Students of these schools are not aware of fire safety since the school management do not impart any training on tackling emergency situations. None has an emergency fire plan to evacuate children in an orderly manner in case of a fire.

The structure of many school buildings, like that of Dhanmondi Government Boys' High School, is not suitable for students to escape during a fire incident.

The buildings are guarded by grilles with one or two narrow exit points that are kept under lock and key during the school hours, which makes the schools virtual tinderboxes.

About 1,000 to 1,800 students gather every school day in each of the big schools without any primary preparation to save themselves from fire incidents.

The schools in the old part of the city, mostly housed in age-old two or three-storeyed buildings, are highly unsafe because of their location in narrow lanes with only a single door that serves as both entrance and exit.

Fire service officials warned that a fire at these schools might cause great loss of life and property as in most cases the firefighters would not be able to reach the spots on time passing through the narrow, congested lanes.

"We request the school management to install at least one fire extinguisher for every seven classrooms and teach their students and teachers how to use these equipment. This would save hundreds of lives," said an official.

Although all the heads of the institutions feel the necessity of having fire-fighting equipment at their respective schools, they said they are helpless, as decision-makers have no interest in doing so.

"The issue was discussed on many occasions during the meeting with the ministry but no action has been taken yet," said a headmaster of a government high school. "We want to train our students but we need the equipment for training."

The guardians are worried over the situation. "The schools do not have even primary preparation to save our children from fire incidents," said Akramuzzaman Khan, father of a student of Dhanmondhi Govt Boys High school.

He said although there are two staircases in the school building, both of these lead to one narrow exit point. "I'm sure the students will not be able to come out of the building crossing two or three collapsible gates during any accident."

AKM Mostafa Kamal, headmaster of the school, said they keep the exit point open during school hours. He admitted the fact that the school does not have any fire-fighting equipment but said: "We often teach our students on how to escape a fire accident."

The age-old building of Motijheel Govt Boys' High School where some 2,000 students gather every day is also at high risk, as the building may collapse any time and there is no fire extinguisher installed there.

Syed Hafizul Islam, headmaster of Government Laboratory High School, said they do not have any fire-fighting equipment although his predecessor Abul Hasnat Faruque had taken an initiative to install such equipment in the school.

Prodeep Rozario of Holy Cross Girls High School, a school with around 2,500 students, said that they do not have any preparation for fire accidents and they never taught the students on how to tackle such incidents.

The city's renowned schools like Udayan School, Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Wills Little Flower School, Ideal School, Kamrunnessa Girls High School, Narinda Govt High School, Lalmatia Girls High School, Motijheel Govt Girls High School and Dhanmondi Govt Girls High School are running without any fire safety arrangements.

"There is no first-aid box at our school, let alone any fire-fighting equipment," said Tanya, a student of Ispahani Girls High School and College.

A few private schools, mostly the English medium ones, have installed fire extinguishers and fire alarms that work when smoke breaks out. But in most schools the authorities do not regularly refill the extinguishers. They never arrange any fire drill for their students.

"We have fire extinguishers at our classrooms but we need to be trained to use the equipment," said a student of Scholastica.

Management officials of some schools claimed that some of their students who are members of the Red Crescent Society, Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) and Scouts are trained on tackling fire incidents.

The officials of fire service department said they have informally requested the school management to take safety measures at their respective institutions.

"They can mark the exit with an arrow sign on the wall and yellow line on the floor so that no one is lost at the time of an accident," Selim Newaz Bhuiyan, assistant director, Fire Service and Civil Defence, Dhaka.

State Minister for Education ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon told Star City that the government does not have the capacity to provide fire-fighting equipment for all schools at this moment but fire drills could be arranged in every school.

"We will make fire drills mandatory in every school at least once a year and engage BNCC, Red Crescent Society, Scouts and Girls Guide to train the students," he said.