KAPILVASTU: The government's slogan of "one secondary school in each VDC" has been a complete fiasco in Kapilvastu district.

Parents and guardians are deprived of enrolling their wards in secondary level as no school is running secondary level classes in 46 VDCs. There are altogether 77 VDCs and a municipality in the district.

To add to their woes, no private school has been opened in the VDCs that offer secondary classes. Consequently, drop out rate after the lower secondary level is alarmingly high.

Although local residents in the VDCs have been knocking on the doors of District Education Office and other concerned authorities to make the secondary education available in their villages, their attempts have failed to yield outcome.

"As there are no secondary level classes in our VDC, many students stop their studies after the lower secondary level," said Khum Acharya, district chairman of Nepal Teachers' Union.

"I have keen desire of enrolling my children. However, I could not do so due to the unavailability of secondary school here in own VDC," said Ramesh Mishra, a resident of Bashantapur VDC.

"Only a few students of the southern VDCs sharing border with India go to join Indian schools to pursue their higher studies," said Pashupatimani Tripathi, a villager.

"Getting education has been enlisted as one of the fundamental rights. Moreover, three years have passed after the announcement of special education policy. However, these provisions are not implemented," said Meena Sunar, secretary of SAHAJ, an NGO involved in education sector.According to DEO, there are 254 primary schools, 27 lower secondary ones and 52 secondary schools in the district. Other 17 schools have also been offering Plus Two level classes.

DEO chief Rakesh Srivastav said he had apprised Department of Education of the problem prevalent.