May 7, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1427

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ABBOTTABAD, May 6: The government will involve the community in reconstruction of damaged schools in earthquake-affected areas as the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority wants to develop a sense of ownership among people through community participation.

This was stated by Syed Amer Hussain Naqvi, Erra’s senior education adviser, while inaugurating a workshop on the reconstruction and rehabilitation strategy of the education sector at the district council hall here on Saturday.

The workshop was attended by representatives of donors, NGOs and government officials from education and planning departments.

Mr Naqvi said donors could also rebuild schools and colleges at their own but designs were to be approved from Erra and NESPAK, which should be especially designed for earthquake-affected areas.

He said the basic theme of the strategy was to build better buildings for schools and colleges and provide a healthy atmosphere to students for learning.

He said site-wise requirements of each school and college would be sorted out through a ‘crash programme’ to be started from May 8. He said a survey would also be conducted to determine the number of functional and non-functional schools. Survey teams would verify if surviving buildings were safe or not.

Mr Naqvi said NWFP and AJK governments would prepare district-wise plans in which participation of local governments, district authorities and other partners, including donors, NGOs, communities and the private sector, would be ensured. He said the provincial and AJK governments would also prepare PC-Is for the projects.

The workshop was told that according to the data collected by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, 67 per cent institutions in AJK and the NWFP were partially damaged or fully destroyed in the Oct 8 earthquake and the number of damaged buildings might increase due to continuous aftershocks.

More than 18,000 students and at least 853 teachers had lost their lives and many more had been injured in the quake.

Mr Naqvi said 2,766 schools and colleges in the NWFP and 2,578 in AJK were needed to be reconstructed and provided with furniture and other necessary equipment. This included 1,230 institutions in the Muzaffarabad district, 1,158 in Mansehra and 775 in Bagh, he added.