SANKHUWASABHA: Jas Kumar Rai of Akhang in Pawakhola-2 dropped out of school ever since his mother’s death. He now looks after his three siblings and helps out his father in essential works. “I asked my eldest son to quit study since his mother expired,’’ said Subedar Rai. ‘’I feed my children on wild fruits and tubers.’’ “If I go to school, there remains nobody to assist father in the household chores. Besides, he has to do other works to earn for us all,” clarified Jas Kumar. An estimated 1,000 helpless and orphan children are deprived of education as well as other basic rights in the district. Neither the government nor any NGO has come to their aid. In Pawakhola VDC alone, 72 children do not go school. ‘’It’s a matter of concern that so many children are out of school due to poverty,’’ said KP Bhetwal, who researches for Sagarmatha Childcare Centre. Most orphaned children were deprived of education, he added. Child Right Convention 1989 guarantees all the children right of health, education, nutrition and affection, a far cry for many Nepali children, said Bhetwal. ‘’There are more than 150 conflict-hit children in the district,” said Lila Shrestha, INSEC representative.