Roof of government school classroom collapses, four students injured in Dakshina Kannada

All the 40-odd students of classes 5 and 7, who use the classroom, were in the playground when the work was being done using an earthmover. However, class 7 students Rashmi, Deeksha, Ghatimat Suhana and Yashmita had returned from the playground to the classroom to drink water.

Four students of a government school in Perabe village of Kadaba taluk in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka sustained minor injury after the roof of a classroom collapsed on August 27.

The incident occurred was in the 70-year-old Kunturu Government Higher Primary School. According to Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K. Anandh, the incident occurred around noon when the earth near the classroom was being dug up as part of a project to reinforce the foundation.

All the 40-odd students of classes 5 and 7, who use the classroom, were in the playground when the work was being done using an earthmover. However, class 7 students Rashmi, Deeksha, Ghatimat Suhana and Yashmita had returned from the playground to the classroom to drink water.

After drinking water, they were seeing the ongoing work from the classroom when the roof collapsed. The four students were trapped under the debris.

Onlookers rushed to take the four injured students to the nearby government hospital for treatment, Dr. Anandh said.

Kadaba Tahsildar Prabhakar Khajoore visited the spot, along with other officials. Dr. Anandh said school headmaster Ramesh and Zilla Panchayat engineer Sangappa Hukkeri were suspended, pending disciplinary inquiry, by the Deputy Director of Public Instruction and Zilla Panchayat respectively.

In order to prevent such incidents in the old school building in the future, officials were told to relocate the 150 students to another building nearby. “No classes were held today (August 28). We will be shifting students to the nearby library or other buildings till reconstruction work is completed,” Dr. Anandh told The Hindu.