Each classroom at the Kauwaghari Basic School in Dangisharan Rural Municipality-2 is carpeted and has water filters, with the students busy studying. The school has ‘yoga classes’ for its seventh period where the students are led through basic yoga exercises. For these reasons, Kauwaghari has emerged as a model public school in an area where poor infrastructure and irregularities are the dominating features associated with public schools. Unlike many public schools around the region that charge fees under various obscure headings, Kauwaghari doesn’t demand any such fees.

“The region has a history where many guardians do not send their children to school because they are poor,” said Lakshman Devkota, the school principal. “In view of which, we have exempted the guardians of any fees, and created a proper environment for education and fun.”

The walls of each class feature the rosters listing the students’ names, including their guardians’ contact number and address. Whenever a student is absent, the guardian is duly called and asked about his/her whereabouts.

“At the end of the year, we evaluate the performances of the students and also the teachers,” Devkota said. “Every teacher is given a target they need to meet and improve the following year.”

Yoga has been made a regular class, a part of the curriculum for students in grades three, four and five. “Yoga not just provides physical exercise but also makes the students attentive in classes and help develop positive thinking,” said Robarsingh Dhakal, the yoga teacher.

The students the Post talked to said they are excited by practical lessons such as yoga and computer science. “I like that nobody is beaten for not doing homework, but everybody follows the school rules,” said Bharat Pariyar, a fifth-grader. “We follow discipline and rules.”

Yashoda Basnet, Pariyar’s classmate, said there is good coordination between students and teachers. She said that all of her classmates take turns to clean the classroom and the playground.

Kauwaghari Basic School has 108 students and seven teachers in total. Principal Devkota said that the village is predominantly a Dalit settlement where the parents can’t afford to send their children to private boarding schools. Devkota noted that the school is assisted by an organisation called Society for Environment and Education Development (SEED).

Pima Kumari Khadka, deputy chair of the rural municipality, said that the basic school is a model school in the local unit. “The school has even invited representatives from other schools so that they could emulate it,” she said. “The school has not just provided a good education in a healthy environment for free but has also set an example for other schools to follow.”