BAJURA, FEBRUARY 9

Children from Bhote community have been deprived of education after their family members migrated to the lowlands to escape the bone-biting cold in Bajura and Humla. The children had hardly attended classes for six months.

Bhote people move to the lowlands leaving their houses during winter. The children could not continue their studies and were compelled to go with their parents.

Bhote people live in Bichhayan, Pandusain, Bandhu, Kotila, Kolti and Martadi of Bajura. They return to their houses by mid-April.

Bhote Janajati Sewa Samiti former chairman Nripa Thapa Bhote said children's studies were disturbed during winter.

Pasang Thapa Bhote and his family, along with their mountain goats left for the lowlands three months ago.

Their three children, students of Siddheshwori Basic Level School, miss out on their education during this time.

Pasang said the children had no other option but to go with them.

According to Nepal Bhote Janajati Sewa Samiti, as many as 1,008 children were deprived of education this winter.

There are 600 Bhote families living in the district.

The children could not be promoted to higher grade as they did not attend the final examinations.

Janak Bhandari, a local, said that only a few of them appeared for the final exams.

Members of the samiti said that they had held discussion with the authorities time and again to find a solution to the problem, but in vain.

They added that the authority concerned could not implement the concept of mobile schools.

A teacher at Himal Bhakti Basic Level School, Gumba, said that some of the Bhote children had not even seen school in their lifetime.

According to Bajura Education Coordination, educating Bhote children is challenging.

The community lacks educated persons as they could not attend schools earlier.

Economically backwards children are deprived of school education. They hardly attend school for six months. The samiti said that as many as 42 people of the community have completed secondary level education.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.