Rajasthan Government School Collapse: Ignored Warnings Lead to Death of Seven Children
Jaipur: Early on July 25, Ramdayal Bhil, who is in his forties, was inspecting his maize fields at the Piplodi village of Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district.
A massive commotion pierced the silence. Moments later, Bhil, along with many others were running towards the government upper primary school in Piplodi where his daughter is a student of class 8.
“When we reached the school, we saw that a part of the building had collapsed and our children were buried under the debris. Fortunately, my daughter, who too was trapped under the building, was rescued. She sustained minor injuries. But many students sustained serious injuries and some died. I saw immobile children lying still under the collapsed building,” Bhil said.
He added that it was villagers who started clearing the debris and tried to rescue the trapped children.
“People from the administration were yet to arrive. We villagers started pulling out the kids from the debris. I could see that the students were seriously injured. Blood was not visible on their bodies as there was so much soil and dust. After the administration arrived, the kids were rushed to the hospital,” said Bhil.
The school building collapse in Rajasthan on Friday resulted in the deaths of seven children. Several were hurt.
“Seven children died in the accident and 21 others are injured,” said Manohar Thana circle officer Kailash Chandra.
‘Our warnings were ignored’
Lying on a hospital bed, Bhil’s 13-year-old daughter says that some students had warned the teachers moments before the accident took place.
“Just before the collapse of the wall, we saw chunks falling from the roof and alerted the teachers. But they didn’t pay attention and instead told us to sit even though we could see the gravel. Then, the roof collapsed,” his daughter said.
Bhil said that the villagers had earlier raised the issue of the school building being in need of repair.
“Last year we villagers had asked the administration to repair the school building. Its condition worsened during the monsoon. Why did the school administration make our children sit inside the building even when they had alerted the teachers?” said Bhil.
Most students from tribal, Dalit, backward communities
As wailing and anxious parents huddled outside the government hospital in Manohar Thana, family members said that for most of them, the government school in Piplodi was the only education that they could afford for their children, owing to financial constraints.
“Most of the students in the school are from the Bhil community (classified as a Scheduled Tribe in Rajasthan). We cannot afford to enrol our children in private schools. People from other affluent caste groups send their children to a nearby private school, but all our kids study in the upper primary school in Piplodi. The administration is responsible for this negligence. Why endanger the lives of our children?” Karan Singh Bhil, whose four children – two boys and two girls – study at the school, said.
Karan Singh Bhil, who works at a local shop, said that by the time he reached the spot, villagers had helped to rescue his four children and send them to the hospital in Manohar Thana.
“Even though I reached late, the rescue operations were still going on. I helped pull out a boy who was trapped under a metal beam. The building has been in a bad state for a long time,” he said.
According to data from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) government portal for the year 2023-24 (the latest year for which the data is available), out of 94 students in the school, 78 students were from the ST category, five students were from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category while 11 students were from Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. Tribal children comprised the majority of students in the school.
The UDISE+ data shows that out of four classrooms in the school, two needed minor repairs.
Raje spotlights surveys
Following the collapse of the school building on Friday, the state education department suspended five teachers of the school. Later on Friday, after visiting the site of the accident and meeting the bereaved families, Rajasthan education minister Madan Dilawar announced a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh each for the families of the deceased children and a contractual job for a relative.
Among those who met the aggrieved families was former chief minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje, who is an MLA from the Jhalrapatan constituency in Jhalawar district. Raje’s son Dushyant Singh, who is the incumbent MP from Jhalawar-Baran also accompanied her.
“The education department should conduct surveys of schools and wherever school buildings are in dilapidated state, the students should be shifted to other places so that such an incident is not repeated. If these buildings were identified before, and the children had been shifted to a secure place, I feel they would not have been in such a situation,” Raje told reporters on Friday after visiting Jhalawar.
Jhalawar district collector Ajay Singh Rathore said that while the district administration had asked the education department to declare holiday in schools where buildings were damaged and at risk, the school building in Piplodi was not in the list of such schools.
“The state government from time to time directs concerned officials to repair schools, anganwadis and government buildings. All district officials have been given strict instructions that not even one school building in the state should be in a dilapidated state, where such accidents can take place. We cannot compensate those who lost their innocent children in this accident but a high-level inquiry would be conducted into this serious incident and strict action will be taken,” Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma said in a statement after the incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his grief over the incident and termed it as tragic and deeply saddening.
Rahul Gandhi slams BJP government, activists demand resignation of education minister
The opposition Congress has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled government in Rajasthan over the incident.
“According to media reports, the government ignored the complaints about dilapidated schools, due to which these innocent children lost their lives. Most of these children belonged to the Bahujan Samaj – do their lives have no value for the BJP government?” Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi posted on X in Hindi on Friday.
Gandhi added that there should be an impartial investigation of the incident and the culprits should be given the harshest punishment.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said in a statement that ensuring the safety of children in government schools is a fundamental duty of the state, and the collapse of the school building during the rains, resulting in the death of 8 children and serious injuries to many others, reflects the government’s utter failure. The education minister must accept moral responsibility and resign immediately, it added.
“It is shameful that, despite a prior school safety survey being conducted before the monsoon, the Jhalawar school was not even listed, according to the district collector. This raises serious doubts about the credibility of the survey. The government had allocated Rs. 15 crore for school repairs – who will be held accountable for its utilisation?” said the PUCL in its statement.
“PUCL has urged the government to learn from this tragedy and immediately conduct a comprehensive safety audit of all school buildings. Dilapidated schools must be vacated, and children must be shifted to safe and secure learning environments without delay. Given the scale of the failure of the education department and the administrative negligence that led to the loss of innocent lives, PUCL reiterates its demand for the immediate resignation of education minister Madan Dilawar,” it added.
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