Gautam, who was paying Rs 1,000 in tuition fees for each of them every month will now have to pay just Rs 100 each. [break]
“I admitted my children to this school after coming to know that it provides quality education at a low price,” she said. She paid just Rs 750 in admission fee and a month´s tuition fee for the three kids.
Sita Lamichhane of Masbar also shifted her son from a well-known school in Pokhara to Samata. In the old school, Lamichhane paid Rs 3,000 in admission fee alone for her child, apart from a monthly fee of Rs 1,200.
“Now, the road to quality education has opened for the children of poor people like us,” she said with joy. “I was worried that Samata would not accept my kid. But luck favored us,” she added. Lamichhane said her financial worries about educating her child through school level are also things of the past now.
Samata that charges just Rs 100 a month in tuition fee admitted 2,500 students in just two days. For Rs 250, parents can admit their children to the school. This includes the tuition fee for a month.
“In the old school, I would have faced difficulties educating my child through higher grades,” she said. “But now, education is affordable.”
Mohamed Ajir Miya of Galkot, Baglung, brought his children from his village to Pokhara after hearing about Samata. “With quality education becoming affordable, educating my children in my own village did not make sense,” he said.
Samata that charges just Rs 100 a month in tuition fee admitted 2,500 students in just two days. For Rs 250, parents can admit their children to the school. This includes the tuition fee for a month.
The admission was announced opened on March 14. On the first day alone, the school admitted 2,000 students. The school stopped admitting students on the second day, when it took 500 students, after receiving too many admission requests.
People stood on queues for admitting their children from as early as 5 a.m.
“I stood on queue for three hours from 5 am to get admission forms,” said Gautam. “I had never seen such crowd or parents seeking to admit their children to a school.”
Parents have continued to arrive at the school hoping to somehow get their children admitted, though the school had already closed admission.
Some parents are regretful for being late and consequently being unable to admit their children to the school.
The school´s proprietor Uttam Sanjel said of the intake, half are children of ´dalit´ and ethnic groups and poor families.
The school is currently building new classrooms. So far, 48 classrooms have been built.
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