EDUCATION

The Situation of Children

Almost all children in Sichuan affected by the Wenchuan earthquake were able to resume school in September, whether in school buildings not affected by the earthquake, or in repaired or retrofitted school buildings, or in pre-fabricated classrooms. Elsewhere in Sichuan, however, the start of the new school year was delayed by the Panzhizhua earthquake that struck just days before students were to return to class. In the weeks since, all students affected by the Panzhihua earthquake have now resumed class as well.

In Gansu Province’s severely affected Longnan Prefecture, 43% of the students began the school year by returning to school buildings not affected by the earthquake, while 20% returned to repaired school buildings and most of the remaining students used pre-fabricated classrooms. However, in some of the more remote mountainous areas, schools were not included in the local government’s reconstruction plan, leaving these children to resume school in unsafe buildings or temporarily borrowed spaces, such as the meeting rooms of village officials. At many of these sites, facilities were lacking in other respects as well, with insufficient furniture leaving many students standing during class.

According to the Ministry of Education, construction of permanent buildings for the majority of the schools and kindergartens destroyed by the earthquake will be complete by September 2009. The Ministry is now finalizing its Guidelines on Post-Earthquake New School Construction and Design, which will establish the technical standards and requirements to be followed in the school reconstruction process in the coming year.

UNICEF is working with counterparts to restore access to quality education services and reduce the risk of children falling behind in school. UNICEF is focusing many of its education interventions in remote areas of Gansu Province’s Longnan Prefecture that were not covered by the government’s school reconstruction plan. UNICEF has procured, delivered, and installed more than 100 pre-fabricated classrooms to provide a safe learning environment to 5,000 students in 40 earthquake-damaged schools. Heavy rains initially delayed the installation of the pre-fabricated classrooms at some sites, but by mid-October, construction at all schools was complete. UNICEF is working to ensure that children are able to resume their schooling in the best possible learning environment, with access to quality educational materials. UNICEF is providing classroom furniture, school supplies, teaching aids, libraries, and sports equipment to 250,000 students and their teachers in
areas affected by the Wenchuan earthquake.

UNICEF is also working closely with counterparts in Panzhihua, where the
earthquake struck just two days before the start of the new school year.
UNICEF is targeting 79 schools in Panzhihua City’s Pingdi Township,
Dalongtan Township, and Yanbian County; and Liangshan Prefecture’s Huili
County to provide nearly 12,000 students and their teachers with Student Kits,
Teacher Kits, Sports Kits, Library Kits, blackboards, and classroom furniture.

In the coming weeks and months, UNICEF will help school managers, principals, and teachers to adjust and adapt management and teaching models to the situation in temporary schools. UNICEF is currently in discussion with the Ministry of Education and local education counterparts in Sichuan and Gansu to identify schools to introduce interventions on Child-Friendly School and Early Childhood Development approaches, as well as non-formal education. UNICEF’s Child-Friendly School approach focuses on learning quality, inclusiveness, safety, and children’s participation.

UNICEF's pre-fabricated classrooms will last a minimum of three years. Once permanent school buildings are rebuilt, students will move out of the pre-fabricated classrooms, which will then be converted into teacher offices or reading rooms, thus maximizing their usefulness. UNICEF will support the transition from temporary to new schools, to ensure that models for quality education, management, and community involvement are integrated into the new education environment.

In the coming months, UNICEF will provide mobile educational resource centres to earthquake-affected children in remote villages in Sichuan and Gansu, areas where very few relief efforts have yet to reach. The mobile resource centres will improve learning outcomes for children living in the most difficult-to-reach areas and will be managed by trained education experts.

UNICEF will also continue to draw upon an international network to
facilitate exchanges between China and the rest of the world to share best
practices on how to reduce future risk and make schools safe places for
children. In the weeks and months to come, UNICEF will provide technical
assistance to the Ministry of Education to develop guidelines on school
building assessment, as well as standards for the retrofitting of school
buildings. Additionally, UNICEF will work with the Ministry of Education to
develop safety education and emergency preparedness at schools.