Education for nearly one million children in earthquake-hit Nepal in jeopardy: UNICEF

Kathmandu: Nearly 1 million children in quake-hit Nepal will not be able to return to school unless urgent action is taken to provide temporary learning spaces and repair damaged school buildings, UNICEF said on Friday.

"Almost one million children who were enrolled in school before the earthquake could now find they have no school building to return to," said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF's Representative in Nepal.

"The children need urgent life-saving assistance like clean water and shelter, but schools in emergencies - even in a temporary setup. Going to school also allows children to regain a vital sense of routine that can help them come to terms with their experiences," the official said.

Almost 24,000 classrooms were damaged or destroyed in the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit the country 12 days ago, with many suffering further damage in subsequent aftershocks.

The scale of the education crisis is expected to grow over the coming days as additional information flows in from remote areas. Schools are due to reopen on 15 May, the UNICEF said.

In the severely-affected districts of Gorkha, Sindhupalchok and Nuwakot, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of schools have been destroyed, while around 80 per cent of school buildings have collapsed in Dhading.

In some areas, including Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, approximately nine in ten surviving school buildings have been used as emergency shelters.

We are concerned that great strides made over the last 25 years in increasing primary school enrollment in Nepal - from 64 per cent in 1990 to more than 95 per cent today - could suffer a serious setback in the aftermath of the earthquake, the agency said.

"There is a desperate need to set up alternative learning spaces, assess and repair buildings, and mount a public awareness campaign encouraging families to send their children back to school and preschool," said Hozumi.

The UN agency said that it is working to set up child friendly spaces and temporary learning spaces in 14 districts affected by the earthquake.

UNICEF has launched a USD 50 million appeal to support its humanitarian response to the earthquake in Nepal over the next three months.