Entire Mushahar community of Shripur has no SEE graduate

BY JAY KRISHNA YADAV,Inaruwa, Mar. 31: Mina Sada, a 12-year-old girl from Shripur of Koshi Rural Municipality-6 in Sunsari, should be carrying books, notebooks and pens to school. Instead, she is forced to carry a sickle in one hand and a sack in the other, heading to labour work instead of school.  As a result, she has been deprived of education.  

Born in the Musahar community, Mina had a desire to study, but due to her family's poor financial condition and the need to earn daily wages, circumstances compelled her to drop out of school after completing grade 4. Similarly, Rubina Sada, from the same community, wanted to continue her secondary education but had to leave school after grade 6 due to financial constraints and a lack of a supportive environment.  

Swastika Sada, a 14-year-old girl from the area, shared that she initially attended school but felt neglected by teachers and discriminated against by classmates. As a result, she dropped out after grade 4 and now works as an agricultural labourer within the village.  

Local guardian Shankar Sada said that there was no secondary school in the village in the past and even now, the existing secondary school lacks quality education, forcing many children to drop out and engage in labour work.  

According to activist Ramesh Bhattarai, in the Musahar settlement, located just 100 metres from the Ward No. 6 office and Shri National Secondary School, 50 girls and 36 boys have dropped out of school between Grades 3 and 8. He further stated that while girls are sent to do household chores and agricultural labour, boys are often sent to work in Delhi and Punjab, India.  

Ward Chairman of Ward No. 6 Judilal Kodogiya said that despite efforts to encourage school enrollment through awareness campaigns, economic hardship continues to force Musahar children to drop out of school. He assured that steps would be taken to ensure regular attendance of both students and teachers, re-engage dropouts, form mothers' groups in schools to address the issue and monitor dropouts closely.

"We are not just talking about Mina, Rubina or Sabina, many children have dropped out. We are committed to forming mothers' groups and bringing them back to school," he added.  

Jay Prakash Yadav, the principal of Shri National Secondary School in Shripur, said that enrollment campaigns are conducted at the start of each academic year, but many parents do not send their children to school. He emphasised that economic hardship, coupled with the deep-rooted practice of sending children to labour work in India, has worsened the situation. He assured that for the upcoming academic session, which begins in late April, door-to-door campaigns would be conducted to re-enroll dropouts and maintain regular attendance according to the academic calendar.  

Birendra Yadav, the chairman of the school management committee, urged parents to send their children to school regularly and emphasised the need for periodic monitoring.  

Despite the desire to study, children from the Musahar community are unable to continue their education. One local, Sabina Sada, said that if food and scholarships were provided, many of them would return to school.  

Although the Constitution of Nepal, under Article 31 (Right to Education) and Article 39 (Rights of Children), guarantees education as a fundamental right, the entire Musahar settlement of Shripur remains deprived of secondary education. A decade ago, there was no school offering education up to Grade 10 in the village. Although a secondary school was later established, no student from Shripur's Musahar community has ever passed the SEE exams.  

Due to early marriages and the necessity of labour work for subsistence, the village, with a population of over 300 and around 100 school-aged children, remains without access to secondary education. Local resident Bhutkun Devi Sada said that while some parents want their children to study, many children themselves lack interest and others are forced to drop out due to their parents' indifference.