In a story published in this newspaper on Tuesday, we reported how seven schoolgirls, aged between 14 and 15, were injured when chunks of the ceiling of their classroom in Rangpur fell on them. Around 30 students of grade nine were taking their half-yearly examinations when about 80 square feet of ceiling plaster collapsed. Given the context which led to the final collapse, the incident warrants some serious questions.

According to students, they had already informed the headmistress of the school about the risky situation in which they were asked to take their exams. But despite repeated complaints to the headmistress, not only was action not taken to repair the classroom, but the room was actually being used to sit school students. This is completely irresponsible behaviour on the part of the school administration. If these young students had the foresight to point out that the plaster was likely to collapse anytime, the authorities should definitely have acted to prevent this. What is worse is that the headmistress is trying to pass the incident off as a mere "accident", refusing to comment about the complaints received earlier, when clearly this is a case of negligence of duty which directly put these students in harm's way.

It is the responsibility of the headmistress to own up to her failure to act in time. We have seen numerous times before how accidents have taken a heavy toll on the nation simply because authorities were negligent in repair work and refused to heed complaints. We hope that the school board will investigate this matter and take action for the school authorities' failure to address this risk and for putting young students in a situation which clearly could have had a worse outcome.