Primary education: Children of 4 former enclaves still in trouble

However, the district administration office claimed in their report on the developmental work in former enclaves that the construction work of the schools had been completed. The report was sent to Prime Minister’s Office around three months ago, reports our correspondent. Bashkanta Government Primary School at former enclave in Jongra union and Bhotbari Government Primary School, Latamari Government Primary School and Panishala Government Primary School in former enclaves of Sreerampur union are still under construction, according to the upazila engineer’s office. Among 55 former enclaves in Patgram, the four have got the nod of the Primary and Mass Education Ministry for setting up the schools in each of them, according to the district administration office. Firozul Alam Sarker, acting primary education officer of the upazila, said it would not be possible to start the schools next year, as the construction work of the schools and recruitment of teachers had not been completed yet. About the reasons behind the delay, Abu Tayab, LGED engineer for Patgram, said Tk2 crore 60 lakh was allocated towards the end of fiscal 2015-2016 for setting up the schools. Later, the delay was made during selecting the sites for the schools, in calling tenders and recruiting conductor, he said. Besides, monsoon and brick crisis contributed to further delay, added Tayab. Deputy Commissioner of the district Abul Foyez Mohammad Alauddin Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that the construction work of the schools was going on. The survey on school-going children in the former enclaves in Sadar upazila, Hatibandha upazila and Patgram had been done and their admission at other existing primary schools in the adjacent localities had been ensured, he said. They were also provided with free textbooks and stipends, he added. There are two former enclaves in Sadar upazila and Hatibandha each. Foyez said a proposal under the project titled ‘1500 schools in the villages without any school’ had been sent to the ministry for building schools in former enclaves ‘Bhitorkuti’ in Sadar upazila and ‘Uttar Gotamari’ in Hatibandha. Bangladesh and India exchanged a total of 162 enclaves on August 1 last year with the land boundary agreement after seven decades of legal limbo. Through the land swap, 111 Indian enclaves of 17,160 acres became Bangladeshi territory. Similarly, 51 Bangladesh enclaves of 7,110 acres became Indian territory.