The groundbreaking ceremony for the new buildings at Shree Bhagawati Secondary School, located in Kudu-13, Bheri Municipality, Jajarkot, was successfully held today.

The school, founded in 1975, currently includes 416 students and was severely damaged during the Western Nepal earthquake of 2023. Several blocks of the school were damaged, leading to insufficient classroom space and challenges in providing quality education.

To address this, the school’s reconstruction will include two new blocks featuring nine classrooms, lavatories, and other essential facilities to improve the learning environment for students.

During the ceremony.Laxmi Prasad Bhattarai-Project Director, Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU)and Mr. Matsuzaki Mizuki, Chief Representative of JICA Nepal jointlylaid the foundation stone for the new classroom blocks.

The new buildings will be constructed with multi-hazard resilient structures which are child, gender and disable friendlyand is expected tosignificantly improve learning environment for the students.

This reconstruction effort is part of a larger initiative to rebuild 11 schools in Bheri and Nalgad municipalities through the Emergency School Reconstruction Project (ESRP). The Project is being implemented by CLPIU of Ministry of Education under Japanese ODA loan assistance.

Speaking at the event. Laxmi Prasad Bhattarai, Project Director, CLPIUexpressed his gratitude to the Government of Japan and JICA for extending their swift support in the reconstruction of damaged schools in Jajarkot. He further committed to making every effort to ensure the timely completion of high-quality construction.

Similarly, Matsuzaki Mizuki, Chief Representative of JICA Nepal shared that, “JICA is proud to support the reconstruction of schools in Western Nepal. Our goal is to build resilient learning facilities that will foster a better educational environment for future generations.”

ESRP was launched in 2016 with an aim to reconstruct schools damaged by 2015 Gorkha Earthquake with support from JICA’s concessional loan ofJPY 14 billion.Thus, 274 disaster

resilient schools were built in six districts Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Rasuwa and Lalitpur under the principle of “Build Back Better (BBB)”. These rebuilt schools are designed to serve as regional hubs for improving education quality.

In response to the 2023 earthquakes in Western Nepal, the remaining ESRP funds were extended to reconstruct schools in the region. Now, 11 schools in Bheri and Nalgad municipalities of Jajarkotwill be rebuilt through this initiative.