PESHAWAR, April 9: The lives of about 1,840 girl students are in jeopardy as they continue to take classes in a three-storey school building which was badly damaged in the Oct 8, 2005 earthquake.

The building of the Government Girls Higher Secondary Begum Shahabuddin School — situated in a thickly-populated part of the city — was declared dangerous recently by the Building Control Authority (BCA) of Town-I as huge cracks have developed in its structure.

“We have requested the provincial government to reconstruct the damaged portion of the building. But, instead of reconstructing it the government high-ups say the damaged block will be repaired and the work on it will start next month,” said Momina Begum, principal of the school.

One block of the building, built in 1925, is at present in a very dangerous condition as it has huge cracks in walls and pillars. The block includes principal’s office, clerk’s office, one staff room, sick room, admission room and one classroom, a visit to the school by this reporter revealed.

“We are using these rooms despite cracks as we have no other option,” said one teacher. Upper portions of the building were built in 1985 and then some more portions were constructed in 1992 after the school was upgraded to the higher secondary level.

“We still feel scared and that was the reason the upper portion of the building was vacated after the Oct 8 earthquake. But since it was not repaired, we had no other option but to take classes here in risky conditions,” Sumaira, a student of second year, said.

“This building needs to be reconstructed, not repaired, as the damage is huge. The pillars are disjointed and we feel scared all the time we are inside the building,” said one teacher, pointing at the staff room with huge cracks in its walls.

“Provincial government officials came here for assessment after the earthquake struck the area in October 2005 but no action has been taken since then,” said another teacher.