Manang schools shut for three months

Manang, December 16

All community schools in Manang have pulled down their shutters for three months to avoid the bone chilling cold.

The schools have been closed from December 16 to March 15. As the schools have been shut, local youth club and Mothers’ Group have decided to gather the students and teach them in their neighbourhoods.

District Education Office Manang, Mothers’ Group and local youth club have reached an agreement to teach students even during public holidays. Youth Club Director Lokendra Bahadur Ghale said they had formed 36 study groups in 13 VDCs of the district in collaboration with the Mothers’ Group.

District Education Officer of Manang Dev Kumar Baral said they had decided to teach students from Grade I to Grade III to improve their academic performance under National Basic Class Teaching Programme during long holidays. The DEO has trained and appointed nine teachers as facilitators.

Upper Dharapani Tole Reading Group Coordinator Ganga Gurung, who is a hotelier, has been teaching children these days. She said she was teaching the kids in her free time as lesser number of tourists visited the district during winter.

As part of the programme, books have been provided to the students of each study group. Parbati Paudel, a facilitator, said children were eager to actively participate in the studies due to interesting course books.

The data at the DEO showed that 27 schools in the district have as many as 810 students. “Since most of the parents admit their children to Pokhara and Kathmandu-based schools, the number of students is low in the district,” DEO said.

Every year, schools in the high lands are closed for a certain period of time during the winter season to avoid the biting cold.

Various temporary schools are also set up in lower lands every year so that the children are not deprived of their studies.