Surkhet, August 1:

The practice of handing over the management of public schools to communities is on the rise in Surkhet district.

Management of 70 public schools has been handed over to communities despite protests from various teachers’ organisations. “In the last fiscal, management of 59 primary schools, seven lower-secondary schools and four secondary schools was handed over to the communities,” technical assistant at the Surkhet District Education Office Gajendra GC said. There are some 500 schools in the district.

“The government policy of handing over the management of schools to communities has helped schools that are poor in terms of financial resources,” Krishna Prasad Dahal, headmaster of Hastabir Primary School in Birendranagar-11, said. Hastabir school was the first school in Surkhet to be handed over to a local community.

Purna Prasad Poudel, general secretary of the Community Schools’ National Network, said the responsibility of communities and guardians would increase with the hand-over of management of public schools to communities. He asked the government to continue its assistance to the schools even after they are handed over to local communities. Chairman of the Surkhet chapter of the Nepal Teachers’ Union, Dhan Singh Khadka, accused the government of trying to escape from its responsibility by handing over the management of public schools to communities.

However, District Education Officer Bhakta Bahadur Dhakal denied the allegations.