Students of Ganesh Basic School in Hetauda Sub Metropolis-19, after four years of studying in makeshift classes, have shifted into a newly constructed building. Their previous building was destroyed in the Gorkha Earthquake of April 25, 2015.

In the absence of a school building, the school had been running its classes in one large makeshift room simultaneously. The construction of the two-storey building with eight rooms was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The Rs 17.6 million building was handed over to the school authorities over a week ago.

Indra Lama, a teacher of the school, said that the newly constructed school building is both earthquake-resilient and disabled-friendly.

“The students are excited to take lessons after moving to the new building,” said Lama. There are 76 students in Ganesh Basic School.

According to the data of the District Project Implementation Unit, the construction of more than 1,000 classrooms of 255 schools in Makwanpur have been completed until now.

Badri Pathak, chief at the Education Section of the unit, said that around 500 classrooms are being constructed by various government and non-government organisations.

After the quake, 747 school buildings in the district were marked with red stickers. Engineers had put red stickers on buildings that were at high risk of collapsing. Engineer Sanjib Pudasaine said that the quake had destroyed around 2,105 classrooms in the district.

The reconstruction of the quake-affected schools in Makwanpur is expected to be completed in two years.

Raghunath Khulal, chief at the District Coordination Committee, said that the majority of the school buildings were in a dilapidated condition even before the quake hit.

Out of 516 school buildings in the district, only 54 buildings were left untouched by the quake.