MANSEHRA, Oct 19: Thousands of students will be affected in winter as hundreds of schools are still running under tents in quake-affected zones of the NWFP, Dawn has learnt.

Schools in Mansehra, Abbottabad, Battagram, Kohistan and Shangla were still operating in tents and the approaching harsh weather is expected to cover the districts in snow.

During winter, which would start from the first of November, it would become impossible for students to sit in tents and bear the severe cold. Classes were held under the cool shade of trees during summers, but there was no such alternative available in winter.

The reconstruction of health and education infrastructures was being done at a snail’s pace and would take at least another five to six years to complete.

A government primary school principal said: “The government is not taking any interest in reconstructing the quake-hit schools as a result of which students and teachers are being badly affected.”

He added that it had been two years since the quake tragedy but neither the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) nor the education department had started reconstructing schools.

“Many students were quitting the tent schools due to harsh weather conditions. During summers, many students faint due to the sweltering heat and in winters becomes impossible to manage classes due to the severe cold and rain water.”

The data collected from the provincial Erra reveals a bleak picture of the fact that in the Oct 8, 2005, quake, 1,392 primary girls and boy schools were destroyed and 956 were damaged; 102 middle schools destroyed and 151 damaged; 71 high schools destroyed and 89 damaged; 15 higher secondary schools destroyed and 15 damaged; 13 colleges destroyed and 7 damaged; 7 technical and vocational institutes destroyed and 2 damaged in five districts of the NWFP.

Around 90 per cent of the destroyed and damaged schools and colleges had neither been reconstructed nor shifted to alternative buildings even after a lapse of two years since the tragedy.

Sources in the district education department blamed Erra for the unjustified delay in reconstruction of schools.

“If Erra really wanted to speed up the reconstruction, it would change the Rebuilding-Pledge laws and policies for the national and international NGOs. Erra alone cannot rebuilt the damaged or destroyed governmental buildings,” they added.