Siraha, April 27

Although computing as a school subject was introduced in many community schools in Siraha years ago, most of these schools don’t have either computers, or computing teachers to teach children.

While some schools have arranged for computers through the District Education Office and different donor agencies, most don’t have computers.

Balkaba Secondary School in Siraha has been running computer classes as an optional subject in grades 6, 7, and 8, but the students have not seen a computer yet. “We don’t have teachers who can use computers either. We have been using teachers who have themselves never seen computers running computer theory classes right now,” said Head Teacher of the school Bechan Sah.

In Janata Primary School of Chandralalpur, although the school had received three computers from donor agencies, one of the computers was taken by Head Teacher Ram Dev Mandal.

“I have kept the computer at my home for security reasons,” he said, not explaining what ‘security reasons’ he meant.  Students of the school said that they don’t even know how to turn on a computer.

There are a total of 435 community schools in Siraha, according to the District Education Office. Of them, 128 schools conduct computer classes.

District Education Officer Arbindalal Karna said the subject was introduced years ago, they had failed to arrange computers in several schools. “Most schools don’t have computers, and those who do, don’t have sufficient computers for students. Even teachers don’t know how to use a computer. The teachers need training,” said DEO Karna.