Pooja Rai, a resident of Basapani in ward 3 of Kepilasgadhi Rural Municipality, wanted to complete at least the secondary level education, but she was married off after she passed grade eight and could not continue her studies.

Nevertheless, Pooja, who is 27, is committed to accomplishing her unfulfilled dream. She enrolled at grade nine in the local Rastriya Secondary School in the current academic year.

“I became a mother soon after I was married and could not continue my studies,” Pooja said. “I am now determined to materialise my unfulfilled dream with the encouragement of the rural municipality.”

The mother of a five-year-old child is from a lower-middle-class family. Her husband Shambhu is a mason.

Pushpa Bishwakarma, aged 32, of Baksila has a similar ordeal but for a different reason. She could not continue her studies after she completed her School Leaving Certificate (now SEE) exam in 2011 due to financial constraints. She decided to enrol in grade 11 this year after a 12-year break. She got admitted in Prithvi Secondary School, Baksila this year. Her husband is in Saudi Arabia for foreign employment and her two children—aged 12 and 10—study at Rastriya Secondary School.

“I still hunger for education. I believe I will successfully pass classes 11 and 12 which will empower me,” said the Dalit woman. She is quick to thank the rural municipality for encouraging her to continue her education.

Not only Pooja and Pushpa, but five other women like them have been enrolled in different educational institutions in Kepilasgadhi Rural Municipality this year. The women who left their studies due to various reasons in the past decided to continue their studies after the local unit encouraged them.

Kepilasgadhi Rural Municipality in Khotang, a hill district in Koshi Province, endorsed a plan to educate married women who were compelled to quit their studies due to various reasons.

The local unit included a ‘daughter-in-law education programme’ in its policy and programme in the fiscal year 2022-23. The programme has been implemented from the current fiscal year of 2023-24.

“We will support the daughters-in-law who passed grade eight up to SEE (Secondary Education Exam) and those who passed the SEE up to grade 12,” Samir Rai, the chairman of Kepilasgadhi Rural Municipality, said, adding the rural municipality bears all fees required and provides stationery and uniform.

“I have a dream to pass grade 12, find a good job and earn money,” said Shanti Kala Rai, 27, of Baspani. She has been studying in grade 11 under the rural municipality’s ‘daughter-in-law education programme’. Shanti Kala, a mother of a five-year-old daughter and an eight-month-old son, could not continue her studies after she passed the SLC in 2012.