By Mark Rikkers | Executive Director
The GlobalGiving community generously sponsored the construction of an earthquake safe school using innovative new technology in one of the most remote communities in Nepal. There have been some significant challenges involved with this project, but the school is now very close to completion. The following offers an overview of the process and current status of the project.
Sishu Secondary School is the only secondary school in Maheswori, an extremely remote subsistence farming community in the northern part of the Khotang district. Over 520 households in Maheswori, and few of neighboring villages, depend on Sishu Secondary School for their children’s education. The school hosts around 230 students every year. The previous secondary school in Maheswori was badly damaged by the earthquake of 2015, rendering it unsafe for students and staff. dZi Foundation built a Temporary Learning Center immediately after the earthquake to allow the school to continue with classes while a new school project was developed. The generous funds from GlobalGiving have been used to construct a new earthquake safe, 8 classroom building.
We are rebuilding 4 school blocks, 2 classrooms in each block, for Sishu Secondary School. The school blocks are being built with Light Gauge Steel (LGS) technology, which would be the first of its kind for that region. It is a globally proven earthquake resistant technology and best suits the local topography and conditions. The successful completion of the project will ensure the safety of 232 present students of Sishu Secondary School and more generations to come.
Reconstruction of the school was scheduled to start in August 2016, but significant challenges arose with the very bureaucratic school design approval process. This resulted in significant delays and the project broke ground in January,2017. Despite the delay, the reconstruction work is now very close to completion. At this time, LGS frames have been installed and the cladding of the wall and roofing with CGI sheets has been completed. Community members are now working on the final plastering of the internal floor and installation of doors and windows. We expect the project to be completed in the next week or two!
Community members will then focus on post-construction site clearance, planting trees around the site, and a public audit of the project, which allows for full community transparency and input on the entire process, including appropriate use of funds and materials. We expect to completely hand the project over to the community by the end of the June!
This project has been a very challenging one on many levels, but it is the kind of work dZi Foundation does and does well! That said, we cannot do this alone; we need partners. The community members of Maheswori have worked incredibly hard to realize this dream, and the Global Giving community’s generosity made it possible. Thank you to everyone involved!
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