Disaster Response Nepal Project #20396

Help us rebuild schools in Nepal

by The Santi School Project

Project Report | Mar 24, 2016
Pace of school reconstruction is slow but steady

By Rachana Maharjan | Executive Director

Rebuilding schools is done mostly by hand.

The devastating earthquake in Nepal nearly a year ago flattened homes and school buildings in an instant.

Rebuilding has been just the opposite: frustratingly slow, bogged down by the powerful forces of government bureaucracy and an unofficial trade embargo by neighboring India, among other factors.

Nevertheless, The Santi School Project has signed agreements to renovate classrooms at eight different schools in Lalitpur and Dolakha districts, some of the areas hit hardest by the quake. Construction has begun and is expected to be completed by mid July.

All of these projects have been approved by engineers working in the Nepali government’s Department of Education. It requires that schools seeking funds to rebuild submit a damage assessment report as well as a project estimate.

Santi School has employed engineers to design earthquake-resilient buildings and monitor construction sites once work is under way. One major design change has been to require extra support around doors and window sills.

In some communities ravaged by the earthquake, skilled laborers are busy rebuilding their own homes and are not available to help with the local school. In those cases, schools have asked us to provide manpower.

Another hurdle has been the unofficial blockade at the India-Nepal border, which has choked trade and fuel supplies for months. That means the cost of building materials has increased, and transportation is much more expensive.

Despite those hurdles, the work is getting down and schools are in fact coming back to life. Our first earthquake renovation project has been completed: A $9,000 rebuild of four classrooms at Shringery Community Secondary School that benefitted 250 students. Recently, we inaugurated the new building with a ceremony that included the school administration, parent-teachers association, parents, students and social workers representing the deputy district education officer of Lalitpur district.

Some skilled laborers are busy rebuilding homes.

Pouring a cement foundation.

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Dec 23, 2015
Earthquake renovations to begin at 15 schools

By Rachana Maharjan | Executive Director

Classes are run in a room without walls.

After more than six months of planning renovations, meeting with community members and school leaders, and negotiating with government officials, earlier this month we officially received the green light for projects at 15 different schools damaged by last April’s earthquakes.

Following the approval by Nepal’s Department of Education, work will begin soon to rebuild classroom buildings at 14 schools and repair a toilet block at another school.

Overall, we expect these projects to benefit 3,000 students and 150 teachers in four different districts of Nepal that were hit hardest by the earthquakes.

Most of the schools we’re helping have faced severe overcrowding since the earthquakes, and some even conduct classes in half-destroyed buildings. They were left with no other option once temporary classrooms provided by charity groups last spring were destroyed by the monsoon rains in July. Their bamboo frames and tarpaulin roofs proved no match for the elements.

Now, winter temperatures mean that many children, studying in the open air, are getting sick. But new classrooms could be built in as little as six weeks, if local community members are available to help with the work.

(A photo below documents one such school, Kali Devi Secondary School in Lalitpur district. The walls of one classroom building were removed after being damaged by the tremors. Students attended class in the space even during the monsoon rains.)

Last Sunday, to kick off the renovation projects, we conducted an orientation program in Kathmandu for principals and chairpersons of school management committees. Representatives from 13 of our 15 partner schools attended, sharing their stories about how their schools and communities coped in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes.

Thank you for your support of our earthquake reconstruction work. Look for more updates soon on our progress.

Here, two classes are crowded into a single room.

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Sep 29, 2015
Rebuilding classrooms after the earthquake

By Christopher Heun | Founder and president

We are excited that rebuilding work has officially begun after the earthquake in Nepal in April.

Shringery Secondary School, in the Mahalaxmi municipality of Lalitpur district, is the first of about 20 schools we hope to help in the coming months.

The earthquake damaged the first floor of a two-story building on the grounds of Shringery Secondary School. The construction will add four rooms, which is expected to benefit around 80 students each year. The school expects the construction work to be completed by mid November.

(In the photos below, the open room will be partitioned into four separate classrooms.)

Eventually, we hope to help the school complete a third floor of classrooms as well. This was our original intention last spring, before the earthquake struck.

The school’s principal, Madhav, says, “We will build safe and secure classrooms by following the advice provided by the engineers. We will not compromise from our part on the materials or cut corners to get things done quickly.”

The Santi School Project is proud to support the students and teachers of Shringery Secondary School. We have a history of working with the school to train teachers and have placed volunteers there to help run extra-curricular dance programs for students.

Recently, the school has performed well on the annual school-leaving exam, or SLC, the most important exam that college-bound students take after 10^th grade. Shringery had 100 percent pass rates for the last four years; last spring, 10 out of 13 students passed.

Other school construction projects will kick off soon. Currently, we are working on obtaining government approval for earthquake reconstruction at several other schools in Lalitpur district. That work is expected to begin by mid November.

Thank you for your support as we help repair a few of the thousands of schools damaged by the earthquake. Look for more updates soon on our progress.

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