No bricks in the wall: 64% of schools in AJK are still heaps of rubble
Children study under the open sky and in tents outside their devastated schools.
BAGH:
Sixty-four per cent of schools destroyed by the 2005 tremor in Bagh district of AJK are yet to be reconstructed.
In all, 770 state-run schools were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake in Bagh. Of them, only 273 have been reconstructed since, according to Raja Roshan Johar, the district education officer. Interestingly, most of these schools have been reconstructed with funding from foreign and local donors.
“Now, there is a feeling of discrimination. While some pupils study in schools reconstructed by NGOs, others are made to sit on the rubble of their schools. This might cause an inferiority complex among them,” Johar told a ceremony held in connection with the 7th anniversary of the 2005 earthquake at a state-run school reconstructed by USAID in Dhal Qazian.
Another speaker, Gul Zaman, who led a community-based team to support USAID’s reconstruction of the Dhal Qazian boys high school, appealed to the AJK government to provide relief to the students and teachers working under difficult conditions at the quake-affected schools.
According to residents, some of the schools in Bagh still don’t have roofs. These schools will be exposed to snow in winter for the 7th year in a row. Most of the damaged furniture was sold as junk while some schools have yet to receive new furniture.
People in Bagh wonder who is responsible for the reconstruction of schools and how much time it might take. The name of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) comes up regularly, often followed by accusations and complaints.
Brigadier (retd) Pervez Niazi, who is the director general of ERRA’s Planning Wing II, defended the authority’s performance when contacted by The Express Tribune.
“ERRA is not to be blamed,” he said. The planning wing deals with education issues in the quake-hit areas.
Niazi said international aid that came Pakistan’s way since the 2005 catastrophe – around $2.5 billion after foreign donors deducted their own relief expenditures – was never received by ERRA directly.
“The Pakistani government received the money and there was no separate fund for it. ERRA requests the government for funds on an annual basis according to its requirements.”
The funds have, however, dried up over the last couple of years.
“We need a lot of money,” Niazi said. “In 2011, we requested Rs50 billion but received only Rs8 billion under the annual budget.”
Niazi said part of the money might have been spent on other relief and rehabilitation activities, following the 2010 floods. “Due to lack of funding, we spend money on projects which show physical progress of 50% or more,” he added.
This means that the schools where reconstruction has not even begun might not see any work for a long time.
A visit to Balakot in Mansehra district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa reveals a similar state of public schools and health facilities.
“Only 40% of the schools and other community infrastructure have been partially reconstructed during the last 6 years,” said a local teacher, Sardar Khursheed, adding that pupils are studying in worn-out tents that were donated back in 2005.
He said the tents are so debilitated that teachers are compelled to take classes under the open sky and send the children home during rainy weather. Edited by Ali Haider Habib
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2012.
Sixty-four per cent of schools destroyed by the 2005 tremor in Bagh district of AJK are yet to be reconstructed.
In all, 770 state-run schools were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake in Bagh. Of them, only 273 have been reconstructed since, according to Raja Roshan Johar, the district education officer. Interestingly, most of these schools have been reconstructed with funding from foreign and local donors.
“Now, there is a feeling of discrimination. While some pupils study in schools reconstructed by NGOs, others are made to sit on the rubble of their schools. This might cause an inferiority complex among them,” Johar told a ceremony held in connection with the 7th anniversary of the 2005 earthquake at a state-run school reconstructed by USAID in Dhal Qazian.
Another speaker, Gul Zaman, who led a community-based team to support USAID’s reconstruction of the Dhal Qazian boys high school, appealed to the AJK government to provide relief to the students and teachers working under difficult conditions at the quake-affected schools.
According to residents, some of the schools in Bagh still don’t have roofs. These schools will be exposed to snow in winter for the 7th year in a row. Most of the damaged furniture was sold as junk while some schools have yet to receive new furniture.
People in Bagh wonder who is responsible for the reconstruction of schools and how much time it might take. The name of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) comes up regularly, often followed by accusations and complaints.
Brigadier (retd) Pervez Niazi, who is the director general of ERRA’s Planning Wing II, defended the authority’s performance when contacted by The Express Tribune.
“ERRA is not to be blamed,” he said. The planning wing deals with education issues in the quake-hit areas.
Niazi said international aid that came Pakistan’s way since the 2005 catastrophe – around $2.5 billion after foreign donors deducted their own relief expenditures – was never received by ERRA directly.
“The Pakistani government received the money and there was no separate fund for it. ERRA requests the government for funds on an annual basis according to its requirements.”
The funds have, however, dried up over the last couple of years.
“We need a lot of money,” Niazi said. “In 2011, we requested Rs50 billion but received only Rs8 billion under the annual budget.”
Niazi said part of the money might have been spent on other relief and rehabilitation activities, following the 2010 floods. “Due to lack of funding, we spend money on projects which show physical progress of 50% or more,” he added.
This means that the schools where reconstruction has not even begun might not see any work for a long time.
A visit to Balakot in Mansehra district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa reveals a similar state of public schools and health facilities.
“Only 40% of the schools and other community infrastructure have been partially reconstructed during the last 6 years,” said a local teacher, Sardar Khursheed, adding that pupils are studying in worn-out tents that were donated back in 2005.
He said the tents are so debilitated that teachers are compelled to take classes under the open sky and send the children home during rainy weather. Edited by Ali Haider Habib
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2012.