Aathbiskot Municipality in Rukum (West) has provided full scholarship to 17 students of various technical subjects this year. The municipality had also provided education loans to students taking MBBS and pilot courses two years ago.

The municipality has selected students—12 male and five female—from economically weak backgrounds for the three-year-programme. According to the municipality, of the 17 beneficiaries of the scholarship, three students are studying engineering, two are studying health, three sub engineering, two law, three IT, two agriculture and two staff nurse courses.

“The municipality will pay the tuition fees of the beneficiaries until they complete their courses but they will have to bear their own expenses for food and accommodation,” said Gorkha Bahadur KC, mayor of the municipality. “The beneficiaries were selected as per the application filed by those students who had passed the entrance examinations of their concerned subjects.”

According to the municipality, five students had got scholarships in the fiscal year 2018-19 and 12 students had got scholarships in the fiscal year 2019-20.

According to KC, the municipality has been continuing this programme to help aspiring students from impoverished families. “The right to education has been categorized as a fundamental right. We have initiated the campaign to help students from poor families get education.”

Until now, the municipality has invested Rs 3.9 million to provide scholarship to 17 students. Each of the students has received a maximum of Rs 103,000 to a minimum of Rs 50,000 as scholarships.

The municipality had taken initiatives to launch the programme for the management of technical human power in the local unit. “There is a shortage of technical manpower in every sector in the municipality. We hope that through this programme, we will produce more human resources so that we don’t face a shortage of manpower in the future.”