A market is being held on the field of Shialkhowa Government Primary School and Shialkhowa High School in Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat. It is disrupting the learning environment, depriving students of sport and causing them trouble getting to and from school.

A cattle market sits there every Saturday and Wednesday, with trading from noon until 11pm. On the other five days a daily bazaar is held on the same field. The field has been occupied this way since 16 April.

Parents and students say that if the field is lost to the market, the young children will be left with no dreams.

Arif, a class five pupil at the primary school, said: "We want to play football on the field, but now we can't. We come here to study; we don't want to see a cattle market here."

Shariful Islam, a class nine student at the high school, said that without sport alongside their studies they would fall behind. "If we can't play, we may drift in different directions, because drug gatherings are common here," he said.

Kashem Ali, headmaster of Shialkhowa Government Primary School, said the field must be freed of the market to save the learning environment, but repeated requests had brought no response.

According to teachers, parents and local people, Shialkhowa Government Primary School and Shialkhowa High School and College stand in the Shialkhowa area of Chalbala union, two institutions on one campus. The primary school has 215 students and the high school and college 750. Their only playing field covers about three acres. Three kindergartens and a madrasa also stand nearby, and their students used to play on the field too.

Beside the field, the government has a shed and some shops on 58 decimals of land. The Saturday and Wednesday market has long spilled beyond its set limits onto the school field.

With cattle, goats, ducks and chickens, bicycles, tobacco and other goods sold across the field, it is unfit for play even on the other days of the week, and teaching is seriously affected.

Monindra Nath Roy, acting headmaster of Shialkhowa High School, said the crowds were making students lose concentration in class. Animals are kept on the field, and the noise and stench are getting worse by the day.

Local resident Salam Mia said the market not only distracts the children but has raised fears of rising crime. "Our demand is that boys and girls can play on the school field," he said.

Repeated attempts to reach the Shialkhowa market lessee, Asadul Haque Hiru, failed as his mobile phone was switched off.

Acting upazila education officer Badrul Hasan said education suffers badly in such a situation and that the matter would be taken seriously.

Kaliganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Zakia Sultana said the market had been leased but the school field had not. She said she had sent a letter asking that the market not be held on the field, that an alternative site was being sought, and that a decision would be taken soon after a meeting with the school authorities and the lessees.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.