In MP village, kids risk lives every day, hop over dam pillars to reach school
Children in Vidisha district risk daily commutes across a river. They use concrete pillars to shorten their journey to school. This dangerous route avoids a much longer road trip to the nearest secondary facility. Parents face difficult choices between safety and education for their children. Authorities have been informed and are seeking a swift resolution.
In the village of Kakraua, located in India's Madhya Pradesh state, young students are forced to risk their lives every day as they traverse a check dam on the Betwa River to reach their school. This dangerous journey serves as a substitute for a longer road commute. A video showing children navigating precarious gaps in the dam has gone viral on social media, prompting concerns about local infrastructure and student safety.
Kakraua has a school only up to the eighth grade. The nearest facility offering education up to the 10th grade is 13km away by road. To reduce the distance, nine students - including five girls in the ninth grade - choose the hazardous shortcut daily. The shortcut involves walking across a series of exposed pillars, approximately three to four feet apart, hopping about ten times per trip.
Parents, who also work in the fields, find the current situation dismal. They claim they cannot drop their children off at school and back as the two options before them are either to stop sending their children to school or continue sending them to school through the risky route. This hazardous route has led to academic setbacks, as a student recently failed her final exams due to missing school to cross the pillars. The student is now repeating the ninth grade.
The district education officer, N K Ahirwar, acknowledged the issue and visited the site. He informed the collector about the matter and has written to higher authorities to expedite finding a solution. However, he did not offer a timeline for the construction of a safe passage for river crossings. Local residents are now urging authorities for an urgent solution to ensure uninterrupted schooling without endangering children's lives.
Written by urgent.news from Times of India's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
