Madhesh Province
Lack of physical infrastructure, human resources in community schools of Parsa
Officials at the rural municipal office said there’s a lack of teachers and infrastructure in almost all schools in the municipality.Shankar Acharya
Bandevi Basic School in Bhatuda, Paterwasugauli Rural Municipality, runs classes up to grade five but has only four classrooms. The school runs classes for grade two and three in the same room.
There are 150 students in the school but only five teachers. Subash Prasad Das, the school’s headmaster, said the school administration is facing difficulties to run classes due to a lack of proper infrastructure and insufficient teachers.
There are 23 schools in the rural municipality plagued with similar problems. Mamata Tharu, the vice-chairperson of the rural municipality, said, “There are schools in almost every settlement, but most of them lack infrastructure. The government went on a spree of opening schools, but there are no proper provisions to run and maintain them.”
Officials at the rural municipal office said there’s a lack of teachers and infrastructure in almost all schools in the municipality.
Education experts say schools with a low number of students have to be merged to ensure quality education. Brija Kishor Sah, an officer at the District Education Development and Coordination Unit in Parsa, said almost all schools in Parsa are lacking in terms of infrastructure and education quality.
“There’s no need for 23 schools in Paterwasugauli. The rural municipal office has to merge schools and fulfil the necessary quotas of government teachers to strengthen the education system,” Sah said.
According to the latest data of the Education Development Directorate, 724 community schools have been merged across the country. The practice of merging schools is intended to enhance the quality of education by centralising scattered resources. Paterwasugauli Rural Municipality, to ensure quality education, also plans to merge its community schools.
“Most of the community schools in Paterwasugauli have fewer students and lack the necessary physical infrastructure. Because of this, they are on the verge of closure,” said Tharu. “The only measure that can ensure the survival of the schools is to merge them.”
The government had introduced the School Merging Implementation Directives 2014 to address the decreasing number of students in public schools. According to the directives, schools located within 30 minutes of walking distance and serve a small population and are unable to meet the minimum criteria of a full-fledged foundation (basic or secondary school) can be merged and run as a full-fledged school.