IRIN
MYANMAR: Race to re-open cyclone-hit schools
6 June 2008


BANGKOK, 6 June 2008 (IRIN) - Myanmar authorities, international aid
agencies and local social groups are racing to repair damaged schools to
have children in the cyclone-devastated Ayeyarwady Delta back into the
classroom by early next month.

The move is seen as an important part of the recovery process for
children. "The issue around getting schools open again is partly
education, but you also want children to be back into a routine - back
into a sense of normalcy as quickly as possible to help them overcome
everything that's happened to them in the last few weeks," said Guy
Chase, deputy country director of Save the Children in Myanmar.

According to Myanmar education authorities, more than 4,000 primary,
middle and high schools that previously served an estimated 1.1 million
children were damaged or destroyed in the cyclone.

Nationally, most schools in Myanmar re-opened on 2 June, after their
traditional hot-season break.

But the formal reopening of schools in the cyclone-stricken Ayeyarwady
Delta and the outskirts of Yangon was postponed for a month, following
extensive damage to school facilities, although local authorities in
some of the delta's larger towns have tried to re-open already.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children are now working
with local Buddhist and church groups to organise repairs to school
buildings or create "safe learning spaces", to import educational
supplies, and train teachers in dealing with traumatised students - to
help get the education system functioning again.

Some Myanmar dissidents and aid groups have criticised the drive to get
kids back into the classroom so quickly in the midst of an on-going
emergency relief operation.

However, Michael Bociurkiw, a UNICEF spokesman, said the 2004 Asian
tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake showed "there is no better way to
help families and to help children than to get [children] into the
classroom."

Besides giving children an outlet, a structure and an opportunity for
healing, getting them back into school also "gives parents and
caregivers time to start focusing on rebuilding their lives" without
worrying about their children's whereabouts, Bociurkiw said.

Chase also said there was concern that if children did not return to
school quickly, they might never return at all.

Risk of further dropouts

Even before Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar had high primary school dropout
rates, with up to half of children leaving school before finishing five
years of education, due to poverty and pressure to help their parents by
working.

"The sooner the children get back into school the less chance there is
of them dropping out of school," said Chase. "Dropouts are a big problem
in the country anyway at the best of times. And in an emergency
situation, we know from research, the longer a child is out of school,
the less chance there is that they will ever go back to school."

Yet getting the young survivors of Nargis - which left more than 133,000
people dead or missing when it struck on 2 and 3 May - back to school
will be a massive logistical task, given the severe destruction to the
delta's education infrastructure.

"This was really a children's catastrophe in terms of the damage to
infrastructure that kids access - we are talking about schools, health
clinics and play areas," Bociurkiw said.

Education infrastructure devastated

Of the 4,000 schools affected, about 1,200 were demolished, another 800
were severely damaged, and 2,000 lost their roofs in the powerful wind.

Aid agencies are now importing 200,000 roof sheets. In areas where
schools were more seriously damaged, they are erecting large tents or
building simple shelters with local materials such as bamboo and palm
fronts to create "safe learning spaces".

They will also bring in other education supplies and materials for
teachers and students.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear precisely how many teachers survived the
disaster or are able to return to work, and how many children will be
left in any one school.

Kaz de Jong, a trauma specialist with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF),
said that in one remote area, he encountered a teacher who tried to
register students and told him that only 70 of the school's 200
pre-cyclone students had survived.

But agencies say they are already planning to train teachers - or
community volunteers who may temporarily fill in for them - in how to
deal with children still traumatised by their experiences, and losses.

Says Chase: "We are planning training for teachers around psycho-social
issues and to prepare them for re-starting school in pretty traumatic
circumstances and how to help the children through this process."


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