A country school popular for its merit

By Chandra Pandak,Taplejung, May 4: A community school in Taplejung has had to close admissions because the number of students applying to get in was too many. The Bhanu Jana Secondary School, located in Phungling, district headquarters of Taplejung, has stopped accepting applications for new admissions because the number of students seeking a seat exceeded its capabilities. 

The school closed admissions after enrolling 300 students who passed the two entrance exams it held over the past two weeks. “We have the necessary infrastructure but lack enough number of teachers. That is why we could not take in every child who wanted to study with us,” Headmaster Kishor Kumar Rai told The Rising Nepal. “Unfortunately, we will have to keep turning back students until the local, provincial and federal governments help us manage more teachers and resources,” he added.

Students can study up to the 12th grade at the school and can pursue technical streams including engineering, computer science, tourism, mountaineering and music. Similarly, pupils are taught in both English and Nepali mediums up to the 10th grade. Since the beginning of the new academic session last month, private and community schools have been advertising themselves on local media. Many of them have also been going door-to-door, asking guardians to send their wards to their schools. Bhanu Jana did not do any of this, yet attracted more students than it sought. “But this should not surprise anyone,” Bikram Mabohang Limbu, a parent and a local resident of Buddha Chowk, Phungling Municipality–5, asserted. “Bhanu Jana is known for providing better education than other community schools.”

“Also, more and more parents are sending their children to schools in the district headquarters, thinking they are better than education institutions in the villages,” he added.

Furthermore, people are attracted by the range of technical courses Bhanu Jana offers as they believe it will help them find good jobs. As per the school administration, Bhanu Jana currently teaches around 2,500 students from Nursery to Grade 12. Teacher Rajamani Pyakurel informed that 500 more students were expected to be added in Grade 11 after the results of the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) are published.

Established as a community school, it also has a scholarship scheme for deserving students.