Kathmandu, February 16

The District Education Office, Lalitpur today sought clarification from Shuvatara School for deciding to close down its primary wing.

The school had recently served a notice to parents of children studying from Grade 1 to 3, telling them that it was going to close down classes of grades 1 to 3 in Sanepa and run classes from fourth grade at Lamatar, which is almost 10 kilometres from the school’s current location in Sanepa.

Parents worried about the future of their children had lodged complaint at District Education Office, Lalitpur after the school informed them of its decision.

District Education Officer Dilnath Puri told The Himalayan Times that his office wrote a letter to Shuvatara School telling it to furnish details within a week regarding its decision to close down the primary wing and justification for the same.

Before the District Education Office, Lalitpur wrote a letter to Shuvatara, the school had written a letter to the office informing that  it wanted to close down classes of grades 1 to 3 from the next academic session due to lack of parking space and safety concerns.

The school said some of its buildings were damaged in the 2015 earthquakes, thus posing a risk to the safety of children.

Puri said his office asked Shuvatara School to give details of the damage ascertained by the concerned government agency, school’s legal justification for transferring its school to another location and the basis for shifting the classes to Lamatar from its current location.

Puri said the District Education Office, Lalitpur had asked its officials, including resource person, to submit a report on the issue after the first report on Shuvatara’s alleged unilateral decision came out in the media.

He said the office today decided to seek  clarification from the school after affected parents and school teachers reached the District Education Office opposing the school management’s ‘unilateral’ decision to close down its primary wing and demanding that the school not be allowed to put the future of children at stake.

Puri said affected teachers lodged complaints, saying if primary wing of the school was shut, they would lose their employment.

“We have already taken action against the school. Although our officials are yet to submit a report on the issue, we sought clarification from the school  for its decision to close down its primary wing  as it is urgent to do so,” Puri said.

“The school cannot run classes selectively because it has committed to the government that it would provide education to all children without any discrimination.”  He said schools could shut classes only after satisfying legal provisions.

Assistant District Education Officer of Lalitpur Gokarna Dhoj Karki said his office was not in favour of allowing Shuvatara to close down its primary wing.

“Shuvatara cannot take decisions arbitrarily,” he added.

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