School closed for 5 months a year for monsoon flood

Modongouri Government Primary School in Moulvibazar's Kulaura upazila, which has around 200 students enrolled, has been closed for more than a month due to flooding. It's usual. Situated on low-lying land, the school is unable to run classes for between three and five months each year.

"We have suspended classes due to the excess water," says the president of the school's management committee Abdul Kadir. "The school is five-feet below the level of the road. It is in the Hakaluki Haor area. It's normally closed for up to five months a year due to submergence.

The safety of our students must be our priority."

Kadir adds that the teachers may hold some classes on one side of the school that is on higher ground, if they wish. He says the committee has appealed to the authorities for the school to be developed with a two-storey building that could also serve as a flood evacuation centre, but that no action has yet been taken.

"I'm an alumnus of the school," says local shopkeeper Saif Uddin. "I passed class five there in 2000. Since childhood I've seen that this school closes every year for several months. The site is prone to flash flooding when water from nearby hills collects there. As students we used to wait eagerly for the rain to start. We knew it would be an unscheduled holiday. But on the other hand, students can hardly achieve good academic results for the disruption."

"Classes were supposed to commence on 1 July," says one of the school's guardians Monir Uddin. "Due to the flooding it wasn't possible. Actually, many people won't send their children to this school because it is so commonly closed."

Nadir Mohammad, 75, is among the oldest residents of Modongouri village. "For at least twenty years the school has had this problem. My granddaughter Samira Begum is a class-two student there now; but she has lost her interest in study. She says she won't read her textbooks because the school will be shut anyway."

Modongouri Government Primary School is an institution with a long history. It was first established in 1882 in the Dighipar area in Bhuksimul union. It was only in 1994, when the school was moved to its current premises that flooding became a problem.

This year rainfall and flooding across the northeast have been far more than usual. "The situation is exacerbated by the heavy rainfall in Assam's Borak Valley," says the Water Development Board's executive engineer in Sylhet, Sirajul Islam. "As a result the Kushiara river has burst its banks with floods reaching a dangerous level, especially at Sewla Point. Until the rain eases there can be little respite from the floodwaters."

The responsible government education officers have advised The Daily Star that 152 primary schools in Moulvibazar district are currently closed due to flooding, while in Sylhet district a further 161 primary schools are likewise closed. The corresponding figures for high schools in the two districts are 48 and 32 respectively. But while this year's flooding might be extreme, Modongouri primary school has the unenviable distinction of being submerged every year.

"I will take immediate action to resolve the issue," promises Kulaura's Upazila Nirbahi Officer Chowdhury Golam Rabbi when apprised of the situation in Modongouri.