Teachers in waiting for school bridge renovation

TEACHERS at Pg DiGadong Hj Mohammad Salleh Religious Primary School in Sungai Kedayan "B" are concerned for their students' safety and have raised up concerns on the rundown condition of the bridge which links to the main road near the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Shopping Complex.

Speaking to The Brunei Times, Norhalina Hj Amai, principal of the religious school, said that the bridge has been in a near-collapsing situation since five years ago before she was transferred to the school.

Since being posted to the school in August last year, few efforts have been made to renovate the bridge, said the principal.

According to Norhalina, the school has already applied to the Islamic Religious Studies asking for help to repair the bridge and until now, they are still waiting for the response. In view of this, the school teachers had to come up with their own efforts and budget to deal with the problem, she added.

"Teachers at the school had to make a collection in order to purchase wood, tools and hire some of the villagers to help with the renovation last year," said the 35-year-old principal. She added that the school's male teachers also contributed their time and energy to the renovation in order to minimise labour cost. Teachers also had to use some of their own materials from their homes, such as planks and pillars.

"However, the life span of the bridge did not last long due to the cheap materials and improper maintenance," said the principal. The school has been informed that the budget needed to make a new bridge will be around $10,000, however, they could not come up with that amount on their own with only a handful of teachers at the school.

Norhalina added that as a safety measure, they closed the bridge for the time being as some of the pillars are already rotten and some can be found just hanging on top of the water. She said that the penghulu of Mukim Tamoi, Pengarah Hj Mokti Salleh, paid a visit to the school recently and according to him, there are future plans to renovate the bridge with the help of the villagers sometime this year.

Due to the bridge being closed, students from the city have had to make a detour to another bridge which has a longer distance from the school.

"The most concerning part is that a lot of students use the other bridge and it does not have any side rails on it," she said, further explaining that the students might fall into the river since there is nothing to grab on to at the other bridge.

The principal expressed her hope that relevant authorities will do something to rectify the problem to avoid any accidents from happening and to improve the school's safety standard.

Hjh Sarimah Hj Duraman, a primary six teacher, said that they have already put up a notice at the rundown bridge to warn people not to use it anymore.

They have also reminded students, especially those who live in the Bandar area, to not use the shortcut to the bridge and to not play around at the bridge after school hours.

Student Nurnina Matarsat, 13, who has been using the other bridge to get to the car park where her father waits for her everyday after school, said that she has to now walk a longer distance everyday and it is especially worrying when the heavy rain makes her run across the bridge as it has no side rails to prevent her from falling into the river. (BPA1) The Brunei Times