Students at Dungbang Primary School in Lothar-7 have attending classes under the open sky as the construction of their school building damaged by the April 25 earthquake is yet to be completed.

Headmaster Atibal Chepang said classes are being run under the open sky until the new building is ready.

There are around 166 students in the school. All of them are compelled to sit on wooden planks on the ground to attend classes. “They have been learning lessons sitting on the ground even in winter,” Chepang said, adding that they also do not have drinking water at the school.

A majority of the schools in the quake-hit villages in the district are facing similar problems.

According to the District Education Office, the earthquake destroyed 227 schools in the district.

District Education Officer Damodar Acharya said quake-damaged schools are running classes inside temporary huts.

“We have started repairing classrooms that developed cracks due to the quake,”

he said.