Janapriya Secondary School in Hatiya Chisapani, which is around seven kilometers from Hetauda bazaar, had started Junior Technical Assistant (JTA) courses 15 years ago. Until now, the school has produced 3,500 technical students, said Namaraj Aryal, headmaster of the school.

The course has helped hundreds of students in the district get jobs. One of them is Mana Maya Thing, a local resident of Makwanpurgadhi Rural Municipality, who recently got a job in her village after completing the course. She had failed SLC examinations.

Thing got herself enrolled in a JTA course in the field of agriculture (plant science) five years ago after she learned that those who had failed SLC examinations could also get enrolled. She studied the course for 18 months before becoming a junior technical assistant. Now, she works at a non-governmental organisation.

Nabin Gurung, a local resident of Dandakharka in Kailash Rural Municipality, is now an employee at Thaha Municipal Office in Bajrabarahi. He is also a former student of the JTA course in Janapriya school.

“I had tried to commit suicide after failing my SLC examinations. Instead I joined the JTA course and got a job. There is no meaning of studies without skills,” said Gurung.

According to Aryal, the school headmaster, technicians from Janapriya have easily received jobs in various government and non-governmental organisations.

“Some of the technicians are engaged in vegetable farming while some are in animal husbandry. Some students who passed JTA courses have also launched their own businesses in poultry farming and animal husbandry,” said Aryal.

The government has already declared Janapriya Secondary School as a model school

“The school has also started diploma courses in electrical, veterinary and agriculture sectors. Currently, there are 400 students in our school. Fifty percent of them are from Makwanpur and the other 50 are from other districts,” Aryal said.

The school also provides practical knowledge to its students of plant and animal sciences. Under the practical education, students are taught to grow vegetables and other food grains and also raise cows and cattle. The produced agricultural products are sold in Hetauda bazaar and other local markets, said Aryal.