Schools in upper Mustang have been shut from the second week of October, long before the scheduled start of winter vacation on December 1, as classes could not run in the biting cold in the wake of early snowfall. [break]
After the government and local authorities provided assistance for schools to evade the harsh winter, eight schools in Chhonhum, Lomanthang, and Chhoser VDCs have shifted to Pokhara temporarily.
Dibyadip Secondary School in Chhoser and Rastriya Lower Secondary School in Lomanthang as well as Dibyajyan Primary, Saraswati Primary, Chumjung Primary, Birendra Primary, Thuwa Primary and Namgyal Primary School in Chhonhup VDC have started moving to Pokhara to evade the cold.
Dibyadip Secondary has started classes in a shed belonging to Bishu Sherchan at Kunahar. According to head teacher Hari Bahadur KC, they have come to Pokhara with 13 teachers and 70 students to continue with the classes.
“We have brought all students from 4th to 10th grade and classes for 10th grade have already started”, said KC.
Because of the difficulty of caring for younger students, they have brought along students up to 4th grade only.
Rastriya Lower Secondary in Lomanthang has camped at Nagdhunga whereas the other six primary schools in Chhonhup have set themselves up at the Baglung buspark area.
According to Mustang District Education Office (DEO), provisions for lodging have been made for the students moving to Pokhara.
“Some of the schools closed earlier, rescheduling their winter vacation,” said Undersecretary Ram Prasad Acharya at DEO.
The government has provided a scholarship of Rs 3,000 monthly to 40 students to attend their schools in Pokhara, according to head teacher KC. “We provision other resources from the Village Development Committee,” he added.
The government has been providing Rs 350,000 annually for the management of these schools.
Because of winter cold, schools in the area remain close for over 100 days a year although the allotted winter vacation is only 45 days. Closed schools resume only from the first week of March.
Locals, meanwhile, accuse the government of discrimination in providing assistance to only a few schools, leaving other schools of the same area without any option. They demanded that the government assist other local schools also to operate in winter.
“It is prejudice on the part of the govement to provide the opportunity for schooling in winter only for a few students. All students in upper Mustang should have equal opportunity,” said Pramod Chand Gurung, a local.
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