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China Exclusive: Quake-hit county struggles to restart classes

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E-mail Xinhua, September 13, 2012

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By Xinhua writers Cao Kai and Li Huaiyan

YILIANG, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A symbolic opening of a school comprising four tents in quake-hit Yiliang county in southwest China's Yunnan province inspired many people on Sept. 10, Chinese Teachers' Day. However, the area still has a long way to go before classes can be fully resumed.

At Luobinhui Square, one of the largest temporary settlements for the quake-affected residents, Xu Xiaohong, 9, was chasing his peers in a tent on Wednesday.

"I don't like school," said Xu. The comment from the Grade Two student at Jiaokui Town Primary School is normal for a kid his age, and indicates that life does not seem to be bad for Xu.

But for Chi Kuanyan, 17, a Grade 12 student busy preparing for next year's college entrance exam, studying under canvas was not so easy.

Chi is currently living in one of the 203 tents set up on the playground of Yiliang County No.1 Middle School, the largest school in the county with 4,782 students.

Struggling to snatch the chance to enter university to change her family's poor rural life, the long days of awaiting resettlement worry Chi.

It's not an easy task for the poor mountainous county to fully resume classes within a short period of time, according to Liu Lehua, deputy head of the education bureau of Zhaotong city, which administers Yiliang county.

A total of 86 school buildings collapsed in last Friday's earthquake, which killed 81 people. Some 257 schools out of the 357 in the county were damaged in the quake, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale. The schools can only be opened after security is guaranteed, Liu said.

At a primary school of Luozehe township, one of the hardest-hit areas near the epicenter, Cai Jihong, 43, is worried another strong aftershock will topple the already seriously damaged school building and affect the 28 tents set up for the villagers not far from it.

The school was built on a hillside and there is little flat land on which to set up tents. A total of 510 students are waiting for calls to resume class at various tents in villages and towns.

The education department recommended affected schools with fewer than 50 students rent houses to resume classes. For those with more than 50 students, they were recommended to set up prefabricated houses, said Liu Lehua.

Those schools with minor damages can be reopened after security checks and reinforcement, he added.

But for schools on the hillside, there has not been enough space to establish prefabricated houses. The only way is to set up temporary houses elsewhere, but it is not convenient for students living scattered on the mountains to come, said Cai Jihong, a Chinese-language teacher of Luozehe Primary School.

As schools generally have larger open space, some are taken as settlements for the quake-affected residents.

"Our school can not be opened until the 2,000 people residing in the tents here are relocated," said Shang Dingping, principal of Yiliang County Normal Primary School.

Besides the site selection, funding for rent, setting up prefabricated houses, repairing damaged buildings and facilities, buying teaching equipment is a big headache.

According to preliminary estimates, at least 277 million yuan (43.69 million U.S. dollars) will be needed to cover those costs, a precondition to resume classes in Yiliang, according to a report from the county education bureau.

Rebuilding the destroyed school buildings will cost much more for the county, which only reaped 400 million yuan in revenue in 2011.

Situated in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains, Yiliang is among the poorest counties in Yunnan. Due to a lack of funding, many school buildings, especially those in remote mountain areas, were poorly built tile-roofed structures thrown up decades ago.

With support from the central and provincial governments, Zhaotong city has invested more than 1.2 billion yuan since 2008 to renovate school buildings at risk but the funding is still far from enough, said Liu.

The senior educator called for more support from government to fully resume classes as soon as possible. Enditem