Two buildings of Janapriya Basic School in ward 1 of Sanibheri Rural Municipality in Rukum West developed gaping cracks after the 6.4 magnitude earthquake on November 3 last year. The epicentre was in the neighbouring Jajarkot district. After the classrooms were damaged, a temporary hut was built to continue classes. But strong winds damaged the hut a few months ago, and students were left with no alternative but to return the quake-damaged classrooms.

“We are compelled to keep the students in the earthquake-damaged rooms due to the lack of classrooms,” said Lal Rana Magar, headmaster at the community school.

According to him, students from four different grades have been studying in the damaged building.

“Both students and teachers feel uneasy learning and teaching in the rooms with severe cracks. For a few days, the students refused to enter the damaged classrooms. But they are habituated now. However, the children are constantly fearful of aftershocks while in the damaged classrooms,” said Magar. He said that the school administration could not make alternative arrangements after the temporary hut became inhabitable.

Janapriya Basic School runs classes up to grade eight. According to the school administration, a total of 182 students have been studying in the institution from child development class to grade eight.

The situation at Bahunthan-based Shankar Bhawan Secondary School in ward 2 of Bheri Municipality in Jajarkot district is no better. According to Bhim Bahadur Chand, the school principal, students from child development, grade 1, grade 9 and grade 10 are attending classes in the quake-damaged classrooms.

“A Kathmandu-based organisation built a temporary hut where we ran child development classes. But the tin-roof hut could not withstand the extremes of hot summers and cold winters, so we shifted to one of the rooms with cracks,” said Chand.

The November 3 earthquake completely destroyed a two-room building of the school while two other buildings suffered damage.

The students studying in the damaged building are in constant fear. “We fear that another earthquake will hit and the building could collapse. The walls have developed cracks, so they will crumble within even a minor jolt,” said Ganga Oli, a ninth grader at Shankar Bhawan Secondary School.

The earthquake wreaked havoc on hundreds of public and community buildings across Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan districts. According to the Social Development Ministry in Karnali, buildings of 143 schools in Jajarkot and 192 schools in Rukum West were completely destroyed by last year’s earthquake. A total of 296 school buildings in Jajarkot and 509 school buildings in Rukum West incurred partial damage in the disaster. In Salyan, 42 school buildings were partially damaged in the disaster.

Hundreds of students in the quake-affected districts have been studying in damaged buildings. The school children have been forced back into the earthquake-ravaged classrooms after the temporary structures set up after the earthquake became dilapidated and reconstruction of the damaged buildings has yet to gain traction.

“The school management had built a temporary learning centre by using tarpaulin. And a few months ago, the local unit constructed a sturdier hut, but we can accommodate only two classes,” said Bed Kumar Pun, the headmaster at Shital Secondary School in ward 1 of Sanibheri of Rukum West. According to him, students of five classes have been crammed in the quake-damaged building. He said the students were under constant mental stress, knowing they are studying in such unsafe classrooms.

“The school does not have any financial resources to build or repair the damaged buildings. The local municipality has assured us that the buildings will be rebuilt within a year. But we are in a dilemma over how to run classes till then,” said Pun. Shital Secondary School has six buildings among them the earthquake damaged four buildings.

A year after the earthquake, the Karnali provincial government has only recently started the reconstruction of damaged buildings of community schools and health institutions. The provincial Ministry of Physical Infrastructures and Urban Development has allocated Rs500 million in the current fiscal year of 2024-25 for the reconstruction of quake-damaged public buildings, including community schools and health institutions. Of the total, Rs250 million has been allocated for Jajarkot, Rs220 million for Rukum West, and Rs30 million for Salyan.

Although the ministry aims to complete the reconstruction within the current fiscal year, progress has been sluggish. Ramesh Subedi, spokesperson at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructures and Urban Development, said that reconstruction process of earthquake-ravaged schools and health institutions began only after the provincial Council of Ministers approved the Reconstruction of Earthquake-damaged School and Health Institution Programme (Operation and Management) Guidelines-2024 last month.

According to Subedi, the project recommendation committee has already sent its report to the ministry by identifying damaged buildings of schools and health institutions requiring reconstruction.

The committees, formed in the earthquake-hit districts of Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan, are led by the chief of the District Coordination Committee and include the chief district officer, chief of education development and coordination unit, chief of social development office, chief of health unit office and chief of the residence and building section of the respective district.

The committees submitted their reports prioritsing projects based on the extent of the damage.

In Jajarkot, the recommendation committee selected 39 projects for the reconstruction of damaged community schools and health institutions. Similarly, 33 projects were selected in Rukum West and five projects in Salyan.