Up to 15,000 students affected by quake damage to schools

The earthquake-damaged Christchurch suburb of Redcliffs, with Redcliffs School at centre. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Up to 15,000 students could be affected by severe quake-damage in Christchurch schools, Education Minister Anne Tolley said today.

Ms Tolley, in Christchurch this morning visiting the worst-hit schools, said the priority in the early stages would be assessing buildings to find out the extent of the damage.

"We need to know what buildings can be used and what can't," she said.

"What is a matter of cleaning up and what is structurally unsound."

With 18 state schools and 11 integrated schools already known to have suffered extreme damage, Ms Tolley said between 10,000 and 15,000 students were going to be affected.

"It's of huge concern and that's why we want to get them some form of learning as quickly as we possibly can," she said.

"We'll be looking at correspondence school ... there're a whole variety of options available to us.

"We've got to remember that the September quake affected those same students just before exams and we managed that so no one suffered and that's what we're trying to do again this time."

Shirley Boys' High, the South Island's largest boys' school with more than 1500 students, was among schools Ms Tolley visited today.

Principal John Laurenson showed her around the school, pointing out cracks in the courtyards, silt-filled classrooms, thrown-about furniture and flooding throughout hallways.

Mr Laurenson told how raw sewerage had flowed through the buildings when the quake hit, and said it was likely to be uninhabitable for a year.

"The effect on the students is critical at this stage," he said.

"It's really important that we get the boys and girls brought back to the schools, it's critically important we don't just simply dissipate them all over the place.

"What happens then is the community suffers not only a property blow but a spiritual one as well."

Mr Laurenson said he believed all the boys at his school had survived the quake, but that there had been deaths within the school community -- some students had parents who died.

"Everybody in Christchurch knows about the four degrees of separation, we know people who know people, but yes we've had loss."

- NZPA