Rautes’ education halts at Grade III

JOGBUDHA: The slogan ‘free education for all’ has become meaningless for children of the endangered Raute community, as they have not been able to continue their education after Grade III.

As many as 150 Raute kids in Jogbudha VDC-1 in Dadeldhura district have been compelled to bid adieu to their schools after passing Grade III examinations. The Raute kids have not been able to pursue further education because of the lack of schools in the vicinity.

The government had established BP Primary School at Jogbudha-1 in 1992 with the objective of educating Raute children from about 40 households in Ampani village and from about 35 Raute families in Rajyauda village in neighbouring Shirsha VDC-6. It may seem unbelievable, but only one person from the Raute community in the locality has passed the SLC examination. Dan Bahadur Raute of Ampani passed SLC examination six years ago. The most educated person after Dan Bahadur is Sarita Raute of Rajyauda village, who has passed the Grade VI examination. Sarita has already stopped her studies.

There are 150 children of schoolgoing age in the two Raute settlements.

Mukhiya (chief) of the Raute community Chandra Bahadur regretted that

the children had been deprived of basic education due to the economic backwardness, lack of awareness and lack of exposure. “There is no school offering classes beyond Grade III in Ampani village. The kids can’t walk for hours to schools in other villages,” Chandra Bahadur said.

Though the BP Primary School sought permission to run Grade IV classes three months ago, it is yet to get permission from the concerned government agencies.

“Despite our repeated requests, District Education Office, Dadeldhura, has been turning deaf ear to our plea,” Chandra Bahadur added. Bir Bahadur Bohara, teacher at the BP Primary School, said the school lacked infrastructure. “The Raute kids have been deprived of a conducive learning environment due to the lack of infrastructure.