The Himalayan region is one of the major seismic areas in the world.However,similar to many other seismically active locations,there are substantial numbers of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings;the majority of which have not been designed for seismic loads.Past seismic events have shown that such buildings are highly vulnerable to earthquakes.Retrofitting of these URM buildings is an important conc in earthquake mitigation programs.Most govment school buildings in rural areas of north India are constructed of unreinforced masonry.These school buildings are socially important structures and serve as a crucial resource for rehabilitation during any disaster.The effectiveness of ferrocement (FC) to create a URM-FC composite is described in this study by estimating the performance and fragility of a URM school building before and after a retrofit.Analytical models,based on the equivalent frame method,are developed and used for nonlinear static analysis to estimate the enhancement in capacity.The capacity enhancement due to retrofitting is presented in terms of the maximum PGA sustained and damage probabilities at the expected level of earthquake hazard.