Heavy snowfall and freezing temperature have led to school closure at Limi village in Namkha Rural Municipality of Humla district.

Himshikhar Primary School, Bhrikuti Primary School and Sunkhani Primary School have been closed since Sunday.

“Temperature in the northern region of Humla has plummeted due to continuous snowfall. We had to shut down schools since it’s too cold for children to come out of their homes,” Tasiphunjok Tamang, a teacher at Sunkhani Primary School, told the Post over the phone.

According to him, foot trails in the area have been rendered impassable due to thick snow covers.

“Around four feet of snow has piled up on the school premises. It has been snowing in the area since Sunday,” said Tamang.

A total of 56 students are enrolled at the school.

“We are planning to run classes at a local Gumba once the snow melts,” Tamang said.

There are 16 community schools in Namkha Rural Municipality. All the schools in the area, which had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, were reopened in mid-December. Three schools Limi, however, were closed again following a coronavirus outbreak.

All seven local units in Humla have witnessed snowfall this winter.

Dhan Bahadur Lama, a student preparing for the Secondary Education Examination in Simkot, the district headquarters said: “All tuition centres have been closed since Sunday. The weather is so frigid that it is difficult to even hold a pen.”

In the neighbouring district of Mugu, the construction work of Gamgadhi-Darm road, which connects Mugu with Humla, has come to a halt following a massive snowfall. Around a foot high snow has covered the area between Chankheli in Mugu and Darmkhola in Humla.

According to the Rural Access Programme, the road construction work has been stopped for a month due to difficult working conditions as a result of snowfall in the region.

“It is difficult to use dozers in the snow. The construction work can only be resumed after the snow melts,” said Bishnuram Bista, the manager of the programme.

The project has been constructing the 67-km road connecting Gamgadhi of Mugu with Darm of Humla from 2018.

Under the project, Gamgadhi-Chankheli road (26km) has already been handed over to the provincial government. The construction work of the rest of the road section is soon to be completed, the project officials said.