Rukum students attend classes in rickety school buildings

BY RAJU LAMICHHANE, Rukum West, June 18: Children in Rukum West are taking classes in risky school buildings. The Jajarkot earthquake in November and its aftershocks have damaged many school buildings in the district. However, without repairing or reconstructing the buildings, regular classes are being conducted in the buildings which have developed several cracks. 

Dhana Bahadur BK, a grade 8 student at Bheri Dobhan Secondary School in Sanibheri Rural Municipality-2, said that his classroom might collapse at any moment. He said, “Just walking into the classroom is frightening, and we are forced to remain seated there all day."

Similarly, Sangeeta Rana, a grade 10 student at the same school, said that since the earthquake, they had not been able to study comfortably in their classrooms. "We cannot stop studying," she said, "We hope that the school building will be rebuilt soon so we can study in peace."

The school's headmaster Bhupendra Oli said that all the school buildings and classrooms had become dilapidated due to the earthquake. He informed that students from kindergarten to grade 12 were studying in the school that had only two temporary learning classrooms. Therefore, due to the lack of classrooms, grades 8, 10 and 11 are being taught in the cracked building, he added. 

Seven and a half months have passed since the earthquake, and children are still deprived of a safe learning environment.

According to Bhupal Singh Bista, an education officer in Sanibheri Rural Municipality, the earthquake destroyed 64 classrooms in 20 schools and damaged 105 rooms in 45 schools in the rural municipality alone. Of these, only 39 have temporary learning centres. Since there are no additional new buildings and the damaged buildings have not been repaired, schools have to conduct classes in unsafe buildings, he added. 

Likewise, students in Aathbiskot Municipality are also taking classes in damaged school buildings. Dhana Prasad Sharma, the principal of Mashtakailash Basic School in Ward No. 5, said that they had no other option than to conduct classes in the cracked buildings. 

He informed that they had to merge three classes into one room during rainy and windy weather. Similar is the condition of Adarsha Secondary School in Ghetma. Principal Tilak Narayan Malla informed that grades 1, 2, and 3 were being taught in cracked buildings.

According to Indra Bahadur Bista, an education officer in Aathbiskot Municipality, the earthquake destroyed 54 out of 64 community school buildings in the municipality. He said that the rest of the schools were partially damaged. He said that although there was an immediate need for 59 temporary learning centres only 22 had been built and 10 were under construction. He said that the schools without temporary learning centres were conducting classes in unsafe and damaged school buildings.

According to Bista, they need support from various agencies for the reconstruction of damaged school buildings, health centres, community buildings and irrigation systems.