Four students from Rajapani Basic School in Musikot Municipality Ward No. 1 received a goat each on Wednesday.

Amid the school assembly, Sandeep Roka of grade two; Purushottam Devkota of grade three; Bhawanai Badi of grade four; and Bimala Khatri of grade five were each given a goat. The goats were not provided as a grant but were actually lent by four other students from the same school.

The school coordinated the give-and-take, handed over by Musikot Municipality Mayor Devilal Gautam. The four students were provided with the goats for ‘maintaining academic excellence’, as they had scored the best in their respective grades.

But this is not the first instance where students with good academic performance were provided with goats as a reward. The strange tradition has been in place for eight years. The students tend the goat for a year, and once it breeds, the first offspring should be provided to another high-scoring junior.

The four students who received goats this year will hand over their goats’ offsprings to four other students. They use the revenue generated from the goats to buy stationery, the students say. In the span of eight years, 17 students have received goats.

The tradition was started to get the school out of a financial quagmire, according to school Principal Danda Bahadur Khadka. “The goats would lift the school’s financial status while also providing the deserving students with some subsidy,” Khadka said. Students from two local units, Musikot Municipality and Banfifot Rural Municipality, study in the school. Khadka added that the tradition has been instrumental in attracting new students.

The basic school has 68 students and four teachers. The school bought its first goat in 2011 at Rs5000 with the money saved from one of the budgets received for a school project, Khadka said. Even today, the school lacks manpower and other essentials, but the tradition to hand over goats is ongoing, said Mane Sarki, chief of the School Management Committee.

Gautam termed the school’s goat programme a ‘creative’ endeavour.

“This is a creative effort beneficial to both the students and the school,” he said. “If the school wants to add some goats to the programme, the municipality will come to help.”