Two years after construction, school lacks teachers

By Bijay Kumar Sah,Dhalkebar, Mar. 7: It has already been two years since the construction of a school building at Hathratol in Kshireshwornath Municipality-9, Dhanusha, was completed. 

The school building was constructed to end the compulsion of children of the village to travel long distances to attend school.  

However, locals say that classes have not started in the new school due to the shortage of teachers and staff.

Due to the lack of community schools in the village, children from poor and minority Mukhiya communities have been deprived of the basic right to education. 

A community school was established seven kilometers east of Mahendranagar in 1993 and was closed 12 years ago. Since then, the children of the village have to walk to the school of another village for study. 

Bajrangi Mukhiya, a local, said that due to the lack of schools in the village, children are forced to attend schools far away from the locality. "There is a community school in Ichchhapur, three kilometers away from the village. Young children of poor families cannot walk such a long distance. The children from wealthy families attend private schools, riding school buses, but we cannot afford to pay that much,” he said. 

Ranjit Kurmi, another local, said that the lack of teachers had darkened the future of the children of the locality. "Had the school been established in our locality, our children would not have been deprived of education,” he said.

Awadh Kishore Yadav, Ward Chairperson, said that efforts are ongoing to run the school. 

He claimed that he had prioritised this issue since his election.  

"Although the school building was constructed through ward-level efforts, it could not be operated due to lack of teachers,” he said. 

Deepak Khatri, Chief of the Education Section of the municipality, said that although the school was operational earlier, the problem arose after the registration was canceled. "The ward chair has been making efforts to reopen the school, but the classes have not started due to the problem of teachers.  

The process has not moved forward due to lack of budget and sufficient cooperation from people's representatives to recruit teachers," Khatri said.