Rajasthan school disaster: Were teachers aware of crumbling roof that killed 7 students?

Fresh details of the tragic collapse of a government primary school building in Rajasthan suggest school authorities could have averted the deaths if they had acted promptly when students alerted. Seven students died and over a dozen suffered injuries when the roof of Peeplodi Government School in Manoharthana, Jhalawar collapsed on Friday.

According to reports, the school students had alerted teachers about cracks in the roof minutes before the crash. However, the teachers took the students lightly and they were asked to return to classes. According to Hindustan Times, students alerted teachers, who were having breakfast, about pebbles falling from the roof and visible cracks. 

However,  the teachers did not take them seriously and chased the students back to classes, only to succumb in the tragic crash. A girl student who had a narrow escape said, "We were sitting near the door of a classroom. Some pieces of gravel started falling from above. Moments later, the adjoining classroom collapsed. Since we were sitting near the gate, we immediately rushed out."

As many as seven children died and over 20 suffered serious injuries in the fatal crash on Friday. According to reports, the teachers were having breakfast quite away from the dipliated building when the incident happened. 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan of negligence. Condoling the incident, Gandhi charged, "Most of these children were from the Bahujan community—does their lives hold no value for the BJP government? A fair investigation of this incident must be conducted, and the guilty should be given the strictest punishment."

Five school teachers have been suspended, and the Rajasthan government has ordered a high-level probe into the matter.