When schools across the 14 districts most affected by the Great Earthquake reopened on May 31, after over a month's unplanned hiatus, parents were justifiably nervous. Small aftershocks continue to be felt. Many schools that were destroyed have set up temporary learning centers (TLC) for their students. Others have resumed classes in old classrooms that were apparently deemed safe by the government. Most schools that opened on Sunday saw around 40 percent attendance, which is not bad for the first day after such a big calamity. As the frequency and intensity of new tremors go down, so will the level of panic. And with each passing day without a major seismic event, more parents will start sending their children to school. But are the schools that have resumed classes in old buildings really safe? There are reasons for doubt. Who exactly has monitored these buildings and deemed them safe for small students? There are rumors (not all of them bogus) that engineers are being bribed to mark even badly damaged buildings as 'safe'. This may also be happening with school buildings.What worries us the most is that as more time passes without a big earthquake—touch wood!—a sense of complacency could set in. Before the Great Earthquake, neither the government nor private school operators had shown much interest in ensuring the safety of school infrastructure. This was not because they were unaware of the risks. After all, people in quake-prone regions like Kathmandu Valley have long been reminded of their high vulnerability. Yes, some schools had retrofitted their buildings to make them quake-resistant. But everyone could see that most school buildings were unsafe. They didn't even have fire-escapes, much less open space where people could congregate during an emergency. Since the last big earthquake had happened over 80 years ago, very few had bothered to prepare for such emergencies.
There should be no room for such negligence after the recent scare. It was pure luck that the 7.6-magnitude first earthquake didn't come on a school day. Otherwise, the scale of devastation would be hard to imagine. As important as it is to get students back into learning mindset, it is even more important to ensure that the school buildings where they spend most of their time are completely safe. Thus, for the safety of our five million school-going students, retrofitting school buildings in vulnerable areas must be made mandatory. The buildings should also facilitate easy emergency evacuation. These are long-term issues. There are also concerns over the temporary learning centers. Do they have separate toilets for girls? Do students have access to potable water? And what are they being taught to do if another big one comes? Most important, are the students, many of them badly traumatized by the recent tremors, in a mental state to resume their studies? All school students must be accessed for emotional trauma. But if they, our future planners and policy-makers, have recently acquired a healthy fear for the destructive power of big earthquakes, so much the better.
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