Baitadi, December 1:

A lower secondary school has been forced to hold classes for 150 students of three different grades in a room after a storm blew off the roof of the two-roomed school.

The roof of Bhrikuti Proposed Lower Secondary School at Silanga could not be repaired for paucity of funds.

“Slabs of corrugated zinc were damaged in the storm,” said the school source, adding that the school’s nursery section and the office were rendered roofless by the storm.

“Since the storm occurred at night, vital documents went missing,” headmaster Pant said.

“As the school lacks funds for repair, we visited the District Education Office and the VDC office, but in vain,” said Nandaraj Pandeya, chairman of the school management committee. “As we are forced to share class with the students of nursery and Grade I, we are constantly disturbed in the class,” Padam Aaire of Grade V said.

“We used to teach the students by sitting on the floor, however, it could not continue due to the weather change,” headmaster Pant said. “We have also been short of staff since starting Grade VIII. The quota allows only six teachers,” said Pandeya.

“It is difficult to pay salaries to teachers at the local resource level,” added Pant. BCDO, a

local NGO, is providing financial support to pay teachers’ salaries appointed for a year.

With a total of 310 students studying in the school, the school has been in this condition for the past three months.