INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SIRAHA, DECEMBER 30A majority of primary schools across Siraha, where most of the children from Dalit families study,
are in a miserable state due to utter mismanagement and irregularities, with quality of education being ignored.
clinics operating illegally in Siraha
Vote counting yet to begin in Siraha
While some schools are operating under
below-average teachers-to-students ratio and classes don't run regularly, other schools with very few students are said to be involved in
irregularities by inflating their students' numbers.
A case in point is Dalit Primary School of Golbazar Municipality-1,
The school has a total 85 students to go by its attendance registers: 29 students in child development classes, 20 in Grade I, 21 in Grade
II and 15 in Grade III.But when submitting students' number, the school inflated the number and claimed money for textbooks, lunch and
scholarship for 91 students
Still, when it comes to students' daily turnout, it's hardly 25
All the students at the school are from Dalit community
Besides, while school Principal Niroj Yadav rarely comes to school, his wife, who also works at the school, also shows up rarely.Another
primary school in Sukhipur Municipality-4, Balahi has no different story either
The school running classes up to Grade IV has a total of 126 students as per the attendance registers
Interestingly, not even 15 students come to school
The school has a contract-based teacher, a relief quota teacher and a child development assistant
But, it's very difficult to find all the three at school at the same time
Principal Ananda Singh is said to be usually found in his brother's school rather than his own school.Another school, Janata Primary School
of Sukhipur-4, Pokhariya, has also a similar story
Though the attendance registers of the school show students number at the school at 120, twenty or so students come to attend classes
It has three teachers but none of them are regular to school
Similar is the story of another Janata Primary School of Naraha Rural Municipality-3, Barahi
Hardly 10 students come to school here, but school registers show students' number at 131.In fact, this is the plight of most of the
community primary school in Madhes Province
Though many had felt that education's quality would improve with the consolidation of the local government, the expectation hasn't been
Experts have expressed concerns at the decreasing quality of education at such schools, attributing it to the negligence of stakeholders.A
version of this article appears in the print on December 31, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com