Altogether 146 schools damaged by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake, which killed five persons in Nepal besides leaving many more injured, have yet not repaired their buildings though schools across the country are all set to reopen from Wednesday. [break]
The earthquake-wrecked schools had been shut down for over a week even before the beginning of the holidays.
The earthquake-wrecked schools were shut since September 19, the day after the quake, till September 28.
“After the end of holiday, we face the difficulty of running classes as our buildings are still not repaired,” said Chiranjeevi Poudel, principal of Sarswoti Higher Secondary School in Sikauncha village of Taplejung. No wonder, all the damaged schools will have to resume classes under the open sky.
“We are worried especially because exams are round the corner,” said Laxmi Prasad Mabo, principal of Laxmi Secondary School in Mamangkhe village. “It is hard for students to prepare for exams in this condition.”
However, District Education Office (DEO) of Taplejung said it can allocate budget for repairing damaged school buildings only after getting detailed reports of the damage.
“Even the regular budget allocated for school building construction will be sanctioned only after collection of detail damage reports,” said acting District Education Officer Lay Prasad Niraula.
According to Niraula, Department of Education (DoE) has categorically instructed the Taplejung DEO to not allocate budget to any school without first receiving exact details of the damage.
The possible delay in allocation of budget for repairing damaged school buildings has fueled students´ fear that they would have to attend classes under the open sky in chilling winter months.
“How can we send our children to study under the open sky in winter,” said Asha Ram Rai, a local, whose children study at Khamphiyok Primary School in Surumkhem village of Taplejugn, adding, “Teachers can brave chilling cold but not our children.”
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