Thousands Of Students Still
Out Of School In Quake-Hit Chile
SANTIAGO - Some 590,000 Chilean students
still can't attend school due to the Feb. 27
earthquake that damaged most schools,
Chilean Education Minister Joaquin Lavin
said Wednesday.
"There are 33 days left before the deadline
that allows all students back to school;
there are 590,000 students who still cannot
attend school, and we are going to do
everything for them," Lavin said during the
inauguration of the new school term in
Santiago, Chile's capital.
About 80 percent of students in Maule and 75
percent in Bio Bio still can't attend
school, Lavin said.
Meanwhile, in the O'Higgins region, the
school year was delayed for about 25 percent
of the students. Since last week, 250,000
students have returned to schools across the
country.
Undersecretary of Regional Development
Miguel Flores urged that the municipalities
should set up a reconstruction fund for
schools.
Reconstruction of schools would cost about
10 billion Chilean pesos (19 million U.S.
dollars). Only 1.5 billion pesos (3 million
dollars) have been received for 56 projects
so far, Flores said. |
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