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Education flood-hit in 23 districts

Suranjith Deabnath
Academic activities of institutions, from primary schools to college, are being seriously hampered as several hundred institutes in 23 districts are either submerged or have been turned into shelters for flood-affected people.
This is forcing authorities to keep the institutes closed and postpone examinations.
Most of the flood shelters the government opened up are in educational institutions, according to the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.
According to the Flood Control Centre, flooding this year has destroyed 28 educational institutions and damaged 166 others. A total of 13,226 people have taken shelter in 33 education institutions which have been declared shelters by the government.
More educational institutions arc being flooded each day causing postponement of mid-term exams in schools and colleges, said sources In the education, primary and mass education ministries and Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DS1 IE).
The Flood Control Centre yesterday said water levels at 24 points out of 73, which arc monitored across the country, have marked a rise during the last 24 hours.
"We introduced academic calendar for local schools four months ago. Upazila education committee, led by upazila education officer, will decide on how many days the institutions would remain closed due to floods and when compensatory classes will be held," said M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, secretary of Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.
Directorate of Primary Education, DSHE and the education ministry are monitoring the situation through the Central Monitoring Centre.
"We have opened monitoring cells in all flood-affected districts. We are collecting information about government educational institutions through regional DSHE offices and information on non-government educational institutions (are being collected) through the seven secondary and higher secondary education boards," said a top officer of education ministry.
Most areas in north and northeastern districts, especially in Sirajganj, Munshiganj, Rajbari, Faridpur, Chandpur, Bogra, Pabna, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Shariatpur, Rangpur, Manlkganj, Dohar of Dhaka, and Madaripur are now inundated.
Apart from being damaged by floodwater, many educational establishments in these districts are being damaged by flood affected people, said sources in the education ministry.
Funds are yet to be allocated to repair these educational institutions.
"We will talk to top officials about allocating additional funds to repair the damaged schools. We do not know the exact number of affected educational institutions. Usually, the government allocates additional funds from the natural disaster fund, which is around I k 50 crore. But this year we are not aware of any such funds," the Primary and Mass Education secretary told The Daily Star.
"Affected institutions will be repaired with the annual repair and rehabilitation fund and the repair work will begin as soon as the floodwaters recede," said an official of the Education Engineering Department.
Flood hampers educational activities heavily as there are only 228 working days at government schools.
Usually academic activities of students, from primary to college level, are seriously hampered every year during August-September by flooding but the government is yet to introduce any "flood-avoiding" academic session.
Generally. August to October is the most important period for students as they have to appear at second-term exams or prepare for final exams, usually held in November.
Every year, 30 percent schools and colleges on average arc badly damaged or are used as shelters for the flood-affected people forcing authorities to keep the institutes closed.
Some academics suggested that academic sessions of primary, high schools and colleges should be like fiscal years, July to June, instead of January to December to avoid the impacts caused by flood.