2,243 schools not yet reconstructed

Islamabad
A decade after the 2005 earthquake failure to rebuild schools is becoming a national calamity. Around 2,243 schools still remain reconstructed out of 5,742 government schools that were destroyed in the deadliest natural calamity of the country.
October 8, 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the most destructive earthquake in the history of Pakistan. The earthquake struck Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and left tens of thousands dead and millions homeless.
Among the most important infrastructure that the earthquake destroyed were government schools. Estimates suggest as many as 18,000 children lost their lives, and 853 government schoolteachers were also killed that horrible day.
A total of 5,742 government schools were partially or totally destroyed on October 8, 2005. Ten years on, 2,243 schools still remain to be reconstructed. Among them, there are 1,290 schools that have had no reconstruction work done on them at all.
The long overdue reconstruction of schools is blamed on a lack of funding. But, a decade later, absence of a coherent plan to get these destroyed schools up and running speaks volumes about the importance Pakistan places on education.
Partisan politics will cause some to question the respective parties in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir about this inexcusable failure. However, over the last decade, almost all major parties have enjoyed control over resources and decisions at different times, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.