PHIDIM: Children of various villages that share their border with forest here in Panchthar spend their mornings and evenings guarding the crops against monkeys and other wild beasts.

Due to their such morning ritual, they hardly ever reach the school on time. Back from school, they rush to the field again. If left unattended, a herd of monkeys can ruin a crop cultivated over a considerable stretch of land in a matter of a few minutes, depriving the entire family of the yield enough to sustain life for months.

The guardians, busy in household chores, often send their children to the field, rather than to school.

Small huts are erected in the corner of the field, sitting under which the children, often dressed in school uniform, shout and beat out sounds to keep the pests off the crop. “Monkeys destroy the corn field, slightly ahead of the harvest time, in a moment if not scared away. They also uproot paddy saplings, particularly in the spring when no other food is readily available for them,’’ said Man Bahadur and Raj Kumari Tamang of Phidim-5, Salghari.

Deprived of going to school, some children read their courses while in the field. A fourth grader at Salghari Primary School in Phidim, Man Bahadur has been studying on his own. “My second grader sister assists me to drive the pests away,” he said. The children of such villages spend about six months off their school. This particularly happens with children in Shiwa, Phidim and Lumphabung VDCs, among others.

“Those members of family able to do harder farm and other jobs are not assigned to guard the crops, which being the children’s duty,’’ admitted Indra Bahadur Tamang, father of Man Bahadur.

“Unless we keep vigil for six to seven months every year, we cannot save our crops,” said Bhawani Ghimire of Lumphubung-6.