Students Turn to Prayer as Dikrong River Erosion Threatens School in Bihpuria

Amid growing fears of disaster, students, parents, and teachers of Debesuthan Janajati Higher Secondary School in Bihpuria’s Bhalukguri village gathered on the banks of the Dikrong River—not in celebration, but in prayer. Their collective appeal: save their school from the aggressive and advancing erosion that now threatens to wipe it off the map.

The Dikrong River has taken on a dangerously destructive form in recent weeks, with erosion at Bhalukguri reaching alarming levels. Debesuthan Janajati Higher Secondary School—an institution that provides education to over 300 students from nearly a dozen villages—now faces the imminent threat of total destruction. The river’s banks are collapsing with growing speed, and the school stands directly in its path.

Despite multiple written and verbal appeals to the concerned departments, no meaningful or lasting action has been taken. The school community, made up of tribal and rural families, has been left to fend for itself. With the administration remaining silent, fear has gripped the teachers and parents, and students have begun gathering to pray—seeking divine help in the absence of institutional support.

“We have reached out to officials again and again. But no major help has come. Now, we only have God to turn to,” said one teacher, visibly shaken.

The scene paints a grim picture of the long-standing negligence rural educational institutions face in Assam. While erosion-control measures are often expedited in urban or high-profile areas, places like Bhalukguri continue to suffer silently.

Unless immediate and decisive intervention is taken—such as the construction of embankments and erosion mitigation structures—the school may soon cease to exist. Along with it, the futures of hundreds of students stand to be swept away by the Dikrong’s fury.

The prayers have begun. The question that now remains is whether those in power are listening.

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