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This boy's middle school is among 45 schools in Bagh District shifting into temporary buildings.

USAID Builds Safe Classrooms, Furnishes 848 Schools With Desks, Chairs, Blackboards

Islamabad – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a cash-for-work program that will move rubble and build 60 transitional, earthquake-resistant shelters to be used as classrooms in 45 schools in the Bagh District. The program also equips all 848 government schools in Bagh District with desks, chairs and blackboards for their 74,000 students.

This $240,000 USAID program enables students to safely return to class after winter vacation, brings their school routine one step closer to normal and provides employment for local residents. Each unit will be 32’ by 16’.

Through USAID partner GOAL, master carpenters, who each received $1,000 in tools under a USAID-funded program to replace tools lost in the quake, are paid 600 rupees ($10) a day to construct the transitional classrooms. These craftsmen who previously completed a four-day USAID workshop in earthquake-resistant design, in turn, train others to build the structures.

While carpenters build, local residents receive tools, safety gear and 200 rupees ($3.33) a day each to tear down severely damaged school structures and to sort out unsafe elements from the rubble. "Schools are very important to us, even more so than homes," said Mohammed, one of five master carpenters who built structures for the Bees Bagla Boys Middle School. "A whole generation will be destroyed if we don’t restore our schools," he said.

Shakil, a Bees Bagla science teacher, said he was grateful the classrooms would once again allow him to teach different grades in separate spaces.

The United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance and economic growth. In addition, the United States has pledged a total of $510 million in earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts to assist the people of Pakistan and to support Pakistani government efforts.