Introduction
The 7.9 Richter scale mega-earthquake hit Nepal on 25 April 2015, followed by series of aftershocks. The earthquake devastated 14 districts of Nepal, claiming lives of nearly 9,000 and injuring about 22,000 people. About 600 thousand houses were completely damaged and 300 thousand partially damaged, displacing nearly a million families. In addition, many historical monuments and temples including World Heritage Sites were destroyed.
The earthquake also destroyed 8,000 schools, directly affecting the education of about a million students. Most of these schools are continuing classes in open space or temporary sheds to minimize the hindrance in education. However, this cannot provide a safe learning environment.
Shree Siddhi Mangal Secondary School in Siddhipur-6, Mahalaxmi Municipality was also destroyed by the earthquake, affecting the education of 522 students. Urban Environment Management Society (UEMS), with the support of Secours populaire français (SPF) Fédération de l' Essonne completed reconstruction of "We Rise Again: Rehabilitation of Shree Siddhi Mangal Secondary School" project to rehabilitate school and resume school activities as usual after damage from earthquake. This first project has increased the number of students at around 800 leading to limited classrooms to accommodate them. Hence, at the request of the school management committee (SMC), the second phase of school reconstruction has been undertaken.
SHREE SIDDHI MANGAL SECONDARY SCHOOL
Shree Siddhi Mangal Secondary School, a community school is one of the oldest schools in Lalitpur which was established 67 years ago in 1955 A.D. The school runs from pre-school classes to Grade 12.It has currently 522 students including pre-school students.
The devastating earthquake on 25 April 2015 damaged 8 classrooms resulting unsafe for running classes. Students were compelled to study in temporary sheds, following the earthquake which too now have come to unusable as it has been over two years since the earthquake. Most of the classes were being run in damaged shades taking life threatening risk to the students. The learning environment in the school was deteriorated and risk of possible school dropout increased while the students are compelled to go to private school which is expensive and unaffordable to parents. Thus, the school was in desperate need for reconstruction and restoration of the damaged physical facilities.
EXTENSION OF SHREE SIDDHI MANGAL SECONDARY SCHOOL BUILDING
With the aim of rehabilitating the school infrastructures and resuming the education and other activities of the school in normal conditions, "We Rise Again Project' has been initiated at Shree Siddhi Mangal Secondary School, Siddhipur-6, Mahalaxmi Municipality. The key objective of the project is to undertake the construction of additional two floors on the existing two storey building to accommodate growing number of students and make the provision of meeting hall, science laboratory and a library with necessary furniture.
The major components of the project are construction of second floor for four additional classrooms with RCC structure and the third floor with truss structure for a meeting hall, science laboratory and library. A partnership agreement was signed between Secours populaire français, Fédération de l' Essonne and Urban Environment Management Society (UEMS) to undertake the second phase of construction at this school. Various sectoral agencies were connected to the school project. The key players involved were the SMC, Government of Nepal (GoN). Ministry
of Education, Central Level Project Implementation Unit and District Level Project Implementation Unit Lalitpur, Mahalxmi Municipality, and the GON Social Welfare Council (SWC). The project used the already approved engineering design provided by the school. The construction of this second phase project was commenced on December 6 December 2021 which was led by Mr Rameswor Shrestha, then Mayor of Mahalaxmi Municipality. The
construction has been now completed. During the construction several people got actively involved in monitoring from the school management committee, DLPIU abd UEMS monitoring team to ensure quality works. All constructions are earthquake resilient and student friendly. The project undertook following works:
-Formation of school construction supervision and monitoring committee
-Completion of additional two floors on the existing 2 storey building as per national building code
-Additional six classrooms with full furniture for students and teachers
-Provision of book racks, study table and chairs for the library
-Furniture for science laboratory Truss roofing for adjoining toilet building
The inauguration of the newly constructed 4 storey building and handover of the building programme is being carried out on 9 July 2022 by the Honourable Minister for Education, Science and Technology in the gracious presence of Rt. Honourable French Ambassador to Nepal, SPF Director General, SPF National Secretary, SPF Essonne Federation General Secretary and other key stakeholders. For the completion of construction of school building, the
following budget has been allocated:
| S.N |
Description of Works |
Amount |
| A |
Second floor extension works(4 classrooms) |
9279734 |
| B |
Third floor extension works(Meeting Hall, computer Lab and library ) |
7089749 |
| C |
Furniture Work |
2550410 |
| |
Total Construction cost with vat(A+B+C) |
18919938 |
| D |
UEMS Administration Overhead(10% of Total Constration cost) |
1891994 |
| |
Grand Total Project Cost |
20,811,932 |