Shaktikhor, May 15:

Every day, over 100 sixth-graders of Chaturmukhi Secondary School at Shaktikhor VDC, Chitwan district, crammed in a single room, struggle hard to learn their lessons.

This situation has arisen because the school has not been able to hire more teachers and add classrooms for fund crunch.

This academic session, 170 students have been enrolled at grade IX and 90 students at grade X. These lucky students have been studying in separate sections. Saying that they have no option except to accommodate over 100 sixth-graders in one classroom, headmaster of the school Bhanubhakta Poudel says, “The problem has arisen because we do not have funds to appoint more teachers and construct a new building to accommodate more students.”

Over 1,000 students from nursery to grade X study in the 15-room school, which has 18 teachers.

The room meant to be used as the resource centre of the District Education Office (DEO) has been turned into office of the school.

In previous years, the school used to collect building construction fees ranging from Rs 250 to 450 from each student of grade VI to X. The school is in a financial crisis because the All-Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary has directed schools not to collect any kind of fees until a new government is formed, say teachers.

The school plans to construct a four-room building, says Poudel, adding that the DEO has allocated Rs 6.45 lakh for this.

According to Poudel, “The school has to show a bank balance of Rs 4.35 lakh to the DEO to get the fund, which we cannot,” Poudel.

“We have called a guardians’ meeting for Monday. The meeting will take a decision on this matter.”