Stalled School Construction Project Leaves Students in Unsafe Classrooms in Sandwip
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CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh — Hundreds of students in Sandwip upazila of Chattogram continue to study in unsafe and makeshift classrooms after a government school construction project, launched more than five years ago, stalled long before completion.
The project, undertaken under the World Bank-supported Multipurpose Disaster Shelter Project (MDSP), was intended to construct new buildings for seven government primary schools. However, work has remained suspended for years after the contractor abandoned the sites.
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According to the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the contract worth Tk 31.57 million was awarded to Wahid Construction Limited on March 9, 2020. Under the agreement, the buildings were scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2023.
LGED data shows that construction progress at the seven schools ranges from only 8 percent to 30 percent, after which work stopped entirely.
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The prolonged delay has created serious hardship for students and teachers.
At four of the seven schools, the original buildings were demolished to make way for the new structures. As construction stalled, students were forced into temporary tin-shed classrooms that offer little protection from extreme heat or adverse weather.
At Dweepbondhu Government Primary School, around 110 students have been studying in a temporary structure for the past six years.
Teachers say the classrooms become unbearably hot during the summer months, with some students reportedly falling ill due to excessive temperatures.
At Muchapur Abdullah Khurshid Government Primary School, students continue to attend classes in an aging building that teachers describe as structurally unsafe and in urgent need of replacement.
The deteriorating learning environment has also led to a significant decline in student enrollment.
At Kalapania Jagat Government Primary School, enrollment has dropped from 350 students to just 115 over the past five years, as many parents have transferred their children to other schools.
Teachers say overcrowded classrooms, inadequate seating, and poor ventilation have made learning increasingly difficult.
Sandwip Upazila Primary Education Officer Mohammad Mahmudul Haque acknowledged the crisis, saying the original work order was cancelled after the contractor stopped work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, he said no timeline has yet been set for restarting the project.
Local engineers have proposed an emergency allocation of Tk 500,000 for each affected school to carry out temporary repairs and improve learning conditions, but they say no response has been received from the relevant ministry.
The responsibility for the unfinished project has since been transferred to the Building Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Recovery (B-Strong) project.
Attempts to obtain comments from B-Strong Project Director Hasan Ali and the LGED Executive Engineer in Chattogram were unsuccessful.
A representative of Wahid Construction Limited also declined to comment and ended the phone call when contacted.
Meanwhile, the unfinished school buildings remain abandoned, with overgrown construction sites and waterlogged foundations serving as a reminder of a project that has left hundreds of children without safe and adequate classrooms.
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