In Rajasthan’s Jalore district, a 6-year-old girl lost her life after a makeshift blackboard structure collapsed during the lunch break at the school. The tragic incident happened when Preeti, 6 years old, was playing with her friends. The school has been identified as Marudhar Shikshan Sansthan. According to the police the blackboard was made using fibre sheets and cement bricks, which gave way along with part of the supporting wall. The girl was trapped beneath the debris. When she was pulled out and taken to a nearby hospital, she was already dead. Immediately after being informed, police and administration rushed to the school. The child’s body has been sent for a post-mortem, and an inquiry has been started.
Major lapses in this case
According to the initial findings, there is a lapse in safety measures during construction. Locals confirmed that it was a temporary structure, 5–7 feet high, made by stacking cement bricks, bamboo poles and tarpaulin sheets. And this blackboard was possibly attached to an unstable wall that collapsed. Most shocking is that the school has operated this way for over 6 years and serves at least 350 students in classes up to the 12th standard.
Investigation Underway
According to the initial report, the school operator was absconding after the incident, but police later confirmed that he had reached the hospital. Jalore collector Pradeep Gavande said the district administration is closely investigating whether safety norms were compromised. Education Officer Bhanwarlal Parmar confirmed that a committee has been formed to investigate the matter and submit a report at the earliest. After the investigation, necessary action against the school management will be taken, Parmar noted. However, police confirmed that the child’s family has not yet filed a formal complaint.
Structural Accidents in past
This latest incident has raised concerns about school infrastructure failures in Rajasthan. Similar incident happened in July last year, where 7 students died because of roof collapsing at government school in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan. This prompted state government to order inspection of safety across the government schools in state.
Similar incident happened in Jaisalmer, school’s entrance gate and pillar collapsed killing 7-year-old. Post that tragedy, officials responsible for the incident were suspended for overlooking the earlier warnings regarding the risk involved in the infrastructure. Even after multiple cases resulting from poor school maintenance, such incidents continue to happen especially in rural areas where institutions often function from temporary or weak structures.