Lamjung: As many as 120 schools in Lamjung damaged by the massive earthquake that hit Nepal in April 2015, have been reconstructed. Schools had been conducting educational activities in temporary sheds prior to the reconstruction program.

The reconstruction effort is an outcome of a collaborative project between the Department of Education (DoE) and Central Project Implementation Unit (Education) of National Reconstruction Authority (NRA-CPI), according to Education Development and Coordination Office of Lamjung. Chief of the Office, Narayan Regmi, informed that 120 out of 270 schools completely damaged by the earthquake have been reconstructed.

According to Regmi, completely damaged schools have been reconstructed while most of the schools suffering partial damage have been repaired. All 285 schools affected by the quake in the district have been renovated, he added.

Regmi further informed that in the fiscal year 2072/73, 75 two-roomed, 13 three-roomed and nine four-roomed schools were renovated under the program. For this, a budget of Rs 15 crore 54 lakh had been made available by the CPI (Education) of NRA.

Similarly, a budget of NRs 20.8 million was provided in the fiscal year 2073/74 for the reconstruction of three two-roomed, three three-roomed and two four-roomed schools.

For the fiscal year 2074/75, the DoE provided for the reconstruction of 25 two-roomed and eight four-roomed schools and CPI (Education) of NRA provided for the reconstruction of three two-roomed, three three-roomed and two four-roomed schools, the total budget amounting to over 20 million rupees. All the reconstruction was done from the provided budget, Regmi said.

Furthermore, for the current fiscal year, CPI (Education) of NRA has provided a budget of Rs 10 crore 24 lakh for the reconstruction of 12 two-roomed, three three-roomed and 14 four-roomed schools.

Reconstruction works on the allocated number of schools will begin from the first week of Magh from the given budget, informed Engineer Dipakraj Kandel of the Education Branch of the Grant Management and Local Infrastructure Unit (Education) at District Project Implementation Office of National Reconstruction Authority.