Sharan Bayalkoti of Mankamana-4 is a 10th grader at Manakamana Higher Secondary School (HSS). One of the brightest students in his class, he too, like many, lost his home and belongings to the devastating earthquake. However, the collapse of most of the school buildings worries him the most. "I'm worried that school might take a long time to resume classes," he said.
School teacher Janak Adhikari, said, "The school building is badly damaged. We cannot say when we might be able to resume classes."
The building of Dhubra Jyoti Higher Secondary School of Asrang village was also badly damaged in the earthquake. With more than 200 students, the school says it cannot resume classes until a new school building is constructed.
All government and private schools remain closed in the district following the earthquake. Many schools are hesitant to reopen as their buildings have multiple cracks. Locals fear these buildings may collapse if there is another strong aftershock. Students spend their days amid the debris of houses.
According to the District Education Officer Hari Aryal, around 3,000 classrooms of 695 schools have been completely destroyed in the quake. School operators do not want to take chances. Aryal informed 57 teachers and four students were killed in the quake.
Similarly, the quake damaged 31 police posts out of 41 in Barpak, injuring five personnel. Ten of the posts are partially damaged, while 15 others have been completely destroyed, according to Police Inspector Deepak Shrestha. "After the destruction of many police posts, we have been staying under tarpaulins," he said.
Sub-inspector Homnath Adhikari said, "Although we are here to provide service to others, we are in no better condition."
Ganga Bahadur Pariyar of saurpani-4 has not received treatment through he has been sick for the last two weeks. As health posts of his village has collapsed, the village has neither health workers nor medicines, even for common diseases like cough, cold and fever. Almost 80 percent health facilities have been rendered dysfunctional.
Thirty-one health centers in the district have been completely destroye,42 are badly damaged and only eight are currently operating, according to Health Assistant Nawaraj Khadka of district health office.
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