KATHMANDU, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Asian Development Bank (ADB) in partnership with the Nepal government has started reconstruction of a quake-damaged school in one of the worst-hit districts from Monday.
Nepalese Minister of Education Dhaniram Poudel and the Country Director of ADB Nepal Resident Mission Kenichi Yokoyama jointly laid the foundation for the reconstruction of Shree Kali Devi Primary School in Kavre on Monday.
Issuing a statement, Manila-based ADB mentioned that the school reconstruction project is under the Earthquake Emergency Assistance Project (EEAP), jointly financed by ADB and the government of Nepal.
Speaking on the foundation laying ceremony, Nepalese Minister Poudel said that the reconstruction of schools will provide an enabling environment in which students will be able to learn better with no fear in the back of their minds.
"This government is committed to rebuilding all the schools by 2018, as this is linked directly to the future of students and the country," Minister Poudel was quoted in the statement.
According to ADB Nepal Chief Kenichi Yokoyama, under the project, the schools will be rebuilt to be earthquake-resilient with more learning space, furniture, and education materials and facilities.
"The EEAP has already designed and completed bidding documents for 34 other primary and secondary schools. The preparation of designs for 100 more secondary schools is underway while designs for a further 200 secondary schools will start before the end of 2016," said the statement.
The earthquake damaged 7,923 public schools in 31 districts, rendering over 33,131 classrooms useless and leaving another 14,297 partially destroyed.
Earlier, the Nepalese government had announced to reconstruct all the damaged schools in the 14 worst-hit districts within the next three years.
