By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Apr. 24: The consequences of the devastating 2015 earthquake have been tragic and deeply disturbing to Nepalis all across the country.
But our nation has shown resilience in the face of crisis and has successfully risen from the rubbles. Despite the losses of precious lives and historical relics, the calamity has also proven to be an opportunity in disguise, especially in the infrastructure development of community schools.
The once old and dilapidated school buildings were flattened by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake. However, today these schools have bounced back and now stand erect stronger than ever. More than 6,000 community schools in 31 districts boast of well-equipped modern buildings and other infrastructures.
In six years after the earthquake struck, the government has been able to reconstruct 6,246 of the 7,553 schools selected for reconstruction. According to the Central Level Project Implementation Unit, CLPIU (Education) under the National Reconstruction Authority, reconstruction of the remaining schools will complete within this fiscal year.
“The remaining 1,307 schools will soon stand tall within the next three months,” assured Ram Sharan Sapkota, Project Director of CLPIU (Education). “Therefore, the CLPIU (Education) has lived up to its commitment to reconstructing all these schools in five years,” he added.
As many as 54,584 classrooms of 9,072 schools in 31 districts were rendered incapable of conducting classes after the quake. Of these damaged infrastructures, 327 schools merged to pool their resources together while others shut down, and the government formulated a reconstruction project for 7,553 school buildings.
According to the unit, 4,933 school buildings have been reconstructed through the school management committee, 554 through contractors, and 759 through non-governmental organisations.
Although the unit has successfully completed the reconstruction of over 6,000 schools, work on 1500 had to weather several different hurdles pushing back the project deadline. The reconstruction team cites land management problems, heritage site controversies among other reasons as major deterrents halting the construction works.
Likewise, the unit informed that of Rs. 110.79 billion required for the reconstruction of all damaged school buildings, Rs. 53.19 billion has been spent so far. Furthermore, Rs. 18.60 billion has been allocated for the current fiscal year.
Project Director Sapkota also expressed his concern over the lack of budget to further the reconstruction process. “Funds aren’t coming in as anticipated because we haven’t received the estimated amount from the donor agencies,” he said.
“The schools have got new and modern buildings. Now the physical infrastructure has to be linked to the quality of education. Authorities have to be serious to connect schools with information technology,” Dr. Yuvaraj Poudel, deputy director of the unit, said.