Australian aid to restore schools

(Source: Kuensel)

The government of Australia yesterday presented a cheque of AUD 1M (approximately Nu 40M) to Bhutan to reconstruct basic school services affected by the September 2009 earthquake.
The money that will be routed through UNICEF over the next three years will rebuild toilets at 50 schools, water supply schemes at 40 schools, and enable the complete reconstruction of 13 community primary schools in the country, said the Australian parliamentary secretary for international development assistance, Bob McMullan, MP, who presented the cheque.  “Australia will work with the Bhutanese government to ensure that school children have access to basic facilities and education throughout their student lives,” he said.The money will also be used to train beneficiaries on how to manage the new water and sanitation facilities and to conduct health and hygiene sessions. School principals and teachers in all 20 dzongkhags of Bhutan will also be trained in emergency disaster preparedness and risk reduction.The UNICEF Bhutan representative, Dr Gepke Hingst, said that UNICEF will collaborate with the ministries of home and cultural affairs, education, and health to carry out the activities.“Thank you, Australia, for your wonderful gift to provide water, toilets and hygiene to the school children – a powerful combination when it comes to health and learning for the future citizens of Bhutan,” she said.Dr Hingst also congratulated the government for its commitment to rehabilitate the lives of the people affected by the disaster with a vision of ‘building back better’’.Australia also provided AUD 500,000 (approximately Nu 20M) to the world food program’s school feeding programme in 2009.“This programme encourages poor households to send their children, especially girls, to school. It provides at least one nutritious meal in a day, and can help boost enrolment and promote regular attendance, giving children an education and a future,” Bob McMullan said.He also congratulated Bhutan for being, amongst the developing countries, most clearly in track towards achieving the millennium development goals, especially in the area of education.“In my discussions with senior members of the royal government of Bhutan, I was very pleased to hear of the important contribution that Australian scholarships have made over 40 years in developing the skills and capacity of the Bhutanese people,” he said.In 2009-2010, Australia provided two additional scholarships to study at Australian universities, bringing the total number of Australia awards scholarships for Bhutan to more than 40 annually.Australia is also funding the Queensland university of technology and the ministry of labour and human resources to strengthen technical and vocational education in Bhutan.Bob McMullan is in Bhutan to represent Australia as the head of the Australian observer delegation at the SAARC summit.