Every year when the monsoon arrived, school-going children of Mritung village, in Nawalparasi, would be confined to their homes. The rains would swell the Baulaha stream, and the children would not be able to go to school, which was on the other side of the stream, for lack of a bridge.

Because of this, the academic performance of Miritung’s children was always poor and the school dropout rate was quite high.

However, things are slowly changing. To make things easier for locals, a suspension bridge was built across the stream—at a cost of Rs4.2 million—which came into operation on July 31. The bridge means the 24 students from Mritung will be able to regularly attend school.

With the construction of the bridge, it will now only take about an hour for the students of Mritung to reach school. Before the construction of the bridge, the children in Mritung had to walk for more than two hours to reach a bridge at Daldal to cross the stream to attend their school, Dibya Jyoti Basic School in Kirtipur.

Ramlal Pulami Magar said he could not send his son to school during monsoons since the water level in Baulaha stream would be at a dangerous high. “Now my son doesn’t have to discontinue his classes. He can study uninterrupted throughout the year,” said Magar.

“The bridge was constructed mainly for the school children,” said Dinesh Bhusal, the ward chief of Devchuli-12.

A majority of people from Mritung village had also resorted to renting rooms near their children’s school to avoid crossing the stream during monsoons.

“Knowing the hardships of young children, the local unit has allocated budget to purchase a school bus too,” said Purusottam Neupane, headmaster of the school, informing that children can reach their school in Kirtipur under 20 minutes by road from Mritung village.

According to Bhusal, the ward office has allocated Rs 1.7 million to purchase a school bus in the current fiscal year. He said, “The attendance of students is bound to increase in the school with the construction of the bridge and purchase of a school bus.”