Satyawati Secondary School: Major attraction for students in Damauli

By Our Correspondent, Tanahun, June 21: A school in Tanahun has become an example that community schools can be the center of attraction if education is made effective. 

There is a huge crowd of students interested to enroll at Satyawati Secondary School in Damauli by leaving private schools. 

Now, a total of 2,700 students are studying at the school. Due to the huge pressure on the students, many interested students have not been able to enroll at the school even this year as in the past.

Karun Raj Kafle, chairman of the school management committee, said that more than 1,500 students were forced to return due to a lack of physical infrastructure. 

He informed that the school had planned to enroll 300 students in this academic session but about 2,000 students appeared at the entrance and returned after they were unable to get enrollment.

"If we add physical infrastructure, 5,000 students will come to enroll at the school. At present, we have enrolled only 2,700 students," said chairman Kafle. 

Kafle said that there was a problem to add infrastructure due to the lack of land in the school. 

Chairman Kafle said that they want to enroll all the students as per the wishes of parents by taking land and house of Agriculture Development Bank adjacent to the school. 

"We have asked the bank for the lease but there is a problem with the bank not approving it," said Chairman Kafle. 

According to Kafle, the school has 4.5 ropanis in its name but has occupied 10 ropanis of public land.

The school has a plan to take that land on rent and merge the next school Balmandir Secondary School, he informed.

In some community schools, there is a shortage of students but in this school, the number of students has been increasing every year.  There are seven sections in Grade IX and grade X, six sections in Grade VIII, four sections in Grade VII and three sections in Grade VI, said headmaster Ek Bahadur Gurung. 

Apart from Tanahun, students from Gorkha, Lamjung and Kaski are studying at the school by renting rooms at Damauli. In the year 2070, this school became the first in Nepal after more than 80 per cent of students passed SEE continuously for three years.

The number of students in this school is high also because it offers technical education. Science stream classes are being run for grades 11 and 12. And computer engineering subjects are being taught from class 9 to 12 under the technical stream.

The school has stated that it has been selected for the development and operation of the model school as per the decision of the Ministry of Education.