Classroom floor of private school caves in, 14 students injured

AGRA: At least 14 students of a private school were injured when the floor of their classroom sank over eight feet while they were inside on the first floor of the school building. The incident took place right behind the district collectorate at around 12:30 pm, in Shir Nehru Inter College, which has a strength of over 350 students.
According to the injured students, not a single teacher came to rescue the children, but it was their fellow schoolmates who jumped in and removed the bricks and broken benches to save their friends.The students claimed that three similar incidents had taken place in the past inside the dilapidated school, but fortunately no one had been grievously injured so far.
The injured students were identified as Sumona, Asha, Ambika, Kalpna, Swati, Deepshika, Atik, Kayal, Mohit, Saurav, Yogesh, Sandeep and Shubham. Speaking to TOI, Sumona, a student of class IX who suffered knee injury, said, "We were attending a lecture in the small hall, when its floor sank and we all fell into the chemistry lab which is on the ground floor, leaving many of us injured."
Sandeep, another student, said, "The area of the broken floor was so wide that over half-a-dozen benches fell upon us. None of the teachers came to our rescue. We were trapped under the concrete slab, broken benches and mangled ceiling fans for nearly five minutes and were only rescued by our fellow schoolmates." Shubham, who suffered an elbow injury, said, "I will not return to school now. It was a very traumatic experience. I'm still shivering out of fear. The school, which was built in 1964, has never been renovated." After the incident, the school children staged a protest against the school administration, while the injured ones were rushed to hospital for treatment.
Usha Singh, principal of the school, played down the entire incident. "There is nothing to worry as no major injury occurred to any student. All of them are safe," she said. When asked about the reason behind the incident, she said, "We recently started renovation of the school building, but due to shortage of funds, we haven't covered the entire premises."
Speaking to TOI, deputy superintendent of police and circle officer of Chhatta, B S Tyagi said, "We haven't received any written complaint from the parents of injured students. In case no one shows up, we will file a report about the incident and hand it over to the district inspector of schools, who will investigate the matter further."