Japan supports reconstruction of 274 schools under the Emergency School Reconstruction Project

Kathmandu / May 10: The Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU) under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) organized a closing ceremony of the Emergency School Reconstruction Project: Nepal – Japan cooperation post Nepal Earthquake 2015 on Wednesday in the presence of Minister for Education, Science and Technology Ashok Kumar Rai as the chief guest.

About 100 people representing the government, development partners, civil society, academia, and media attended the ceremony. A total 274 schools with 760 blocks and over 4700 rooms were built under the Emergency School Reconstruction Project (ESRP) with a total cost of JPY 14 billion (about NPR 14 billion) to support the reconstruction of disaster resilient schools in Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Rasuwa and Lalitpur districts. The schools were built based on the earthquake-resistant type design guidelines jointly formulated by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and ADB under the principle of “Build Back Better” (BBB).

The reconstruction of the school structures is a part of the Emergency School Reconstruction Project (ESRP) supported by JICA. The project is being implemented by CLPIU – Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST).

The ESRP was implemented based on designs and structural guidelines which comply with Nepal National Building code. All the 274 school buildings were reconstructed with multi-hazard resilient structures which are child, gender and disability friendly to provide an improved learning environment for the students based on the concept of BBB which increases resilience not only physically but also socially, according to JICA Office in Nepal.

Besides the school buildings, the support also includes classrooms well equipped with furniture, laboratories, early childhood development centers, and separate toilet blocks for boys and girls, solar back up, playground, boundary fences and footpath pavement. Amongst the 274 schools, two of the schools in Lalitpur – Patan Secondary School and Namuna Machhindra Secondary School – were reconstructed with special designs. Namuna Machhindra Secondary School was reconstructed with a focus on providing a conducive learning environment for students with visual impairments.

Addressing the ceremony, Minister Rai thanked the Government of Japan for providing its assistance for reconstruction of the 274 school buildings with the concessional loan post the earthquake and contributing towards enhancing the education sector.

Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Chairperson for the event, Ram Krishna Subedi recalled the long history of Japanese cooperation to education through different schemes. He opined that it has been instrumental for enhancing access and quality education and capacity of education system in Nepal and requested for continuous cooperation to this sector.

Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, Kikuta Yutaka reiterated “Japan’s assistance is not only limited to the rebuilding and retrofitting of the schools, but also to build back to the further extent under the concept of Build Back Better. It contributes to the improvement of education services and earthquake resilience for sustainable socio-economic growth,” he said.

The envoy further stated his hope that cooperation between Nepal and Japan will further strengthen the friendly relations the two counties have developed over the years.