New improved schools replace hundreds destroyed in Pakistan quake

Thousands of schoolchildren in Pakistan will get to go to brand new schools in Pakistan through a drive to ‘build back better’ in areas where schools were destroyed in the 2005 earthquake. Already 100 new schools have been handed over to the government in Pakistan administered Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province in a scheme by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Pakistan’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Recovery Authority (ERRA). Another 186 schools are expected to be finished by the end of 2010.

Aiming to “build back better,” the new schools have been built to high international standards. They are earthquake-safe, child-friendly and built to specifications proven to get more children into school, keep them there and help them learn. About 13,000 children are now attending the newly built schools. “Our real aim is to ensure that children receive the best education possible,” said Syed Fawad Ali Shah, UNICEF Pakistan emergency education officer. “Teachers at the schools have been trained in child-friendly teaching methods that promote interactive learning and ban corporal punishment, and that support and empower children as they learn,” he told the United Nations News service, IRIN.

At least 17,000 students and about 900 teachers were killed in classrooms in the October 2005 earthquake, which had a devastating effect on school buildings and infrastructure. Saturday is a normal school day in the region, so most students were at schools when the earthquake struck. Many were buried under collapsed school buildings. Damages are estimated to have cost well over £3 billion. About 6,000 primary and secondary schools were damaged or destroyed, according to government figures. “Our school was very old, and many of the walls collapsed,” said Rameesha Butt, 12.Recalling being trapped in her classroom as the horror of the earthquake unfolded around her, she said: “I was not hurt badly, but it was terrifying to see bricks and mortar fall all around us. Some pupils were trapped under the rubble.”

The area’s new schools are far bigger than the ones they replace, with at least one square metre of classroom space per child. Hand-washing stations have also been set up to promote good hygiene. Under the ‘build back better’ motto adopted after the quake, the new schools are also designed to be earthquake resistant and to offer a more child-friendly learning environment. One of the new earthquake-resistant schools is Government Girls Primary School in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. For months after the quake, the girls had huddled in a freezing tent-school. “We are not scared anymore because this is a new building, not like our old school,” Shahzia Ali Lone, a fourth grade student, said.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children