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139-year-old school buildings crumble in Benapole as pupils learn in corridors

Jul 5, 2026 - 2 min read

With both academic buildings declared unsafe, 357 students now attend classes in corridors as authorities await funding for new building

Hundreds of children at a government primary school, opposite to Benapole Land Port, are attending classes in corridors and makeshift spaces after both of the institution's academic buildings were declared unsafe and abandoned. Benapole Government Primary School in Jashore’s Sharsha upazila has 357 students and 12 teachers but only four usable classrooms -- far short of the ten the school says it needs. The shortfall has forced authorities to run two shifts a day, with lessons now held in the buildings' corridors and a section in front of a staircase and sometimes under open sky also.<div class="mb-5 hide-for-print flex justify-center d-hide m-show" style="border-color: currentcolor; margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(40, 48, 59); font-family: "IBM Plex Serif", serif;"></div>The upazila administration and Sharsha upazila education office formally declared both the buildings abandoned on June 1 this year, according to acting headteacher Badura Parvin, who has held the post for a year without a permanent headteacher being appointed.

No alternative facilities have been provided since."For about seven months, students had to attend classes in abandoned buildings because of the shortage of classrooms. Those structures could collapse at any moment. To avoid the risk, we have shifted classes to the school corridors," Parvin said, adding that repeated requests for a new building had produced only assurances from education authorities.She said local education volunteers, in consultation with the upazila education office, had offered to build temporary bamboo-and-tin classrooms to ease the shortage.