Bishanku Narayan, February 7:

Various non-government organisations have been concentrating to bring the children of Tamang community of Chapakharka village into Chapakharka Primary School by introducing income generating programmes at Bisankhu Narayan since last two decades but to no avail.

The Chapakharka Primary School (CPS) in Chapakharka village ward no 6 of Bisankhu Narayan VDC of Lalitpur, is under-performing right from its inception in 1982.

“The locals in this village have failed to make the most of different organisations’ programmes and projects,” said Pirti Man Tamang, the only individual in the village with an intermediate degree and a volunteer teacher at the school. “Parents’ ignorance and disregard for the importance of education are the main reasons for negligible performance of the school and the students.”

According to Tamang, unsystematic lifestyle of the locals who earn their daily wage as porters and labourers in Godavari and adjacent villages is one of the contributing factors that have prevented them from sending their children to school.

In a bid to encourage children to enrol in the school, Chapakharka Primary School provided school uniform to all children who enrolled in the school last session, said head master of the school, Bal Krishna Basnet. “Furthermore the school offers free lunch to students. But, the students attended the school so long they received free lunch,” he said.

Also weather plays a great role here. The teachers walk almost two hours to school. Come rainy season, the teachers fail to turn up regularly owing to slippery trails and heavy rain. As a result, regular classes get disrupted.

Considering the need to uplift the locals’ economic status, Society for Education and Economic Development (SEED) in 2005 started a pilot project by providing eight buffaloes to eight families on credit. “The programme could not prove its effectiveness due to the short duration of the programme,” said Ishwore Thapa, a representative of SEED in Bishankhu Narayan VDC.

Educate the Children (ETC) is also helping the school in building its infrastructure, train the teachers and introduced programmes in the grass roots level with a view to mobilise

the locals, uplift the society and educate the children, said Yash Bahadur Gurung education co-ordinator at ETC.