Banke, September 26:

Guardians from the squatters’ village of Udharapur in Banke district are keeping a school running on their own.

The Jan Kalyan primary school was set up in BS 2058 with a view to educating the village children. As no funds came from outside, the children’s guardians decided to pool together their own resources and make sure that the school kept running.

Each guardian provides Rs 5 monthly to keep the school running.

The school, which has received the administrative nod to run classes till grade II, is now running classes till grade IV. Only this year, a teacher was assigned to the school on government quota. Four other teachers are working there on abysmally low salaries.

School management committee chairman Yamdeep Ghimire said every household in the village is contributing Rs five for the maintenance and operation of the school. Over a dozen squatter families also dwell in the village. International Nepal Fellowship (IBF) helped build the three-room school.

Ghimire said the INF initially lent out two teachers to the school, but they were withdrawn later. He added that there is only one teacher in the school sent by the district education office and that the other teachers are being given salary through random resources. The Village Development Committee office has not even provided a penny to the school.

Teacher Shukra Bahadur Rokaya said he is working on a monthly salary of Rs 1,500. “We are actually doing a yeoman’s service,” he added.

As the three rooms are not enough, students of grade IV have to squat on the floor to

attend classes.

Bishnu Pariyar, a fourth-grader, said when the weather is clear the students attend classes on the school ground. On rainy days, they crowd into the school office and squat on the floor. The school has 225 students.