Obligation to walk four hours to study a class

Children from two villages in Myagdi have to walk four hours daily to study in class one. Children of Raghuganga Gaonpalika-6, Thanti, and Mulpani are forced to go to and from school every day.

Carrying books and copies in their bags, they have to walk for four hours daily to go to school and return home. The children reach Raikhor Basic School in Raikhor, crossing the Bhir, Pakha, and Khare rivers. The 17 children of Thanti and Mulpani, who commute daily to school through the rugged and sloping road with landslides, forests, and rivers, are forced to face such problems as there is no primary school in the village.

Sajina Sherpunja and Rajina Sherpunja of Thati and Mulpani, who are not touched by the road network, go to Mulpani Child Development Center. Students from 27 families in the village like him have been suffering for years, said Vikas Purja of Raikhor. He said that students do not come to school regularly as they are far away.

Students of classes 1-5 Raikhor and classes 6-10 have to go to Ritung High School in Pakhapani and neighboring Kuinemangle to study. "It takes two hours to reach the school. During the rainy season, they are not allowed to go to school regularly for three months," said Purja. He said that the landslide would hit four places on the footpath from the village to the school.

"They can't study because they are tired from the four-hour journey daily. The village needs a school," said parent Indra Pun. According to Dhan Kumari Pun of Mulpani, it is difficult to send her alone as it is a busy road. "As soon as I wake up in the morning, I rush to school. When I return home, it is already dusk," he said.

The initiative is being taken for primary level school in Mulpani but there is a problem in meeting the criteria due to the low number of students, said ward member Lila Bahadur Pun. "We have demanded for the operation of primary level schools in Mulpani," he said.

Man Prasad Sherpunja, ward chairman of Raghuganga-6, said that there was a problem in getting permission for schools everywhere as the settlement was scattered. He says that arrangements are being made for teaching up to class 1 in Mulpani. Sher Punja said that digging the road up to the settlement would be a relief.