Hundreds of children at a government primary school, opposite to Benapole Land Port, are attending classes in corridors and makeshift spaces after both of the institution's academic buildings were declared unsafe and abandoned.

Benapole Government Primary School in Jashore’s Sharsha upazila has 357 students and 12 teachers but only four usable classrooms -- far short of the ten the school says it needs.

The shortfall has forced authorities to run two shifts a day, with lessons now held in the buildings' corridors and a section in front of a staircase and sometimes under open sky also.

The upazila administration and Sharsha upazila education office formally declared both the buildings abandoned on June 1 this year, according to acting headteacher Badura Parvin, who has held the post for a year without a permanent headteacher being appointed.

No alternative facilities have been provided since.

"For about seven months, students had to attend classes in abandoned buildings because of the shortage of classrooms. Those structures could collapse at any moment. To avoid the risk, we have shifted classes to the school corridors," Parvin said, adding that repeated requests for a new building had produced only assurances from education authorities.

She said local education volunteers, in consultation with the upazila education office, had offered to build temporary bamboo-and-tin classrooms to ease the shortage.

Sharsha Upazila Education Officer Rehena Banu confirmed that students had studied in unsafe buildings for a long period before their use was suspended on safety grounds.

"I personally visited the school several times with the assistant education officer. Because of the shortage of classrooms, teachers have been instructed to conduct classes in the corridors," she said.

Rehena said a soil test for a new building had already been completed, but funding had not come through.

"We have repeatedly applied to the higher authorities for a new building. We do not understand why the allocation has yet to be approved.”

“Construction will begin as soon as the project receives funding," she added.

Parents said they had learned only recently of the risks their children faced.

Guardian Kulsum Khatun said she was unaware her daughter had been attending classes in a dilapidated building until she visited the school and raised the matter with the acting headteacher, who told her the issue had already been reported to the managing committee.

Another guardian, Touhidur Rahman, said he had been assured a new building would be constructed once his son's classes moved to the corridor.

Founded in 1887, the school is among the oldest in the area. Of its two condemned buildings, one was constructed in 1965 and named after national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, and the other in 1996 after poet Jasimuddin.

Teachers and students said no permanent building had been added in the 30 years since, despite repeated appeals, which they said had drawn only inaction from the authorities and local representatives.

The school’s managing committee member Matiar Rahman said the school needed a four-storey building and that the matter had been raised with the local lawmaker.