More than 200 community school buildings that were destroyed in the 2015 earthquake are yet to be reconstructed in Gorkha.
District Education Officer Dependra Subedi said of the total 443 school buildings ravaged by the quake, 212 buildings are yet to be reconstructed.
The new academic session begins from mid-April, and many schools in the district still do not have proper classrooms.
Subedi said the District Education Office (DEO) has repeatedly asked the National Project Implementation Unit at the centre to take the initiative to expedite the school rebuilding works, but to no avail.
“The only thing we have been getting in response is assurance, that the school buildings will be constructed soon,” he said. “We do not know for how long these schools will have to run their classes under flimsy huts.”
According to the DEO, the construction of 91 school buildings have not even started while the remaining buildings are under construction, albeit in a slugghish pace.
The education office and other concerned agencies are trying to arrange resources to start the construction of 80 school buildings.
For the construction of the remaining 11 school buildings, the embassies of India and China have pledged funds but have not delivered on them yet.
Subedi said the Indian Embassy had pledged to build 10 schools in places like Laxmibazar, Gyalchok, Chhepetar, Kashigaun, Gakhu, Sirdibash, Uhiya and Thumi. It has yet to start the construction of those school buildings.
The reconstruction of a school building in Taklung, which was to be funded by China, has also not started.
“Last year some donor agencies and embassies had taken the responsibility of constructing some school buildings in the district. Even those projects too are in a limbo,” Subedi said.
The 2015 earthquake had destroyed as many as 33,000 classrooms of nearly 8,000 schools across the country.
In May, 2016, the Post Disaster Recovery Framework prepared by the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) had estimated that Rs 180 billion would be required for the construction of the quake-destroyed academic institutions and Rs 167 billion for rebuilding schools and classrooms. (PR)
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