HETAUDA: Despite the launching of admission campaign, nine percent of children have no access to education in Makwanpur district.The government had launched the campaign of introducing provision of imparting education without fear to the children; however, the government’s effort does not seem to borne fruit in Makwanpur. “Nine percent of the 104,500 school age children are deprived of education in Makwanpur,” District Education Office (DEO) made public educational statistics, recently.

According to the statistics, most of the deprived children are domestic workers at houses. The figure is a challenge for the Government and Non-Government Organisations working in the education sector alike, DEO stated.”Most of the deprived children come from the rural areas added to that its an irony that the achievement was not as par the investment made in the education sector,” said Yubraj Dahal, school supervisor Makwanpur.

Consider this: There are 392 primary schools and 618 preprimary schools in the district. The literacy rate in the district is 63.5 percent. Of which, female literacy stands at 53 percent while that of male is 72 percent. The student drop out rate is comparatively higher. 14,494 dropped out of schools until the end of academic session, last year. Drop out was high among children of Janjatis. Of the 68,602 Janjati students admitted last year, as much as 56,747 attended the final exams.

“As there is no coordination in the investment in education sector, literacy could not be imparted to all children,” stakeholders said. Children in the rural areas are not enrolled in the school due to geographical

and financial barriers. Ironically, teachers are also not regular to classes. Furthermore, the stakeholders accused that the teachers were not selected through fair competition and were ‘irresponsible’. Political

influence and lack of transparency in distributing teacher relief quota were also

cited as other hindrances.