By Prakash Chandra Bhattarai, Damauli, Feb. 6: Sarvodaya Basic School, Byagan, Tanahun functions more as an administrative office than an educational institution. The school houses the ward office of Devghat Rural Municipality-2, which is hampering regular classes of 210 students studying there, according to Tek Bahadur Ale, principal of the school.

The ward office has been operating from one of the rooms of the school since September 3, 2017. “Scores of people come to the office every day which disturbs the classes and hampers the teaching-learning environment,” Ale said. “Sometimes, there are arguments and things get tense which distracts the children,” he added.

Pol Bahadur Ale, ward chairman, informed that they requested the school to provide them a room because they had no other option. “We found no other building in the village that could be used as the ward office,” he said, adding, “So, we requested the school to provide us a room for our office.”

“The school was selected because it is easily accessible to all the villagers and has the necessary facilities,” chairman Ale further informed.

He acknowledged that this arrangement was affecting the education of the students but stated that they had no other option but to continue working out of the school. “We tell the service seekers to stay quiet and try to get their work done as quickly as possible so there is no commotion,” he said. “But the students do get affected despite our best efforts.”

The ward office had previously rented a room at Talbari for its office. “But everyone complained that the place was quite inaccessible and asked us to shift our office to Byagan,” chairman Ale stated.

But Durga Bahadur Thapa, chairman of Devghat Rural Municipality, explained that the problem would be solved soon. “We have already laid the foundation for a new building of the ward office and it will be completed within a year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thapa informed that he had asked the ward committee to work without disturbing the classes.