Report Walks On Reconstruction Of Educational Institute1(

WALK ON RECONSTRUCTION OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

1

Organized By: Press For Peace(PFP) Supported By: Action Aid October 7-8, 2009

Background The 2005 Kashmir Earthquake (also known as the South Asian earthquake or the Great Pakistan earthquake) was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-adminstrated Kashmir and in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) near the city of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. It occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005. It registered a debatable moment magnitude of 7.6. As of 8 November, the government of Pakistan's official death toll was 79,000, while officials say nearly 1,400 people also died in Indian Kashmir and four people in Afghanistan. The severly affected Districts of AJ&K were Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Rawalakot. The severity of the damage caused by the quake is attributed to severe upthrust, coupled with poor construction. Remarkable efforts were made by national and international organizations to rehabilitate the earthquake victims. The most severely affected part of the infrastructure was of education sector. Thousands of schools were collapsed due to substandard construction and in spur-of-the-moment thousands of teachers and students were died in the schools, colleges and university. Rationale The main factor that helps to take the communities out of the traumatized situation is rehabilitation of Educational Institutions. It helps them to regain the routine life and gives students and children psychological relief to resume their education. The delay in the reconstruction of educational institutes not only causes the wastage of precious time of generation but also their abilities are disintegrated and they remain unable to overcome trauma. For proper education and related activities a congealing environmental conditions and standard facilities are required without which the efforts to impart education go in vain. To ensure timely reconstruction of infrastructure, continuous efforts are required on behalf of key-stakeholders to push the duty bearers. Four years have been passed to catastrophic earthquake but the statistics shows that the duty-bearers and line departments remain unable to rehabilitate and reconstruct the most vital part of social infrastructure i.e. Educational Institutes. Out of estimated 2835 Educational Institutes only 220 have been completed so for, which is approximately 8% of the total.

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

2

The Activity Since the reconstruction of Educational Institutes is delayed and a generation is suffering, it is the high time to force and push the concerned agencies, Government departments and organizations to accelerate the process of reconstruction. To this end Press For Peace (PFP) in collaboration with Action Aid arranged advocacy events in the three affected Districts of Azad Kashmir i.e. Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Rawlakot. The event comprised of walks in the three Districts in which the key-stakeholders including students ( from Primary level to Degree level), teachers, community representatives, community activists, members of civil society organizations, media personnels, representatives of national and international organizations participated proactively.

Objective The main objective of these walks was to highlight the issue of delay in the reconstruction of Educational Institutes and put the attention of concerned authorities towards it and resolve it on priority basis.

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

3

Arrangements for the walk Press For Peace (PFP) utilized its already existing volunteers in all three districts who voluntarily extended their support to mobilize key-stakeholders including, teachers, and students of all ages both male and female, community representatives, civil society members, journalists, community activists, representatives from trade unions and the officials of different national and international organizations. Requests letters were disseminated to School Management Committees to ensure their participation in the events. The management committees were constituted to arrange for the walks in all three districts. Management committees were asked to build a strong liaison with the media so a comprehensive coverage of the event would be made possible. Highlights of the walks 1. District Muzaffarabad ( Capital of AJ&K)

The major event held at Muzaffarabad on October 7, 2009 in which more the 600 individuals including children, students (male & female) from government school in the city as well as from the villages and other key-stakeholders participated enthusiastically. Students were holding banners and play-cards with slogans written on them. These slogans were highlighting the issue of delay in reconstruction and its worst impacts on the educational future of students. The walk started from Club Hall near Bank Road and ended at Central Press Club Muzaffarabad. At the end of walk various students and community representatives delivered speeches in which they addressed concerned authorities to initiate and accelerate the process of reconstruction of educational institutions in the earthquake affected areas of AJ&K.

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

4

Students carrying play-cards and banners

2. District Bagh Same enthusiasm was seen in the district of Bagh. Here the walk was held on October 7, 2009 in which more than 300 individuals participated. The walk began from Haidri Chowk main Bazar and ended at Press Club Bagh. In this walk children, teachers, students, representatives from trade unions and civil society organizations participated and effectively highlighted the issue of delay in the reconstruction activities. At the end of the walk community representatives laid a great stress on the line departments to immediately focus the adverse situation of educational institutes and provide them with the required facilities without any further delay.

3. District Rawalakot On October 8, 2009 a walk in the District of Rawalakot was jointly organized by ActionAid, PFP and Poond Development Forum (PDF) in which more than 250 students and individuals from different walks of life participated. The walk started from Main Bazar and ended at District Court Complex. The participants had play-cards and banners in their hands and at the end speeches were delivered by students and community. The rally was A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

5

addressed by Sardar Qadeer, Chairman PDF, Sardar Basheer, Khawaja Khalil,Sardar Liaqaat and others office bearers of local political parties and NGOs. They urged government to start the rehabilitation work on City Development Plan and reconstruction of schools.

Role of Media Media Gave extraordinary coverage to these walks. F.M Radio Muzaffarabad & Rawalakot telecasted special reports regarding the event. At the end of walk BBC and all other T.V channels telecasted detailed news of this walk and gave encouraging coverage to all the educational institutes and the students of Azad Kashmir who have been facing bundle of problems due to poor and grieved condition of their institutes since earthquake of 2005. International news agencies also delivered press release regarding the event reconstruction. Similar converge was observed in the media of Indian Administrated Kashmir, which have also suffered the damages of Earthquake. The overall converge of the Walks, apart from attracting the attention of policy makers and organizations related to rehabilitation, also created a public debated about the delaying of educational institutes.

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

6

( The details of press releases, news clippings and website links highlighting the activity of walks in three Districts of AJK, are available in another report)

Outcomes • Through series of walks, Key-Stakeholders are now well aware about the main causes of delay in construction of educational institutes • Real facts and figures regarding the reconstruction were brought in front of key stakeholders • Line departments accepted the delay in construction process and identified constraints • Thorough media mass awareness campaign is triggered and duty-bearers are pushed to resolve issues and speed up the process of construction • Attention of competent authorities from EARRA, SERRA, EEAP are brought to the issue and they have announced construction of education institutes as a priority issue to be resolved. Recommendations Continuous and coordinated efforts are required to lay stress on the authorities through mobilizing general public and other key stakeholders. • It is seen that mostly the delay is due to the community conflicts on land issues and the red-tapism of bureaucracy. Therefore there is a need to create a mass awareness amongst the communities highlighting the importance of Educational Institutes, their rehabilitation and reconstruction; also there is a need to find out diminutive ways to resolve the issues. • Community participation must be acquired to influence the duty-bearers and to help in initiating the reconstruction endeavors. •

Lesson Learnt It is observed that most of the organizations (National & International) are showing least interest to the said issue. If these are involved proactively to mobilize communities so that a continuous process is initiated to urge duty-bearers and line departments to resolve the issue

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

7

on the priority basis. Although there had been a continuous criticism on Government from different segment of the society but no practical action was made.

Research and Policy Wing Press For Peace(PFP) Bank Road Muzaffarabad, Jammu and Kashmir Ph: 0092 -5822-445457 Fax: 0092 5822 -445437 Email: [email protected] www.pressforpeace.org.uk

A JOINT VENTURE OF PRESS FOR PEACE & ACTION AID

8