Forgotten Schools( My Republica, June 20 2017)

Classes cannot be conducted during the rains or on particularly hot or cold days

Education is the constitutional right of every Nepali child yet a large number of children are still deprived of it because of government negligence. The 2015 earthquakes resulted in big disparities in educational outcomes between affected and unaffected schools.

According to government statistics, over 8,600 schools were destroyed in 14 most-affected districts, hampering the studies of around 1.2 million children went to those schools. When they have to compete with students of ‘privileged’ schools in the open job market or in higher education, they will certainly lag behind, and for no fault of their own. 

Nearly two and half years after the devastating earthquakes destroyed these schools, the government has done little to normalize the situation. While several private schools have been reconstructed with private funds most government schools are in battered conditions. Many others—like the Darbar High School in Ranipokhari, Kathmandu—still lack funds to clear the debris. 

About 3,000 Transit Learning Centers (TLCs) were built in the affected districts, serving as temporary shelters with walls and roofs made of plastic, straw, bamboo or zinc sheets.

But TLCs are small and cannot accommodate all students. So students often have to study under open skies, which means classes cannot be conducted during the rainy season, as well as on particularly hot or cold days.  Even these centers have worn out, and they might collapse any time. 

Half the students in affected areas are girls. As they are not attending schools, they are being trafficked from quake-affected regions like Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot. Large number of girls from these areas are brought to urban centers to work in restaurants and dance bars, or trafficked abroad. According to the National Human Rights Commission, after the earthquakes, trafficking of girls below 18 shot up by 15 percent in these districts. Nepal Police says trafficking from these areas could have increased by as much as 150 percent. 

Education could have made these girls more aware of trafficking. But they have not been able to attend their battered schools. Besides the girls, even the physically and mentally challenged children are dropping out at alarming rates. 

Yes, some donor agencies have come to their aid and also helped with reconstruction of damaged schools. But they have not been able to do as much as they had committed to.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for example, had committed to rebuild 283 schools but has completed only 83 so far. Likewise, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had committed to rebuild 175 schools but has done only 84. The government initiative is even more worrisome, so far rebuilding less than 50 schools.

Rural students had been faring badly even before the earthquakes. In 2014, 93 percent students from private schools passed SLC exams while only 28 percent from public schools did. This gap is going to widen in the coming years as schools in affected districts await reconstruction. 

Lowering of educational budget has also hindered reconstruction. At least 15 percent of total budget used to be allocated for education. This fiscal, this has come down to 5.2 percent, an annual decline of 38.4 percent. Education budget has been diverted to establishment of new federal units and salary of local government staffs. This is a big setback to education sector, and schools of affected areas in particular. Since the government has committed to spend at least 20 percent of budget on education in various international forums, the donors should be constantly reminding it to live up to this commitment.

According to the Post Disaster Recovery Framework, US $167 million is needed for school reconstruction and yet only $53 million has been set aside for the purpose. It is uncertain if and how the remaining $ 114 million will be put together. Even donors that pledged to support school reconstruction are helpless without government initiative. 

We are talking about the fate of 1.2 million children of affected areas. It is vital that all the damaged schools are soon rebuilt, and books and educational materials delivered to them on time. For this, the government should increase educational budget to 20 percent of the total, as it has committed to do with the international community. Perhaps, then, the donor agencies would also be tempted to complete their unfinished business. 

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