Champdani(Hooghly): Imagine a young girl approaching the teacher for a toilet break during class. Natural, it seems, isn't it? The student is excused, but she doesn't go to the toilet. Instead, she steps out of the school compound and makes her way to the nearby stinking drain to relieve herself!
This is exactly the predicament that all her fellow classmates and students of other classes have been going through for all these years.
Welcome to the PBM Road Hindi Primary School in Champdani of Hooghly district in West Bengal, an institution imparting education for the past eight decades in a locality dominated by jute mills and inhabited by mill workers.
This government-recognised Hindi medium school shares its foundation with Mahatma Gandhi's clarion call to 'Quit India'. Established in 1942, the only problem which stands between the 120 students, seven teachers and a clean toilet facility is, the fact that the school functions out of a rented premises.
And it is not only the toilet. The school also does not have a concrete roof. Be it the rains or cold or the scorching sun, the weather invades directly through the broken earthen tiles that barely serve as a roof.
"One of the three classrooms does not have a roof, broken or otherwise. We use plastic sheets as a makeshift cover, and during rains, it becomes extremely difficult to conduct classes," says one of the teachers.
Pankaj Mahato, the headmaster, told Etv Bharat that he has been running from pillar to post for the renovation of the school, but nothing has been done so far.
"This school was established before Independence. We have repeatedly approached the school education department and the local municipal authorities, but no steps have been taken towards its renovation. We have even told the authorities that they can shift the school to any nearby location with the right infrastructure if there are other problems. Yet, nothing has been done so far," a helpless Mahato said.
So is the local municipal councillor. Located within the jurisdiction of Ward Number 7 of Champdani Municipality and behind the Dalhousie Jute Mills, Darga Rajbhar is the local Congress councillor.
"I have tried several times for infrastructural development of PBM Road's school. It has many students. Mid-day meals are served regularly. Small repairs have been done, but the school needs an overhaul in its infrastructure. If the present owner of the school building permits us, we can develop a good building on the same land with the help of the administration and some NGOs, but the owner has to agree first. And that is not happening," said Rajbhar.
Suresh Mishra, chairman of Champdani Municipality, echoes Rajbhar, "It is true that the school needs repairs, but our hands are tied as it is on a private property. If the school education department agrees, then we can either talk to the owners or the department can think about merging the school with another such facility nearby with the right infrastructure," says Mishra.
Residents of Dalhousie Jute Mills labour quarters and adjoining areas say house owners adjacent to the school let the students and teachers use their toilets.
"There is no drinking water facility or a proper toilet in the school. A small room is there, which some say used to serve as a makeshift toilet many years ago. We cannot remember anything. The tiled roof is broken in several places. We have approached many people cutting across party lines, but the situation has remained the same," say residents Usha Nayek and Draupadi Devi.
An official of the Hooghly District Primary Education Council, who also oversees the PBM Road Hindi Primary School, said, "The main contention is that the school operates from private premises and has been doing so from the beginning. Even if government grants come, we cannot utilise it on private property as the norms stop us from going forward. There are several such schools in the district. We all want the school to function properly, and if a decision is taken to shift the school to a new location, then we will all assist in the transition."
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