A parliamentary body has suggested that the government should form an “estate division” immediately to protect the lands and establishments of primary schools in Dhaka from illegal occupation.
Most government primary schools in the capital do not have accurate records of their land. Some of these schools lost their land because of negligence in and lack of monitoring over the demarcation by the authorities.
There are examples of politically influential people, including parliament members, using muscle to grab or illegally occupy primary school lands and property.
Even many high schools use the premises and buildings of adjacent primary schools to conduct classes and run other academic activities.
A five-member sub-committee of the parliamentary watchdog for the Primary and Mass Education Ministry yesterday visited a total of six such schools in different parts of the city.
While visiting one such school, lawmaker AKM Zahangir Hossain, chief of the sub committee, told journalists: “Each government primary school in the capital has its own problems. There have been gaps in land records. Many schools are psychologically indebtedness to the relatives of persons who donated land to the schools.”
One of the schools that the committee visited yesterday was the Gabtoli Government Primary School. The team recommended to the school authorities that the abandoned building on the premises be demolished, a new multi-storied structure be built in its place and expand its academic activities up to the eighth grade.
The family of late Hazrat Munshi Lalmiah, who donated land to the school, said they did not want the old building demolished because it contained his memories. However, after a discussion with the committee, they agreed to allow the school authorities to bring down the old building.
At the Pallabi Government Primary School in Section 11 of Mirpur, the investigation committee found that one floor of the two-storey building of the school was used by the neighbouring Pallabi Mazedul Islam Government Model High School.
The sub-committee advised the governing bodies of both schools to properly demarcate their boundaries in a month with help from the Directorate of Primary Education and the Dhaka district administration.
Zahangir Hossain also directed the high school authorities to shift their classes and other activities from the primary school building.
On December 2 and 3, the sub-committee visited seven schools in the city. Their aim is to facilitate the reclaiming of grabbed lands of 51 government primary schools in the Dhaka metropolitan area.
On October 22, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Primary and Mass Education Ministry formed the five-member sub-committee tasked with recommending steps to be taken for reclaiming grabbed land of the government primary schools and reporting on the progress.
