Dailekh, May 12:

No matter what programmes the government may introduce to lure more kids to schools, they have failed to attract the Badi children of Namuna Basti village to the school.

None of the kids from the entire community has ever seen a school.

Badi community members do not have land of their own and therefore live miserable life.

In the face of severe poverty, guardians have no choice but to engage their kids in work for

a livelihood.

Most of the people from the community work as porters in the district headquarters and they have little time to think about the education of their children.

Narottam Badi, a father of five kids, said survival comes ahead of education and the government’s announcement for free education up to Grade X is meaningless for him.

Ganesh Badi (12), who works as a helper at a grocery shop in Dailekh’s Ganeshsthan, said although he has wanted, he had never seen a school .

He said he could not fulfill his dream of becoming a student due to his family’s poor financial

condition.

He said he had to work at the shop continuously from 04:00 am till 9:00 pm everyday.

“Were I born to a richer family, I would have never needed to toil for survival,” he laments.

District Education Officer Ganesh Khatri said the office was working hard to draw more kids to school.

However, he said his office had no exact data on the number of children from the Badi community working as labourers. Fifty children of 25 households are working as child labourers and none of them have even seen a school, said Narjit Badi (55).