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.