Fifty minutes in a public bus from Old Bus Park through the traffic of Kathmandu Valley, and a 20-minute walk from Gokarna bus station, you will reach a place of complete perplex—from where you can excavate diamonds. This place is not a mine. It’s a school—a public school. But the school is highly affected by the April 25 earthquake. The real situation, however, is more clear when you see the teaching and learning activities inside the so called “school”.

When you enter inside one of the rooms (made by bamboo sticks) of the school, all the students alertly stand up to greet you. As you start the class you will cry; the situation here is completely heartbreaking. It’s a place where eighth grade girls don’t have dreams and a sixth grade innocent boy says, “My aim is to be a driver.” When you try to make the class more interesting and ask the students to come in front of the classroom to show their talent, some will come with a bamboo stick i.e. a flute and entertain the class with melodious tunes. Another will come and give a top class beat box session. This is only the start; it will continue with some break dance, robotics and melodious singing. This shows the talent behind the curtain. Unfortunately, these talents are suppressed, underestimated and ultimately murdered before they get chance to evolve.

And again, when you start the course of the class, the front benchers listen and concentrate with great care. Enthusiastic eyes and attentive ears make me wonder what they would achieve if they were given proper education.

I ask them to take out their math books but the answer I get from the kids saddens me. They scream in resonance, “We don’t have math book sir. School has not provided us.”

This is my experience of teaching in one of the public schools in Gokarna, Kathmandu. This is only one model of many schools in the country. Eager and enthusiastic students have no place to develop and evolve their talents. They are born with their own unique talents, but are not able to hone it and show it to the world.

Dahal is a +2 graduate from Trinity international College