Kathmandu, June 22

A report released by Save the Children said children’s education was still not prioritised during disaster responses and that only two percent of humanitarian aid funded education.

A report titled ‘Education Disrupted’ launched by Save the Children yesterday said an estimated 3.2 million children were directly affected, both physically and mentally, by the earthquakes last year.

Of these, around 870,000 children were left without permanent classrooms and an additional half a million required support to return to learning. This compounded the negative impact on their education.

After a year of earthquakes in Nepal, children are still being taught in temporary learning centres that were actually meant for use for weeks and maybe months, not years.

It further said there are significant gaps in information from the education sector on both the short and long-term impact disasters have on education.

“A lack of official data collection and analysis on the number of children and schools affected by disasters is reported as often inhibiting coordination amongst response agencies, government bodies and community organisations,” it said.

“Our children face grave issues of losing out on educational opportunities, and being harmed or killed in pursuit of education, because of disasters,” said Delailah Borja, country director of Save the Children in Nepal in a statement today.