Students enjoy new way of learning after massive earthquake

After a month-long break, the usual practice of studies for children who are back in schools has changed. While normal classes inside furnished classrooms used to be the trend before April 24, more than half the number of schools in Nuwakot are now engaging students in musical activities like singing and dancing. Students, since yesterday, are spending time in temporary schools sharing their experiences of the major earthquake. Schools which do not own their own buildings or compounds are taking turns to teach the students in other nearby schools, according to Education Officer of Nuwakot Chandra Bahadur Khadka. A few schools are running in tents hired from catering services, while only half of the schools in the far flung areas are operating at present.

The curriculum teaching has not resumed yet with debris of devastated infrastructures yet to be cleared, lack of furniture and the traumatic experience still affecting the children. The Education Office has informed that all schools of the district will be running in two to three days. Schools in 14 districts were closed after the major earthquake of April 25. They have now reopened with the initial objective of providing psychological counseling to students. A majority of schools in Nuwakot are being run in tents. Elsewhere in Bhaktapur, the number of students going to back to school, as compared to the first day, has witnessed a drastic increase. With some ease seen in the frequency and intensity of aftershocks and schools engaging students in counseling and entertainment activities, more students have started going back to schools, according to District Education Office, Bhaktapur. While only 60 per cent of the students in the district had attended school on the first day, this number rose to 80 per cent today. Similarly, concerned Education Offices of different districts have informed that the number of students has gone up compared to the first day also in other districts like Dolkha, Sindhupalchowk, Ramechhap, Dhading and Gorkha.