BHUBANESWAR: Students of Satyasai Sevasangha Upper Primary School, Khandagiri, had a fortuitous escape on Saturday when chunks of plaster from the ceiling fell on the ground.
The chunks of plaster fell on the verandah and in one of the two classrooms in the building. Luckily, the children were not sitting where the plasters fell.
As news spread of the incident, parents staged an agitation in front of the school demanding immediate repair.
A similar incident had taken place in the same school on Wednesday. "The school should be immediately repaired because it is very unsafe for children," said Susanta Sahu, a parent.
School authorities said they had informed the higher authorities about the poor condition of the school building. "The condition of the building is not good and after last week's rain, it has only worsened. After Wednesday's incident, we had informed the higher authorities and they had visited the school and assured us that repair work will start soon," said headmistress Pravat Manjari Kar.
District education officer (Khurda) Brundaban Satpathy said, "There are some land-related dispute in the school for which the repair work could not be taken up. But keeping in mind the safety of the children we will start repair from Monday."
The damaged ceiling
