,950 flood affected
families have so far been accommodated
in 192 shelter centres
across the district.
Flood relief reaching those shelters
are inadequate; many people
are half-starving, said officials.
Some of the displaced people
have already started moving
back to their villages with news of
floodwater receding, but the crisis
of food and drinking water is still
haunting them.
About 150,000 tube-wells have
been damaged by the flood, according
to the district administration.
Nilphamari
Around 200,000 people in
Nilphamari’s Dimala upazila will require
various post-flood assistance.
Nilphamari Deputy Commissioner
Khaled Rahim said they had so far
distributed 93 tons of rice and Tk7
lakh cash among the victims.
Kurigram
The entire district has been affected
by the swelling of the Teesta and
Dharla rivers, displacing hundreds
of thousands of people. As of yesterday,
most of the victims complained
they had not received any relief yet.
Jamalpur
A total of 55 unions and six municipal
areas have so far been inundated
in the district. Jamalpur Primary
Education Officer Abdur Razzak
said they had temporarily shut
down 968 education institutions in
those areas.
Naogaon
About 200,000 people are marooned
across nine upazilas of the
district.
Flood control embankments on
the Atrai and Chhoto Jamuna riverbank
areas have been breached at
15 places in Raninagar, Manda and
Atrai upazilas, leading to fresh inundation
yesterday. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
HEAVY RAINFALL
LIKELY
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017
Dhaka 34 28 Chittagong 34 27 Rajshahi 32 26 Rangpur 31 26 Khulna 32 26 Barisal 32 27 Sylhet 33 26
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:29PM
SUN RISES 5:35AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
35.1ºC
23.9ºC
Sylhet
Rangamati
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Cox’s Bazar 32 26
Fajr: 5:00am | Jumma: 1:15pm
Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:41pm
Esha: 8:30pm
Source: Islamic Foundation