Earthquake-hit schools: Students brave it in the cold and snow

School buildings destroyed in the 2005 earthquake still await repairs and reconstruction.

ISLAMABAD: Many school buildings in remote areas of Abbottabad that were destroyed in the 2005 earthquake still await repairs and reconstruction.

As a result students in many villages are braving the cold and attending roofless classes.

In Birot village some 30 kilometres from Murree, the girls high school has no roof but educational activities have not ceased despite the biting cold and occasional snowfall.

Reconstruction work has been continuing but in fits and starts depending on availability of funds with the Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA).

As a result the educational infrastructure in the earthquake-hit areas lies in a poor state and has badly affected the educational activities in the area, particularly in far-off villages, outside the direct view of authorities.

“School attendance has gone down to less than half of its total strength,” revealed Zakir Hussain, a former student of the razed primary school
in Birot.

Not many people in the 20, 000-strong population can afford to send their children to private schools.

“This area has produced army generals, politicians and bureaucrats because of the people’s love for education. We are worried for our children’s future,” said Muhammad Shaban, a local with school-going children.

In two years, only the foundations for a primary school building could be laid. The work remained stalled for nearly six months.

Taking matters into their own hands, the little schoolboys set up an open-air class with bricks as chairs and no tables. However, these open-air classes have a seasonal character. Only the boys’ elder sisters have been braving the roof-less classes in the winter.

Construction work on the girls school is yet to kick-off. An entrance gate without a boundary wall is adorned with the warning ‘Baghair ijazat andar ana manaa hai’ (No entry without permission).

Rashid Baig, a former primary school student, complained that the government had ignored the boys high school and college which was destroyed by the earthquake. It has remained closed for years. The boys were, instead, taking classes in the nearby
high school.

“The school’s temporary roof-top flies off with every storm,” said Baig.

The contractors responsible for constructing the schools complained that ERRA had not released funds, which is why they had to stop their work.

“After one-and-a-half year, ERRA has released only 75 per cent of the funds. We have resumed work after a period of six months,” claimed Muhammad Kamran, a contractor building a Basic Health Unit, the only one to cater to over
20,000 residents.

Shazia Harris, an ERRA spokeswoman, admitted that the delay was because of the non-availability of funds.

“Out of the available funds, Rs5 billion were released to Provincial Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency and State Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency, responsible for awarding tenders for reconstruction work,”
she said.

“Hopefully the pending projects will now be completed as soon as possible,” she added.

The people are pinning their hopes on their elected representative, Shamoon Yar Khan Abbasi, to address the several complaints they had lodged with him.

However, no one was certain if he ‘remembered’ these complaints.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2011.