Ordeals of students on other side of Ratuwa River

By Hari Prasad Koirala

Urlabari, Apr 20 : Many may find it hard to believe that students in a district as developed and well-connected as Morang have to walk for hours to reach school. After all, it is one of the major industrial hubs of the country and also the capital of Province 1. 

But that means little to the children of Mirchadangi village in the south-eastern part of Ratuwamai Municipality–3 who have to walk a kilometer every day to reach their school at Pidhali after crossing the Ratuwamai River.

Students can only study up to the third grade at the local school at Mirchadangi. They have to travel to Pidhali to continue their education from the fourth grade onward. But to do that, they have to cross the Ratuwa River. The river swells in the monsoon and becomes a sand bog in the dry season. Both of these conditions make it unsafe to cross.

Sital Kumari Gangain, a fourth-grader at the Bhanu Basic School, Pidhali, said, “When the river floods, we cannot go to school. Sometimes, it starts raining after we have already reached the school. So, we cannot go home.”

Those with the means and resources send their children to live in the Pidhali market so they do not have to cross the river. Some also send their children to Biratnagar. However, students from economically disadvantaged families are forced to walk for an hour and take their lives in their hands when going to school.

Nisha Kumari Harijan said, “We are either troubled by rain or dust. It is hard to walk for so long, especially under the summer sun. We have to consider ourselves fortunate if we reach home in the evening safe and sound.”

More than 12 students walk from Mirchadangi to Pidhali every day to study. One of those students is Sima Kumari Ganga in who wished the school would provide them with hostel rooms. 

Priyanka Ganga in is another student who shared that many of her friends and juniors had dropped out completely due to the difficult daily commute.