The Private and Boarding Schools Organization Nepal (PABSON), an umbrella organization of private schools, has urged the public to let them know about such needy children so that their schooling could be sponsored.
"We will support the helpless in any possible way at this time of hardship," said PABSON Chairperson Lakshya Bahadur KC.
The government is yet to flash the status of the orphaned children with regard to the type of support they need, but the education package will be based on their need, he added.As of now, 60 children who lost their parents in the quake have been identified by the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB).
A total of 350 children are reported to have lost a parent in the devastating quake and the strong aftershocks.
CCWB Executive Director Tarak Dhital said the figure could go up as the currently available number is only the beginning.
About the possibility to resuming classes from June 1 onwards, KC stated that those schools that have lost all their basic infrastructure will gather the students and engage them in various activities so that they will gradually get back into the habit of going to school.
"Curriculum-based classes will resume only after three weeks," he added.
However, at least 125 schools are not in any position to begin classes on time. PABSON has collected data on the affected private schools in the 14 severely-hit districts, showing that at least 500 institutions have been affected in one way or the other. Likewise, 5,000 classrooms have been utterly ruined, with no possibility of resuming classes there, said PABSON Vice Chairperson Rajendra Baniya.
The organization has distributed a certain amount of money for the hard-hit schools for putting up tents or huts as a temporary arrangement.
Meanwhile, school operators have urged the government to grant them soft loans for rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure.
"The government needs to understand that we are equally hard-hit by the disaster that didn't discriminate between rich and poor," added KC.
Schools to charge fees for month of closure
Claiming that they are compelled to do so, private and boarding schools are to charge fees for the one-month period during which they were closed.
"The private schools can't stand without the support of the guardians, many of the operators have lost everything, but they are still preparing to set up makeshift arrangements for the children," said PABSON Chairperson KC.
The organization also plans to cover the 26-day gap in the academic calendar, which had just begun when the massive earthquake hit the country.
Once the students feel comfortable about going back to school and rediscover their interest in studies, the gap will be filled through extra class days during some of the public holidays, said the school operators.
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