Over 20 percent of students from Tarai districts are yet to return to their schools in the Valley even 10 after classes resumed following Dashain and Tihar vacation.

According to higher secondary school operators in the Valley, around 100,000 of the total around 500,000 students enrolled in the academic institutions are yet to return to their schools.

Some 200,000 students from various districts are studying in the Plus-Two level in the Valley while around 300,000 are in the university level. Yubraj Sharma, general secretary of the Higher Secondary Schools Association Nepal and chief executive officer at Himalayan Whitehouse College, said colleges are in dilemma in moving ahead with regular classes in the absence of a significant numbers of students. A majority of academic institutions from the Valley resumed their classes on November 18.

The ongoing banda in the Tarai districts and acute shortage of fuel and cooking gas in the country are major reasons why the students are reluctant in returning to the Valley from their hometowns. Over 70 percent of students studying in the higher level in the Capital are from outside the Valley. “There is no cooking gas stock in my room while electricity supply is not regular. And, I can’t afford eating in hotels,” said Aakash Ghimire, a Bachelor’s second year student at Milton College in Shankhamul, over telephone from Dang.

As after the April 25 earthquake, college operators fear there are chances that some students may not return. “The crisis and inflation due to blockade has made life tough in the Valley,” Sharma said. “I would not get surprised if we lose our students forever.” An estimated 15 percent of school and college students did not return to Valley after the earthquake eight months ago. He said that there are reports from the ground that some have left for India as there is no clear picture on when the present crisis will end.

Students not returning to the Capital mean many academic institutions that are already facing hardships after the earthquake will have to undergo problems in their daily operation.