Sewage-laced water enters govt school premises, exam cancelled

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 24

Amid heavy rainfall since the past two days, sewage-mixed water entered Government High School, Lidran, here, forcing the 170 students, who came this morning to appear for the mid-term examinations, to return home.

There is a sewage pond in front of the school gates. Its level was raised due to the incessant rain. The water from the overflowing pond made way into the school. Water up to about 1.5 feet could be seen right in front of its gates this morning which kept on rising till this afternoon.

Seeing the situation, the teachers apprised Education Department officials of the matter, who directed them to grant leave to all children and tell them that today’s examination would be held later. The examination of all government schools are being held as per the date sheet of the department.

“While the exams were held in other schools as per the schedule, our students could not take it today,” they said.

All the teachers camped in the nearby house of an NRI and cleared queries of the students and their parents. They were also doing official work and waiting for the water level to recede.

“The water level was continuously rising. We had asked village panchayat members to get the pond desilted which they had got done earlier but it again started overflowing after the recent rains,” they said.

The teachers said they had been extra wary of the overflowing pond as they had laid bricks under the almirahs to keep their level up for safety of the records.

“We do not keep any material in low-height racks as the school is prone to such incidents. With water level rising up further, it is likely that we may not be able to enter the school for the next one or two days”, said the teachers today.

However, after the state government orders, all schools across the state have been ordered to be kept shut tomorrow.