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Janasewa Lower Secondary School
Jana Sewa Lower Secondary School is located in Gumela 5, Chouri Kharka Village Development Committee (VDC) of Solu-Khumbu district. The village of Gumela lies 3 kilometers to the west of Phakding. Jana Sewa Lower Secondary School offers courses from Kindergarten to grade 7 and at the moment there are about 140 students and 9 teachers teaching in this school. This school is built for children’s of several villages like Phakding, TokTok, Jamphute, Nombuwa Teng, Rimijung, Gumela, Chermading, Ghat, Lhowa, Sengma, Benkar, Monjo, Chumo and Jorsale as this is the only school available in this whole region. Upon completion of their studies here, the students have to go either Chouri Kharka or Khumjung for higher studies.
The April 25th earthquake left a devastating damage to the whole nation of Nepal. The school in Gumela was also severely affected by it as the school buildings and classes were all shattered by the tremor. The school is located atop a hill and because of the earthquake; some parts of the hill have become very fragile. Due to this high-risk landscape, the school management committee has decided to purchase the neighbor land behind the school, which is much safer. The management committee has already begun dialogue with the land owner for the purchasing purpose. Once the land is purchased the school management will go ahead with the construction process.
The land will approximately cost Euro 30,000 for the same area of land in which the former school was built. Once the land is purchased, the school buildings will be reconstructed in the new land in order to move the school buildings in a safer land. The present land of the school will be used as a play ground for the children.
The earthquake has destroyed majority of the school premises forcing students to study outside in temporary tents donated by Chinese group. The school committee plans to rebuild a total of 12 rooms – 1 room for office, 1 for Library, 1 for Computer lab, 1 for store room and the remaining 8 for classrooms.
The school management committee plans to build 3 buildings with 4 big rooms in each of the building. The rough estimate cost of the building would be about Euro 130,000 for 3 buildings with 8 rooms. The school management requires the use of cement, iron rod, aluminum and solid materials to build strong buildings that can resist up to 9.0 magnitude of earthquake. The management committee is focusing on a strong resilient building and a safe land to build the school.
Students in Gumela school taking temporary classes inside a tent.
The total (approx) cost of the new school land and buildings are as below:
Gumela School construction specifications
1, Cost of the land: Euro 30,000
The locals who currently live in the USA are trying to raise funds to buy this land as most of the donors do not want to invest in buying the land.
2, Construction Materials costs: Euro 63,000
This amount is to be used in purchasing the construction materials such as cement, iron rods, tins for the roof, wood logs for the window, doors and floor, aluminum windows and door frame, glasses for the windows, all types of furniture for class room, kitchen, store room, office and toilets, all necessary items for the doors and windows, paints, nails, ply wood for the wall and ceiling, water supply pipes and other fixtures, all electrical fixtures and designing cost for the engineer.
3, Transportation costs: Euro 24,000
The above amount is for the cost of all transportations in Kathmandu during the purchase of all materials and to bring them to Kathmandu’s domestic airport, all cargo expenses for Lukla, the cost of porter to carry them to Gumela and the cost of the person who handles the cargo in Lukla and Kathmandu.
4, Manpower costs: Euro 43,000
This cost is for the total construction of the all 3 buildings including the toilets, store and kitchen room within 3 buildings, install electricity in all the buildings, install the water supplies in all buildings and toilets, paint all the windows and doors as well as the class rooms etc.
5, Administration costs:
We do not allocate any amount for this section as this is a government school and the teachers get paid by the government. On top of this, Himalayan Trust also pays some extra money to every teacher of this school. The books and other stationary in this school are also provided by the Himalayan Trust.
6, Operation cost for our foundation:
We do not charge any service charge for any work regarding the reconstruction or rebuilding in Khumbu or anywhere in Nepal. If you transfer your donation through personal account or by any other means, we can collect the money from them and bring it to the construction committee of the school but if you send the money through the account of Himalayan Sherpa Foundation, we need to pay 10% tax to the tax office in any amount we receive from you.
The total cost for the whole project including the land is Euro 160,000
– The commitments so far for the construction of the school:
1, The local Sherpa’s living in the USA have raised money for the land that is about Euro 30,000
2, A travel agent in UK has given a commitment of 20,000 Pounds
3, Wikinger Reisen GmbH has vowed to support with Euro 40,000
4, The school management committee is requesting few other donors but so far they have not received any commitments from them.
5, The school management committee has strong expectation for the good support from Himal Reisen GmbH.
Himalayan Sherpa Foundation (HSF) is planning to acquire the new land for the school that costs Euro 30,000 and also plans to rebuild all these 3 building with 4 rooms that cost Euro 130,000 which is Euro 160,000 in total including the land.
The school reconstructions plans are as below:
- Plan to purchase the land by March 2016
- The land will be purchased and registered in the name of school
- The design of the building has to be approved by the Village Development Committee of Chouri Kharka and the Education Department of Education Ministry, Solu Khumbu district which is on the process.
- The building are designed to withstand an earthquake of up to 9.0 magnitude
- The school management committee is requesting HSF for the fund to be raised for the construction of all 3 building with 4 rooms in each building and also requesting us to purchase the new land for the school.
- HSF already have had dialogue with the locals of Chouri Kharka living in the USA for the fund of Euro 30,000 and the Sherpa’s living in the USA have already given the word to collect and send the above amount to the account of HSF for the purchase of the land.
- The school management committee is trying to approach few other organization for the further fund for the reconstruction of the school buildings
- The construction committee formed locally by the people of the area will take the responsibility of reconstruction of all 3 buildings and we HSF will check the quality of the construction during the construction period.
- HSF will send all the money to the school management committee by bank transfer on their account. No cash payment will be used during the entire project.
