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

BHOPAL: Children from Kakraua village in MP’s Vidisha district are forced to risk their lives every day by negotiating a precarious line of concrete pillars across a check dam on the Betwa river to reach their school – a route they take to avoid a much longer commute.A video of the children hopping perilously across the wide gaps in the check dam has gone viral on social media, raising fresh concerns about local infrastructure and student safety.Kakraua has a school only up to eighth grade.The nearest facility offering education up to 10th grade lies 13km away by road. By crossing the check dam, the distance shrinks to roughly 1.5km, prompting nine students – five of them girls in the ninth grade – to use the risky shortcut daily.The village is part of the constituency of former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is now the Union minister for agriculture.The dam-crossing involves walking across a series of exposed pillars that stand about three to four feet apart.Students hop about 10 pillars each trip. Villagers say the gap between pillars makes the route hazardous, especially during the monsoon when surfaces become slippery and the river’s current increases.“We have to work in the fields, so we can’t drop our children off at school and back,” said a parent.“They find it easier to cross the dam nearby… We only have two options: we either stop sending our children to school or continue sending them this way even though it’s dangerous.”The consequences of skipping the unsafe route are already visible in the community.A student failed her final exams earlier this year after missing school because she could not cross the pillars due to her short height; she is repeating ninth grade this year.Parents fear that continued reliance on the shortcut could lead to further academic setbacks or, worse, an accident.District education officer N K Ahirwar acknowledged the problem. “I visited the spot and informed the collector about this,” Ahirwar said.“I have written to higher authorities to find a solution soon.” However, he did not provide a timeline for the construction of a safe passage for river crossing.Local residents are now pressing authorities for an urgent solution to ensure uninterrupted schooling without endangering children’s lives.