Battered Schools( myRepublica June 30, 2015)

Disparity in school Education from quake

"Earthquake has created disparities in educational performance between private and public schools, and between rural and urban schools. 

Most public and community schools whose buildings were destroyed in the quake lack funds even to clear the debris. 

It's especially disadvantageous for girls who are at high risk of not returning to school, or being exploited during this time of crisis owing to their lower social status and gender bias."

The recent earthquakes and numerous aftershocks in Nepal have shattered its school system. It has also created disparities in educational performance between private and public schools, and between rural and urban schools. All educational institutes of the affected districts which were closed after the April 25 earthquake were opened after five weeks. However, not all schools in the country have been able to resume studies. Many private schools in urban centers like Kathmandu Valley which were resourceful have arranged for temporary classes by taking extra donation from parents.

However, most public schools in poor regions which depended almost exclusively on government funds have started classes only on paper. The same is true of private schools in poor areas. Such conditions will naturally widen the disparity between haves and haves-not in upcoming days. Even before the earthquake, the disparity between private and public school education was profound, compared on teacher to student ratio, number of classes per academic year, availability of textbook for students, pass percentage in SLC and so on.

For example, in 2014, 93 percent students from private schools passed SLC, while only 28 percent from public schools did. This gap is going to widen in coming years: between the impoverished versus the affluent, private versus public and rural versus urban schools, if concerned stakeholders don't do something about it, and soon. The 2015 SLC examinations, held before the earthquake, showed some progress. But since the result came out after the quake, sympathy and grace mark must have played their role in improving the pass percentage.

Surkhet was heavily affected by floods last year. This year in SLC, its eight community schools, including six in the heavily flood affected VDCs, have zero percent success. According to the district school inspector, as reported in Republica: "The disastrous flood without doubt is a major factor for this result. It has had a grave psychological impact on students. Majority of students who appeared in the exams were flood victims and some had lost their parents or relatives." This is a snapshot of what is going to happen in the quake-affected districts. Compared to Surkhet, many of the areas affected by recent earthquakes are in a worse condition, with school buildings razed to the ground and whole villages destroyed.

Most public and community schools whose buildings were destroyed in the quake lack funds even to clear the debris. For example, we can see a heap of unmanaged debris in front of Durbar High School, and Nandiratri School, both near the center of the capital city.They are unable to arrange for temporary classes and don't have ample open space. Such schools should be allowed to run classes at some nearby open public space. Many private schools in rural areas are in the same destitute condition. Government should help such schools conduct temporary classes by providing them with necessary construction materials. If not supported, such deprived schools will fall farther behind. School teachers from rural areas who came to Kathmandu and other cities are now not returning to quake affected areas.

According to a UNICEF report, about 7,500 schools have been affected in the 49 quake-hit districts and more than 90 percent of schools are destroyed in the worst-hit Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot. According to PABSON, a private school umbrella organization, in the three districts of the valley plus Kavre, at least 115 private schools need to be demolished immediately. Under such circumstances, most schools were reopened without any homework, without retrofitting and without temporary, safer classrooms. This haste was the result of many factors. It's obvious that private schools that were charging parents handsome tuition fees hurried to open their schools not to lose out on the monthly fees.

Meantime, most government schools have opened only partially, and even those that have opened don't have sufficient classrooms and other educational resources. Most government schools in Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, Kavre, Dhading, Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts, which were more affected by the recent quakes than schools in Kathmandu Valley, are having a great difficulty in conducting classes. For example, at a school in Dalchoki, southern Lalitpur, 84 students of class 9 and 10 were bound to use rooms marked with red stickers that indicate that the rooms need to be demolished immediately. Same is true of the Gupteswar High School in Lalitpur, only 24 km south of Lagankhel, where 60 students are studying in buildings with red stickers. Often, they also bring along their small siblings since there is no one to take care of them back home.

Naturally, regular classes cannot be conducted in such schools. According to an inspection team of the Ministry of Education, in Kathmandu Valley alone, around 60 percent school buildings are damaged and about 2,000 classrooms have been rendered unusable. In Kavre, out of its 590 community schools, more than 100 are completely destroyed. In ten highly affected districts, including Kathmandu Valley, the earthquake has affected the education of around a million school-going children. This is a big setback for a country with 66 percent literacy, which, nonetheless, had seen school attendance climb to 95 percent in recent years, up from 64 percent in 1990. And it's especially disadvantageous for girls who are at high risk of not returning to school, or being exploited during this time of crisis owing to their lower social status and gender bias.

One reason behind the haste to reopen schools, even without putting in place proper safeguards, was to complete the mandatory 220 class days for the academic year. However, this problem could have been solved by adjusting holidays for festivals, summer and winter vacations. But a lot can still be done. First, the government must without further ado provide every kind of financial and technical support to rural and government schools so that they can resume regular classes at the earliest. Second, the inspection of all school buildings in quake affected regions should be made mandatory and all unsafe buildings should be promptly demolished. If need be, the schools should be closed until the time the buildings they are occupying have not been declared safe.

Retrofit schools: Still ample time(Himalayan Times, June 26, 2015)

"In the present conditions resuming classes has difficulties as schools are not physically prepared and parents, teachers and students too are not mentally ready. The government should hurry to manage the debris and make temporary classes for the needy schools"

Educational institutes which were closed after the deadly earthquake of April 25, have now resumed. Schools have opened from May 31. According to the inspection team of the Ministry of Education, in Kathmandu Valley, around 60 per cent of the school buildings are damaged and about two thousand class rooms are unusable. School buildings of Gorkha, Sindhupalchok, Dolakha, Kavre, Dhading, Nuwakot and Rasuwa were most affected by the quake than those of in Kathmandu. According to the Ministry, in the ten highly affected districts, including those of Kathmandu Valley, quake has affected the education of about one million school going children. 

Meantime, while schools administrations have announced the opening of the schools the presence of student in the first two days was reportedly very low, at around 30 per cent. Children are joining their schools halfheartedly. The low presence of students is also due to the hesitation of parents sending their children to school. Parents are not fully satisfied with the safety condition of schools and class rooms where their children have to stay throughout the day. School children are confused and parents are scared after the reopening of schools. 

School going children were trapped in tents for more than a month and this monotonous life have affected them so much that they are willing to join school. They are also worried if they can cover their course before the exams. But at one part of the mind is the horrible memory of the quake. Parents are more frightened than their children. Many school buildings were damaged partially or fully. Even those safe schools that have got green stickers, parents still have doubts on the inspection authorities. They suspect that the school authority could have influenced the inspectors. Parents, who had come to inspect the condition of schools were restrained by several school authorities. 

Shuprabhat Bhandari, the president of the Parents Association after continuous inspection, has mentioned that many private schools are hiding ruptures in the building with cements just to show their school is safe, which is very risky. As hundreds of small children have to spend hours in schools, those schools with partial damage are more dangerous than the fully damaged schools. They must consult seismology experts, engineers or architects and strengthen the buildings before covering up the cracks. 

Many schools are four or five stories tall. Parent are afraid if further big aftershocks occur their children at the upper story could be clogged on the congested stairs. Such schools should manage class in ground tents for a few weeks more until the terror of quakes subside or they can also run classes in shifts. Schools should discuss openly with parents what damage was done by the quake and what retrofitting techniques they used. All school buildings should be thoroughly inspected by the joint team of engineers, government officers, and parent representatives. It is not advisable to open schools before they are properly managed. Most public schools whose buildings are destroyed lack fund even to manage the debris. They are unable to make temporary classes and have small open space at their premises. Such schools should be allowed to run classes at some nearby open public space or some nearby schools can share their space. The government should provide the necessary construction materials for temporary school buildings. If not fully supported the public schools will be further behind the private schools. One worry of the school administration is the educational schedule. As per the Ministry of Education each educational session should have 220 class days. Schools fear that with these long school shutdowns they could fail to comply with this regulation. This problem can be solved with some adjustment for which schools need to discuss with the government and the public. This year being an unusual year, we can make certain adjustments by curtailing long holidays. 

For example, we can make festival holidays shorter. We can confine the holidays to festivals like Dashai, Tihar, Chhath, and Losar to 20 days in total. Schools were closed already for 37 days after the quake of April 25. This year we should have no summer or winter vacation. If we exclude from 365 days of the full year, 52 Saturdays, 20 festivals, and 37 quake days there would remain 256 days of classes. Now, if we use 36 extra days for retrofitting or for the construction of temporary classes we will still have 220 class days to comply with the regulation. Hence, it is clear that we still can have about a month’s time to build the infrastructure of schools or for the government to construct temporary classes. This will also provide ample time to the parents and students to adjust psychologically with the aftershocks as they will be ceasing day-by-day. There will be ample time for parents to interact with schools. In the present conditions resuming classes has difficulties as schools are not physically prepared and parents, teachers and students too are not mentally ready. The government should hurry to manage the debris and make temporary classes for the needy schools. It is the prime responsibility of the school administration and the government to provide a safer classroom to the students and assurance to the parents to send their children to school rather than merely hurry to open.

In the present conditions resuming classes has difficulties as schools are not physically prepared and parents, teachers and students too are not mentally ready. The government should hurry to manage the debris and make temporary classes for the needy schools
http://epaper.thehimalayantimes.com/Details.aspx?id=3634&boxid=63811158&dat=6/26/2015

We shall overcome(June 9, Republica)

The April 25 earthquake has left the scientists baffled. International seismological researchers and many others are collecting different data and information to modify their thinking about quakes and about communities. Several theories they floated about Nepal have been proved wrong.

Nepal has experienced some large scale earthquakes in its history. Written record shows the first quake in 1255 with epicenter at Kathmandu that killed 30 percent of the then population. The 8.3 whopper of 1934 whose epicenter was at Biratnagar-Bihar border killed about 16,000 people of Nepal and India including 5,000 in Nepal alone. The 1988 quake with epicenter at Udayapur killed more than 1,000 people and badly destroyed Dharan and many other eastern villages. The 2015 quake of magnitude 7.8 Richter scale whose epicenter was at Barpak of Gorkha has killed more than 8, 600 and has wrought heavy physical and cultural damage.

Nepal is considered to be built from the continuous big collision of Indian and Tibetan tectonic plates that raised the land which was once immersed below the sea. Because of it the country is always at risk of the earthquake. But with the existing seismologic knowledge and tools, the prediction of exact year and location of any earthquake is not possible in any part of the world. The only possibility is the estimate of it happening. With more research, scientists can predict how 'more likely' the quake can hit certain location of the world.

With more localized researches quakes are predicted with more sharpness about its occurrence time and intensity, for example in North American region, Japanese region and few other places of the world than elsewhere including Nepal. More seismological surveys need to be conducted in Nepal for better regional prediction capacity. It is seen that we have many experts in the country but we need better encouragement and emphasis for such work. The woeful condition of the National Seismological Center at Lainchaur, Kathmandu shows negligence of the state. ICIMOD, which is a learning and knowledge sharing centre concentrated on Hindu Kush Himalayan Region mountain development, can help us.

This quake was the worst nightmare for this generation of Nepalis. Meantime, many international seismological experts were surprised at the low magnitude of the quake, for less number of casualties and for such small scale of physical damage especially in Kathmandu Valley. Now, with the declining magnitude of the aftershocks, national and international seismologists are more certain about the ceasing of this quake episode.

The quake has become new case-study for seismologists. A group of seismologists from the US were saying that the strange reason behind the low devastation in Kathmandu Valley has raised their deep concern and interest. They are initially suspecting the soil composition of the valley, thickness of rocks beneath the earth, underneath hollowness from heavy water pumping or any other unknown reasons.

Sociologists and political experts were thinking that Nepal will meet Haiti's fate after the quake. This prediction also seems to have proved wrong if we observe the dynamism of early rescue and relief attempts seen in the country. Disregarding their race, region, religion, belief, age or sex everyone was overwhelmingly rushing to support their countrymen in need. Even the government, known for its slowness, sprang into action quickly with its security force. Although the unpreparedness and absence of local level government brought about great dismay, we should not forget the grand scale of destruction and our ground realities.

Nepali politics was polarized and fragile in the recent years, especially about issues of constitution. The government was headed by one of the weakest personalities in the history of Nepal. Given this context and the scale of destruction, many political analysts considered the country at deadfall. Contrary to this, the aftermath of the quake showed remarkable 'silver lining' in the political horizon with solidarity shown by leaders of opposition or even standoffish parties. All have joined to help the needy. Parliamentarians, party leaders and their cadres rushed to the affected villages. Many constructed temporary shelters and have promised to make permanent houses to villagers. All these activities augur well for the national future and disprove the thinking that Nepal will be the next Haiti.

Tourism was one of our major earning sectors. Unfortunately, we lost several temples at Basantapur, Patan and Bhaktapur but fortunately enough our single international airport remained unscathed. A miracle, when few meters on the side of international airport at Gatthaghar the road was badly cracked with elongated splits. Major highways and small connecting mountain roads were mostly intact. Government inspection team has found about 90 percent hotels to be safe. Our glaciers and lakes which were at the risk of eruption from climate change were safe from the quake.

Foreign tourists in Nepal are much attracted by our natural beauty such as mountains, lakes, rivers and hills. Some mountain tracks and famous tourist villages like Barpak and Dhunche were destroyed. But trek routes are never permanent and alternative routes or new tourist villages are always possible, which is to be discovered by our pioneer trekkers and tourism entrepreneurs. Tourism operators need to project to international experts and travel agencies that Nepal is a safe destination.

Economists are worried about the economic future and sustainability of the country. With the high trade-deficit of the country which only imports and produces the least, it is likely that all currently needed construction materials will be imported. But this is the time for government to make encouraging policies to uplift such industries. Inflation is quite likely, but it is not the crux of the problem as it can be balanced with productivity and controlled by interest rate.

One serious shortcoming in reconstruction is the shortage of skillful labor force that has migrated abroad in a great number. They can be brought back by raising wages. Further, a huge labor force is still in the country that has remained idle. It can be given quick construction and demolition trainings and sent to the affected areas. This will circulate money and revitalize economy.

Many worst predictions are proving wrong for Nepal. The country will rise like mythical phoenix with strong determination and will be stronger than before if everyone works sincerely for reconstruction.