Dhading, September 24:

A community school in the district has found a novel way of generating income to meet its expenses.

Sunaulachowa Community School in Tallobesi of Sunaualabazaar VDC-7 has started raising goats and growing horticulture crops to meet its expenses.

The school started the programme with 37 goats brought from Padampur and Anptari in Chitwan. Headmaster Murari Adhikari said they were adding more goats soon. The school has appointed two herdsmen to look after the goats.

The local Ramchedanda Community Forest Users’ Group has provided free grazing for the goats in its forest spread over 30 ropanis of land. “Friend of Orphans,” a non-government organisation working in the field of education, has also supported the school by constructing a concrete goathouse at the cost of Rs 450,000.

Adhikari said he was hopeful that the programme would yield results within a year. “The goats will bear kids. If the kid is male, we can sell it within two to six months and if the kid is female, we can raise them in our farm,” Adhikari added.

The school has also developed horticulture farm as another source of income generation. It has planted 700 saplings of banana and 70 saplings of litchi in 14 ropanis of land that it received from the local community. “Banana plants will yield fruits from next year while litchi plants will yield fruits after three years,” Adhikari said, adding that the school would not have to face problems to provide salary to the teachers from the next year.

Apart from Sunaulachowa Community School, over a dozen schools in the district have started similar programmes to meet their expenses.