UNICEF has again expressed its concern about the future of school-going children in Nepal. Rightly so. The devastating earthquake directly affected over a million children. Many of them are still living under makeshift tents which leak water during heavy rains; nor can they protect against the bitter cold of December. Many school buildings were completely destroyed by repeated earthquakes; most others were in need of urgent repairs. But efforts at rebuilding destroyed infrastructures have been impeded by the Indian economic embargo that has now been in place for two months. The violent protests in the Tarai belt, according to UNICEF, has hampered with the education of another 1.5 million children. "The declining stocks of gas, food and medicines, together with the closure of schools due to political strife in the Tarai plains and shortages of fuel throughout the country," the latest UNICEF report on Nepal drily notes, "are not only inflicting damage to the lives of the children now—they threaten the future of the country itself." This is a measure of the cruelty of the Indian economic embargo on vulnerable groups like women and children.A few weeks ago UNICEF had warned that when children are out of school for an extended period of time, there is a risk that they may never come back and drop out of schooling altogether. The link between absenteeism and poor academic performance is scientifically established. As a report on absenteeism in American school notes, "Chronic absenteeism increases achievement gaps at the elementary, middle, and high school levels." The greater the number of missed days at school, the greater the gap in achievement compared to the students who have attended all classes. This is why governments around the world are calling on parents to ensure that their children are present at school every day. But millions of Nepali students have been kept away from their schools for months on end, which will act as a serious impediment to their intellectual and academic growth. But it's not just their education and intellectual growth that have been affected.
The new UNICEF report notes how the makeshift camps cannot provide "even minimal protection from the coming winter." This means children living inside them could contract cold-related diseases like pneumonia, even as there is an acute shortage of medicines. In face of this impending crisis, even our own government has been able to do precious little to improve things. After offering a few thousand rupees in initial help earthquake victims were left to fend for themselves. Especially in the past months almost the entire focus of the state was on completing new constitution and getting a plenipotentiary government. And so the much-touted Reconstruction Authority never materialized. Without it, it has been impossible to tap into the US $4 billion in relief aid promised by our donors. The true measure of a society, it's said, is how it takes care of its children and the elderly. The Nepali state's apathy to millions of earthquake-hit children has been awful. The silence of the international community on the blockade and its humanitarian costs is as appalling.
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