Karnali Province
Students of a Dailekh school use umbrellas inside their classrooms on rainy days
The number of students at Malika Secondary School has fallen by 20 percent because of poor state of the classroomsJyotee Katuwal
Monsoon brings about an unusual problem for the students of Malika Secondary School in Gurans Rural Municipality, Dailekh. The school’s roof leaks during rainfall, which is frequent during this time of the year, and the students use umbrellas inside their classrooms to avoid getting drenched and protect their textbooks.
The teachers, too, come prepared with raincoats. Mohan Dangi, a seventh grader, never forgets to bring his umbrella to the school during monsoon.
“It becomes extremely difficult for us to study if it’s raining,” he said. The school has been going through this problem for the past two years.
Headmaster Bhakta Bahadur Basnet said the students and teachers were forced to endure the trouble because of the delay in the construction of a new school building. Though the construction works began six years ago, the school building remains incomplete.
“The leaking roof is a big problem for us to conduct classes during the rainy season. We may be forced to close our classes until July if the downpour becomes more frequent,” Basnet said.
He added that the student numbers at the school have fallen by around 20 percent because of the poor state of the classrooms. The school currently has 450 students.
Jagat Budha, an engineer of the firm contracted to build the school building, said works had not progressed because of budget shortage.
The school building is being constructed with the aid provided by the Indian embassy.
Budha said the firm had not received the budget to resume the construction works.
“The school was supposed to be completed three years ago,” he said.
The company had agreed to complete the construction of school building for around Rs 42.5 million.
However, Padam Sapkota, chief at the District Coordination Committee, claimed that the company had already received the budget.
“The contractor has failed to complete the building despite receiving the payment on time,” he said.