Students scared to go to class

Many parents in Ranachandi and Garagram unions in Nilphamari's Kishoreganj upazila are nervous to send their children to school. Twice a day, there and back, the children have to cross a rickety, bamboo bridge over the Bullai river. With around three and a half thousand students of four educational institutions relying on the bridge, a serious accident is only a matter of time.

“I always feel afraid when I cross the bridge as it shakes terribly,” says Saikat, a Class V student of Purbo Garagram Government Primary School.

“My mother holds my hand to help me negotiate the bridge,” says class-four student of Pashchim Daliram Government Primary School, Sharmin Akhtar.

“Many guardians are anxious to send their children to class because they must cross the vulnerable bridge on the way,” says Abdul Wahab whose child is a Ranachandi college student.

Indeed parents do well to worry. Accidents have already occurred.

“A number of students from my school were injured in the last couple of months after falling into the river from the risky bridge,” says Pashchim Daliram primary's headmistress. “But the authorities are seemingly indifferent to our request to build a safe concrete bridge in its place.”

Class X student Arzina Begum from Ranachandi High School has firsthand experience of just how dangerous the bridge can be. “Last month while crossing the bridge on the way to school I fell into the river,” she says. “Somehow I was rescued by locals.”

Locals report that they built the bamboo bridge five years ago of their own volition as a temporary measure. It is now weathered, old and risky.

Part of the reason for inaction on the part of the administration might stem from a lack of cooperation across jurisdictional boundaries.

“Half of the Bullai river is situated in my union,” says the chairman of Ranachandi union parishad, Moklesar Rahman Biman. “The rest of the river is in Garagram union. We have both urged the upazila parishad chairman to have a concrete bridge constructed.”

Upazila Engineer SM Keramat Ali Nannu says his office has recently surveyed the site and provided the data to higher authorities so that further action can be taken.