Bajhang children lack schools to continue study after grade 3

By Shailendra Rokaya,Bajhang, March.1: Locals of Krikittya, a remote settlement of Talkot Rural Municipality-3 in Bajhang district, lack access to health services and education. Children of 18 families living in this particular village are unable to get proper education.

Although a school in the village offers education from early childhood to grade 3, it becomes difficult for children to continue their studies beyond grade 3 in the lack of a school running classes from grade 4.   Currently, 30 children are enrolled at the Shainkalika Basic School in the village, which is running classes up to grade 3, in the lack of proper infrastructure

 The school has also been operating in a rented house for a long time, locals said. In the absence of a school running higher classes, the children quit their studies, said Dinesh Bohara, a local.

He said, “To reach the nearest school, children need to walk for three hours through a forest. It is not safe to send them alone because of the fear of wild animals like tigers and bears. As a result, we can only educate our children up to grade 3 in the village school.”

According to him, a few families manage to send their children to the Amar Secondary School in Ward 3 of the rural municipality, where they stay in their relatives’ homes. However, families without stable income sources educate their children only up to grade 3 and then stop sending them to school.

Another local, Surti Bohara, said that she had educated her three children up to grade 3 in the village school. After that, she had to rent a room at her aunt’s house in Rupatola to continue their education. “I have placed my three children -- my eldest daughter Batu in grade 4 and Dhawali and Rhythm in grade 3 -- at my Aunt Bhanmati Gharti’s house. Sometimes, we visit them with food supplies,” she said.

Currently, Dinesh Bohara’s three children are studying in the village school. He said, “Even though I want to provide higher education to my children, circumstances force me to stop their education.” According to Bohara, there are over 13 to 14 children in the village who had to quit their studies after completing grade 3.

Locals complained that Shainkalika Basic School exists only in name. The school, with 30 students, does not even have a proper signboard. Operated in a rented house, the school has only two teachers, and lacks a playground.

The school grounds are filled with stones and only a small two-room tin shed was built in the initiative of the rural municipality.

However, this shed is not even fit for children to sit in. The teachers’ salaries also come from donations collected by the villagers. Parents whose children study at the school contribute to pay the teacher a monthly salary of Rs. 10,000, local Surti Bohara said.

Meanwhile, Talkot Rural Municipality’s Education Officer, Harindra Upadhyay, said that he had also monitored the village. He said that last year, the municipality granted permission for early childhood classes for the young children in the village.

Upadhyay informed that a budget of Rs. 1.5 million was allocated last year to construct the tin shed and the municipality had decided to conduct classes there. He added that due to the dual residency of villagers -- sometimes in Rupatola and sometimes in Krikittya -- many children remain out of school.