388 schools rebuilt in Sindhuli

By Our Correspondent,Sindhuli, Nov. 25: Altogether 388 community schools have been built in Sindhuli district as part of the post-earthquake reconstruction.

Education Development and Coordination Unit (EDCU) Sindhuli has informed that 388 schools have been reconstructed out of 551 schools destroyed by the 2015 earthquake in the district.

According to EDCU, of 575 schools in the district, 551 were affected by the earthquake. Among the damaged schools, seven schools are now under construction on contract basis. 

Among them, 303 schools were built through the school management committees, 48 through construction companies and 37 through non-governmental organisations, informed Nirmal Kumar Ghimire, head of the EDCU Sindhuli.

He said that remaining 163 schools affected by the earthquake could not be constructed because they were not included in the Central Project Implementation Unit of the National Reconstruction Authority.

As the term of the NRA’s District Project Implementation Unit (Education) responsible  to rebuild the earthquake-affected schools in the district has expired, it is not certain whether the rest of the earthquake-affected schools will be rebuilt, the EDCU office said. 

Among the earthquake-affected schools that have not been built, some needs to be rebuilt and others need repair. So far Rs. 2.66 billion have been spent for the reconstruction of schools damaged by the earthquake in the district. Among the destroyed schools, the Asian Development Bank built 26 schools at a cost of Rs. 8.34 million, 37 schools were rebuilt by the international non-governmental organisations and the rest with the support of the government. Pragatisheel Secondary School located in Sunkosi Rural Municipality-2, which was affected by the earthquake, has now got a new building.

Chakra Bahadur Shrestha, the principal of a school in Fikkal, informed that there are 21 rooms in the two three-storey buildings built in a period of 25 months by ADB.

All required facilities are available in the newly built schools. 

Higher Secondary School in Suntale in Fikkal Rural Municipality-2 Pokhari has also got a new look after its reconstruction.