Students from the remote parts had been staying in the upper parts of the district for their studies. But after the April 25 earthquake destroyed their rented houses, they have not been able to shift their accommodation. This has affected their studies.
According to the students living in rented houses, the schools have already resumed classes by building temporary shelter since Sunday. Around 200 students in Bhawani Higher Secondary School alone at Manwu VDC, located in the upper part of Gorkha, live in rented houses.
According to school principal Kaji Ram Karki, of the total 700 students, 200 students from Kanshigaun, Lapu, Kerauja, Thumi, Gumda, Uiya, Sirdibas and other remote villages of Gorkha have enrolled in Bhawani Higher Secondary School at Manwu. They are living in rented houses. "But they are now facing problems due to lack of accommodation," Karki said.
There are 700 students from grade one to 12 studying in Bhawani Higher Secondary School. The school is one of those with maximum students from the upper part of the district, according to District Education Office (DEO), Gorkha.
Likewise, students living in rented houses, who are studying at Buddha Secondary School of Sirdibas, are facing similar problems.
"Schools have already resumed classes from Sunday. But the fate of students living in the rented houses has become uncertain after the earthquake," school principal Karki told Republica. "Their schools and rented houses both have been destroyed in the earthquake."
Students from remote the villages of Gorkha have been renting rooms close to their schools in the upper parts of the district. School principal Karki informed that they are running classes under tarpaulins. However, the attendance of students is very low, he said.
"I couldn't find accommodation after house I had been renting was damaged in the earthquake," said Chandra Bahadur Ale Magar, a tenth grader at Bhawani Higher Secondary School. "All my books and dresses were buried under the rubble." The student from Kashigaun has been living in a rented house of Manwu VDC for a year now for his studies.
Another tenth grader, Kopila Ghale of Kerauja, shared a similar plight. "I am living in a temporary shelter built by me and my landlord. I am managing to go to school, but my books and dresses have been buried under the rubble," said she.
After the government's Himali scholarship program was launched at Bhawani School, many students from the remote parts of the district have been coming to study here. As part of the scholarship scheme, the school provides scholarship of Rs 4,000 each every month to 40 students.
Meanwhile, Tek Bahadur Gharti, VDC secretary of Manwu said students from the remote areas come to the upper parts of the district for their secondary education.
Those villages from where the students come do not have secondary and higher secondary level schools, said Gharti. "Bhawani School is the SLC examination center and also a higher secondary school," he said. House owners themselves are displaced now so there is no possibility of them managing accommodation for their tenants, according to the VDC secretary. However, some of the house owners have provided temporary shelter to these students.
Assistant District Education Officer Hem Prasad Acharya admitted that students living in rented houses were facing problems in resuming their studies. "The students are facing problems resuming their studies as they have no accommodation after the rented houses they were living in were damaged in the earthquake," he said.
Bhawani Higher Secondary School of Manwu, Gorkha after the April 25 earthquake. Photo: Santa Lamichhane