Every season of picking Yarsagumba, the studies of about fourteen and a half thousand students are affected
The teachers of Adarsh Madhyamik School located in Thuliberi Municipality-7 always reach the school before 10 am. However, the attendance of students at this school, which has 750 students, is almost zero. As the Yarsa collection season has started, they have left school and are heading towards Patan.
Every year Jeth, Asar is the season for collecting yarsagumba in Dolpa . In these two months, the locals go to Patan in the high Himalayan region to search for the precious herb Yarsagumba . Old people, children, pregnant women, all of them went to Patan to pick yarsa after locking their houses. "All the teachers are in the school, but none of the students are coming," said Balkrishna Dangi, the principal of Adarsh Mavi. According to him, only administrative work is being done in the school now.
Similarly, teaching has stopped at Janprabha High School in Tripurasundari Municipality-10 Liku. When the students do not come, the teachers are spending the day waiting for the students. "Our school with more than 700 students is open every day, but the students are not coming," said the principal Tej Bahadur Giri, "hardly only 30-35 students are coming, the students are sitting waiting."
There are 116 schools in Dolpa. Education Development and Coordinating Unit Office of Dolpa has informed that after the start of Yarsa season, its effect has been felt in all the schools of Dolpa. Most of the schools have been closed due to lack of students due to Yarsa season . As the parents locked themselves in the house and went to Patan, the small children also left their studies and went to Patan with them . Not only the students but also the local teachers here go to Patan to pick Yarsa during the season. As a result of which the school is closed and teaching is stopped .
According to Dilprasad Rokaya, Acting Chief Administrative Officer of Thuliberi Municipality, the municipality has already decided not to close the school, but due to non-attendance of students, teaching and learning could not be done . Yarsagumba collection is linked to the income of the entire family. Some of the students here have covered their education expenses by picking Yarsa,' he said, 'Going to Patan to pick Yarsa is more of a compulsion than a desire for students.' Thuliberi Municipality has a total of 27 schools. After stopping coming to school, even the teachers are relaxed . Some teachers have gone to Patan to pick Yarsa, while some teachers from outside the district have gone home taking advantage of the school closure. According to Harsh Prasad Choulagai, Head of Education Development and Coordination Unit Dolpa, the problem of lack of teaching during the Yarsa season is an old one. "The closure of schools under various pretexts will not only affect the students' learning, but also affect their educational future," he said.
He is of the opinion that the issue of no teaching for months during the Yarsa season should be taken from the meeting of the general stakeholders including the political parties in the district. He said that the leadership should be given to the concerned parents. "We are asking at the local level to run the school, the people's representatives say that this is the season to earn money, it may be possible if the local government wants," said the head of the unit Chaulagai.
Every Yarsagumba season, about fourteen and a half thousand students' studies are affected . Upper Dolpa is more affected by Yarsagumba season .
As there is Yarsa Patan near the village, teachers and students go to Patan after closing the school.
Ruplal Budha, a resident of Karelikanda, Tripurasundari Municipality 1, said that because one month's income has to cover the expenses of the year, even small children go to Patan in search of Yarsa. Earning income by picking yarsa is not as easy as you think, you have to look for yarsa with your life in the palm of your hand. Some children die due to lack of water,' said the old man, 'because the parents go to Patan in search of Yarsagumba, the children also skip school, because they earn as much as they can, earning is more important to them than education.'
He says that even a six/seven to ten year old child earns from ten to thirty thousand . Yarsa traders say that the price of Yarsagumba is sold from 500 to 1000 per kg and it is traded at 15 lakhs to 30 lakhs per kg.
Most of the villages in Dolpa have become deserted after all the people went to Patanir in search of Yarsagumba. After Yarsa Patan was opened on May 5, tens of thousands of people came to Patan in search of Yarsagumba, according to She-Foksundo National Park.
Yarsagumba, a precious herb, is found in the high Himalayas above 3000 . Yarsagumba is known as a potent herb that has both plant and animal properties. Devendraraj Neupane, who has been trading Yarsagumba for fifteen years, said that most of the Yarsagumba produced in Dolpa is exported to China.
