An amount of $620 million is estimated for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the destroyed schools and colleges in the quake affected areas of Pakistan, the National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament) has been informed. Minister for Education Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi said the federal government has provided Rs 50 million each to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Azad Kashmir governments for rehabilitation of educational institutions, which include reopening of these institutions. He said according to the assessment carried out by the ministry 9704 schools and colleges have been destroyed or damaged in the quake-affected areas. The minister said over 1000 tents have been provided for schools and 21000 more tents are being procured for this purpose. He added 50,000 packets of stationery items and 6,00,000 notebooks have been assured from the Punjab government. Qazi told the National Assembly that the government is focusing to reopen the damaged educational institutions in the quake-affected areas and reopened over 800 schools in tents. He said around 873 teachers died and 563 teachers were injured in the quake-hit areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.
