BAJHANG, March 29: In lack of classrooms and furniture, students of several community run schools in Bajhang are forced to study under the open sky. Whether regular classes or examinations, they sit on school ground. According to Gachhe Pani Lower Secondary School’s principal, Krishna Rokaya, there is no other way for them other than to run classes in the open air. 

“We don’t have enough classrooms and furniture. So, we have no option than to teach them in the open air,” he said. “It’s not just us, most government schools in the district have been struggling with such problems,” he added. 

Kalpana Bhandari, who was taking exam on the school’s ground last week, stated that it has been very hard for her to sit in the scorching heat. “We don’t feel like coming to school on a hot day. But we have to bear the heat while sitting for annual exams. Else, it would cost a year,” said that eight grader.

She said in the few classrooms the school has junior grade students are taught and senior classes are conducted in the open air. “That’s always like that. We have to sit outside whether during class or exams,” she said. She shared some students even become unconscious, some are gripped by diarrhea and dysentery and some suffer from headache. 

Kalak Malla, a 7th grader of the same school informed this scribe that he got sick due to heat during the first few days of the examinations. Malla, topper in class since grade one, feels that the lack of infrastructures have affected his and other students’ overall performance. “We have to sit on hot ground while hot sun makes it unbearable from above. It’s extreme during the summer season,” he said. 

 “We don’t have resources to manage classroom and furniture on our own. We met lawmaker, we appealed to education officer, but nothing worked,” he reported. “Most government run schools including ours are in a sorry state. The situation cannot improve until and unless concerned authorities extend support,” he added. 

 
• gachhe pani lower secondary school
 
• krishna rokaya
 
• bajhang