Quake-hit county struggles to restart classes

A doctor checks a baby in quake-hit area in Yiliang County, Yunnan Province.

"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.