Her earnings average Rs 400 daily and she uses the money to pay her school fees, buy books and stationary items and purchase her uniform.
“My family's financial situation is very weak. So I pick and sell berries so that I can continue with my schooling,” said Hari Maya, who is enrolled at Shankar Bhawan High School, Bahuthan.
Similarly, Dilsara Gharti of the same school also goes into the nearby forests every evening with friends to pick berries. “Our school is starting soon. But my parents don't have money to buy me a new uniform, books or notebooks and pencils. That's why I have started selling berries,” said the seventh grader.
Children from over a dozen VDCs can be seen selling berries at Khalanga Bazar. Some of them say they are helping out their parents with some extra income, while other say they are doing it for pocket money.
“Some of the children drop out of school and go sell berries. They have little choice as their families are very poor. Others sell berries to continue their schooling,” said Tulsara Pun, a local parent. “With the money they earn they buy rice, oil, salt and lentils for the family,” she added.
According to principal of Shankar Bhawan High School, Harka Bahadur Khadka, many of the students do not attend classes at all in the first month of every academic session. “They go berry-picking instead,” he said.
The berries are sold at Rs 50 per mana. One child can sell around 10 to 15 mana a day, said Buddi Bahadur Khatri, general secretary at the Jajarkot chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI).
“It used to be mostly elderly people who would sell berries. These days, however, it's the children who do it,” he added.
Related story
Worth of stories
