A week since the start of the academic session, Humla’s public schools are yet to start classes

Unlike other districts across the country, academic session in Humla starts in mid-February because the district sees extreme weather during winter. A week since the start of the academic session, Humla’s public schools are yet to start classes

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Chhapal Lama

Published at : February 24, 2020

Updated at : February 24, 2020 10:39

Humla

A week since the start of a new academic year, many public schools in Humla are yet to begin classes. In fact, a majority of the schools have not even started student enrolment programmes. Unlike in other districts across the country, the academic session in Humla begins on the Nepali month of Falgun (mid-February)—because of the extreme weather the district sees in the winter—and ends in Kartik (mid-October).

The district’s Educational Development and Coordination Unit, which regulates public schools, had directed all public institutions to open the session by mid-February. But the schools, except for a few around the district headquarters Simkot, are closed. In contrast to public schools, private institutions started the session in mid-January.

Bishnu Bahadur Shahi, chair of the unit, said the schools are closed in the absence of teachers, most of whom are yet to return from their vacations. Public schools in the district employ a total of 513 teachers, many of whom hail from hilly districts. “About 60 percent of the teachers are currently out of the district,” Shahi said. “Books are yet to arrive too.”

Some remote schools, however, are still covered in snow, according to Bishnu Lama, chair of Namkha Rural Municipality. Lama said that the schools have yet to open, as most of the people who had migrated to the Tarai to escape the extreme weather have not returned.

“We aim to open the session in mid-March, once the snow melts completely,” Lama said.

In the last academic session, about 17,000 students were enrolled in Humla’s public schools. Humla has 26 secondary schools, 30 lower-secondary and 92 basic schools.