The Ministry of Education yesterday promised to safeguard the education opportunities of students whose schools were destroyed or damaged during the earthquake last week.
According to the ministry's statistics, a total of 619 schools were either partially damaged or had collapsed in Tuesday's powerful earthquake. These include 33 colleges, 20 high schools and 566 elementary and junior high schools.
Administrative Vice Minister of Education Yang Kuo-shih (楊國賜) said civil engineering experts are helping the ministry examine all the schools located in affected areas.
"Before classes are restored, we need to ensure the buildings are safe," Yang said.
For the schools that are unlikely to be repaired in a short period of time, Yang said the ministry sought assistance from the military to help demolish damaged structures and set up tents or prefabricated houses to serve as temporary classrooms.
"The ministry will provide the funds needed for the reconstruction," Yang said.
Another option is to let the affected students attend neighboring schools, Yang said.
As for elementary and junior high students who wish to go to schools in other localities, the ministry is urging members of the public to volunteer to provide a homestay for them, Yang said.
He added that local education authorities will find out this week how many students want to take such action, and make proper arrangements for them.
Most of the schools affected are located in hard-hit Nantou County and Taichung County. Only 60 percent of the schools in Nantou County can reopen on Oct. 4 -- the rest have been completely destroyed. Nantou County Government has estimated that it will cost at least NT$10 billion to repair and reconstruct these schools.
Of the 200 schools in Taichung County, severe damage means 40 will remain closed this week. Property losses alone are estimated at NT$5 billion.
One of the destroyed schools is Kuangfu Junior High School in Wufeng, Taichung County. The school is located on one of Taiwan's 52 active faults, and has seen two-thirds of its classrooms collapse. The school's location on seismologically active ground is not unique among Taiwan's educational institutions.
Research commissioned by the education ministry, conducted at National Central University has shown that 358 schools around the island are located in the vicinity of active faults.
Of these, 111 are in northern Taiwan, 94 in central Taiwan, 100 in the south and 53 in the east. Those located within 100 meters from a fault line total 66.
Yang said the ministry notified local governments several years ago -- after the report was released -- to strengthen the affected school buildings and introduce other earthquake safety measures.
"Most local governments were unwilling to relocate the schools and we could not force them to do so since [no earthquake] had occurred," Yang said.
Yang said now that many schools were destroyed by the earthquake, local governments were taking a more active role -- checking how many of them are on the "danger list" in order to implement the ministry's advice.
The National Science Council is currently drafting a reconstruction proposal which may include prohibiting the construction of any buildings in potentially dangerous areas.
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