Erring kids have to fetch water from afar

Baitadi, April 29:

Students in Shree Kedar Nagarjun Higher Secondary School located at Baglekhan, just six km from the Baitadi district headquarters Khalanga, do not get corporal punishment for their mistakes. Yet, this doesn’t mean that they are spared altogether. Punishment is meted out to the students ranging from Grade VI to XI according to their antics.

It’s “fetch five buckets of water from afar” for those who play hooky after the midday break; three buckets for those who fail to apprise the school that they will be absent on a particular day, two buckets for those who fight and one bucket for those who fail to do their homework.

Erring students are required to haul the water all the way from the source to the school toilet block and pour it into the water tank there. Compared to other schools, from where reports of corporal punishment of students trickle out now and then, teachers and students in this school are a contented lot. So are the students’ guardians who have hailed this novel form of punishment as a social service.

The school had two toilets and added one more recently. Yet, over the past four years it has not been able to arrange for regular supply of water.

After racking its brains, the school management committee hit upon the idea of killing two birds with one stone, said principal Sher Singh Karki. Earlier, teachers and students had to venture far into the fields or wooded areas to answer the call of nature. Karki said that though several organisations promised that they would arrange for water nothing was done.

Naresh Pant, a seventh grader, said, “It was ironical that despite three toilets on the school premises, we and the teachers had to go into the fields. The new system has benefited everyone. We fetch the water and are able to use the toilets.”

Manisha Bhandari, a ninth grader, said that they did not feel the absence of other facilities and added that toilets were indispensable. Some 350 students are enrolled in the school.

Peon in the school Tara Dutt Joshi said the incidence of students fleeing home during midday break had greatly reduced after the new system of punishment was introduced. Teacher Tara Dutt Pant said the school ensures that students fetch water only during the breaks so that their studies are not disrupted.

Students said as there was no dearth of water now, they all take turns to keep the school premises clean.

Principal Karki pointed out that while the “fetch water” system of punishment was alright for some time, steps would have to be taken to arrange for regular water supply to the school.