137 school buildings damaged due to rain in Malnad area

Teaching and learning continues in over 137 schools across the district which were damaged in the August rain.

Either the walls, roof and compound walls of these buildings have been damaged due to the floods, which had ravaged the malnad region in August. Parents and the teachers are worried a lot, as these buildings had become vulnerable due to the pounding rain.

Many of the damaged school buildings are in Chikkamagaluru, Mudigere, Koppa, N R Pura and Sringeri. Due to the damaged roofs, rainwater leaks into the classrooms creating inconveniences to the school staff and students. Due to the leaking roof, walls too, are getting damaged.

Walls of many school buildings had already developed cracks and have been declared as unsafe to conduct classes by the experts. Water-logging in the school premises have become a common scene.

President of School Development and Monitoring Committee, Government Primary School, Niduvale village, Mudigere taluk, Gururaj, said there were eight classrooms in the school. Four among them had been damaged due to the leaking roof. All the seven classes were now being conducted in the remaining four classrooms which were in a better condition.

Many memorandums were submitted to the department of education, urging them to carry out repair works of classrooms damaged in the rain, he added. “But many of our pleas have been ignored,” he said.

Sixty students study in the school from classes one to seven. Children come to the school from Niduvale, Vatekhan, Hadatal and Kalmane estates. There are three teachers in the school. The status of other damaged school buildings is even worst. There are many instances where the classrooms damaged by rain are locked keeping the safety of children in mind.

The headteacher of another government school said that the toilets in the school were in a dilapidated condition. In-charge Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) K N Jayanna said that a list of schools damaged in floods was identified by the Education department.

A proposal seeking Rs 3.47 crore to carry out repair works in the school buildings was submitted to the government. “The repair work will be taken up by the engineering department of Panchayat Raj,” he added.