Build under a grant assistance of the Government of Japan, the newly reconstructed buildings of Namuna Machhindra Secondary School–also a Resource Class based Integrated School for Children with Visual Impairments in Nepal, was handed over to the school management committee on September 15.

The school situated in Lalitpur was damaged by 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Since then the school faced difficulties in managing classrooms and education for the students.

The school infrastructures were jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Sushil Gyewali, Chief Executive Officer of National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Chiri Babu Maharjan, and Mayor of the Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Yutaka Kikuta, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal and Yumiko Asakuma, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Nepal amidst a function held in the school premises.

Established in 2008 BS (1952AD) and now have nearly 500 students from ECD to grade 10 including 37 students with Visual Impairments, the reconstruction of the facilities initiated in November 2019 under the Emergency School Reconstruction Project (ESRP) supported by JICA. The Project is being implemented by Central Level Project Implementation Unit of NRA. The new buildings were reconstructed with multi-hazard resilient structures which are environment, child, and gender and disable friendly to provide improved learning environment for the students based on the concept of Build Back Better (BBB).

This increases resilience not only physically but also socially. The reconstructed buildings were also designed to be a “complete school” which provides all the necessary facilities for the education to the students.

According to JICA, in the new school, there are classrooms with furniture for Early Childhood Development (ECD) to grade 10, science laboratories, a resource classroom, separate hostel rooms for boys and girls, kitchen and dining hall for the students with visual impairment. There also include office rooms for head teacher and teachers, separate toilets for girls and boys with water supply in each floor of the academic and hostel block, also hand washing facilities, tactile pavement, and handrails are set in the hostel block.

Speaking at the handover and inauguration ceremony Prime Minister Deuba appreciated the generous and valuable support of the Government of Japan not only in Education sector but also in different sectors in Nepal including education since a long time. He thanked to all stakeholders for close collaboration and efforts for completion of the really inclusive school reconstruction.

Pampha Bhusal, the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation and Sushil Gyewali, the Chief Executive Officer of National Reconstruction Authority, and Chiri Babu Maharjan, Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City has also highlighted the importance of reconstruction with adopting Build Back Better approach after the devastating earthquake. They also thanked to the Government of Japan for the great support.

In his statement Yukata Kikuta, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, which was delivered by Yumiko Asakuma, Chief Representative of JICA Nepal congratulated the completion of this work together with Japan and Nepal.

He expressed the respect for the teachers and students for this school. He also emphasized that the traditional Japanese spirit of caring others, which is reflecting to the concept of design with reduced steps, Braille blocks and handrails for differently-able students.

Chief Representative of JICA Nepal Yumiko Asakuma also expressed pleasure to handover such multi-hazard resilient school facilities with universal design, and expectation for JICA’s contribution to quality education. She also hopes periodic maintenance and effective utilization of the provided facilities.

Emergency School Reconstruction Project (ESRP): Total 236 schools are being built and reconstruction of 38 additional schools started in January 2021 at a total cost of JPY 14 billion (about NPR 12.7billion) to support the reconstruction of disaster resilient schools in Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Rasuwa and Lalitpur Districts, based on the earthquake-resistant type design guidelines formulated by JICA under the principle of “BBB”.