COMMUNITY WORK AND CLASSROOM
On April 25, 2015 a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 Richter scale hit central Nepal, which was followed by a series of strong aftershocks. This resulted a devastating impact in many of the infrastructures of the country. One such most affected area has been the education, the school buildings in particular. UNICEF estimated the destruction of 24,000 classrooms of schools affecting 950,000 children going to school. In response to the quake aftermath on the education sector, Japan Universities Alumni Association, Nepal (JUAAN) took an initiative of mobilizing support fund and university graduate students to help build temporary class rooms (TCR) to resume the academic calendar. In the first phase of work, four districts are considered: Gorkha, Dhading, Kavre and Lalitpur, which is being generously supported by Japan-Nepal Society.
The project in Dhading and Gorkha districts have already been completed. The team comprising JUAAN members and graduate students of Tribhuvan University Central Department of Environmental Science (TU-CDES) built 13 TCR in Gorkha (10 in Saraswati Higher Secondary School and three in Bhimsen Primary School). In Dhading, seven TCR were built for Minduka Secondary School and nine for Nalang Secondary School. These TCR benefited over 1450 school children. For class room construction, 86 bundles of CGI sheets, wire, nails, etc. were supplied and cost of skilled laborer were provided by JNS-JUAAN. The volunteers also conducted environmental education activities, which included earth education, water purification techniques, sanitation programs and personal hygiene. The project also distributed over 400 packets of baby food, clothes, playing materials for the school children.
The TCR construction project in Kavre, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur is in progress.
