Only three students are studying at Suryamukhi Primary School in Baldhengadi-8, Palpa, in the current academic session. There are no first, third, fourth and fifth graders in the school.

Local Nar Bahadur Raskoti Magar attributed the decline in the number of students at the school to villagers migrating.

“Many families have left the village in search for better lives and opportunities,” he said.  

Headmaster Ram Bahadur BK said there are very few children in the village. “We could not find students during the enrolment campaign this year,” said BK. Currently, only two teachers are employed by the school.

Besides Suryamukhi Primary, other schools in the area also witnessed a marked decline in the number of  enrolment this year.

Mahendra Subedi, information officer at the District Education Office, said they plan to merge the schools that have small numbers of students.

“Most of the primary schools in the rural areas of Palpa do not have enough students. We plan to merge them in the near future,” said Subedi.

The office estimates that of the 269 primary schools in the district, 50 schools need to be merged.