KATHMANDU: Most of the schools in Kathmandu Valley are found to have been running classes in their old buildings cracked by earthquakes, according to a study.

The study also revealed that only 32 per cent of the school buildings are safe.

The devastating earthquake on April 25 has caused extensive damages to at least 20,000 school buildings in more than 14 districts while many buildings are yet to undergo technical assessment for safety.

An expert with the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET-Nepal), Surya Acharya, who took part in the assessment of school buildings and necessity evaluation in the educational field along with a team from the Education Ministry, said only 32 per cent or 592 school buildings are safe. Of the total of 1835 schools in the area, 66 per cent are run by the private sector.

According to Acharya, 286 (16 per cent) schools need to be reconstructed.

At least 34 per cent of the school buildings in Kathmandu have been tagged with red stickers whereas the percentage in Bhaktapur district stands at 27 and 51 in Lalitpur district.

In other cases, many private school institutes have managed to change the red sticker into yellow sticker by pressuring the concerned government authority, but it indicates serious irregularity in the process of assessment, according to Acharya.