Children risk their lives jumping across dam pillars to reach school in MP; video sparks outrage

Bhopal, MP: Children from Kakraua village in MP's Vidisha district are forced to risk their lives every day by negotiating a precarious line of concrete pillars across a check dam on the Betwa river to reach their school, a route they take to avoid a much longer commute.

A video of the children hopping perilously across the wide gaps in the check dam has gone viral on social media, raising fresh concerns about local infrastructure and student safety.

According to a Times of India report, Kakraua village has a school only up to Class 8, forcing students seeking secondary education to travel to the nearest high school located about 13 km away by road. To avoid the long commute, nine students, including five girls studying in Class 9, take a dangerous shortcut across a check dam, reducing the journey to around 1.5 km.

Kakraua falls within the parliamentary constituency of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The shortcut requires students to cross a check dam by hopping across around 10 exposed concrete pillars, each separated by gaps of about three to four feet. Villagers say the route becomes especially perilous during the monsoon, when the pillars turn slippery, and the Betwa River's strong current increases the risk of accidents.

The viral video has sparked widespread outrage on social media, with many users expressing shock that schoolchildren are forced to risk their lives every day simply to access education. Several netizens questioned why basic infrastructure has remained absent despite repeated concerns over student safety.

Many users called for accountability from the authorities, demanding immediate construction of a safe bridge or alternative route.