What you should know
When it rains, when it rains heavily and you have to stop on the way. Both students and teachers are worried about what disaster they will meet while walking. Most of the students and teachers of Bethanchok Rural Municipality of Kavre are worried about this.
Parents of children who have gone to study have the same concern. Parents do not breathe a sigh of relief until their children return home from school. Due to the floods and landslides that occurred in the second week of October last year, some people have lost their homes, crops, clothes, and some have lost their family members. The pain of losing everything is still fresh in their psyche.
How to go to school if it rains heavily? Shobha Tamang, headmistress of Shree Saraswati Secondary School located in Bethanchok Rural Municipality Ward No. 6, said, "Last year's floods and landslides have caused great damage, not only physical but also human losses, which have not yet healed. If the water falls heavily, they are worried that there will be a disaster. How to get home safely is the main challenge for them and the students."
After the disaster, the number of students in schools has also decreased. She informed that the number of students studying in that school was 350 before the disaster and 320 after the disaster. Principal Tamang said that 15 students studying in this school were displaced by the disaster.
'They were forced to relocate because there was no grass for food and no place to stay,' she said, 'After the disaster, it was very difficult to get the students back to school, they refused to come to school, they had to go through the roads damaged by floods and landslides, and the scenes of falling mountains/thorns made them feel afraid.' There were problems. She said that some students who have lost family members and lost their homes still have the same problem. According to him, he has to walk for two hours.
"When they come to the road, they are worried that they will have to face the problem of floods/slides like last year," she said, "There is no bridge on the way to the school, they have to cross the river. When there is heavy rain, it is difficult to cross the river." She said that the problem is not only for the students, but also for the teachers and parents.
Rajesh Timilsana, head of Parvati Multipurpose Campus, said that the tragedy of the disaster has had a psycho-social impact on the students who have been studying at campus level since 3 years of school age. He said that it was very difficult to get the students back to the educational institutions due to the fear of disaster.
"Damage caused by catastrophic events like flood/landslide caused a deep wound in their psyche," he said, "because of which they did not actively show interest in studying, the students of the younger age group showed fear/terror, while the students of the adolescent/teenage and young age group felt that they were socially and economically weak." Bhagwan Adhikari, chairman of Bethanchok Rural Municipality informed that a psycho-social counseling program has been conducted to minimize it. According to him, the huge damage caused by floods/landslides across the municipality has created fear/terror in children, it seems that it has also affected their brains. He said that in view of the risk of
which would affect their studies as well, a psycho-social counseling program was conducted in collaboration with various associations/organizations. A psycho-social counseling program has been conducted for 18 school teachers of Bethanchok Rural Municipality Ward No. 2, 3, 4 and 5.
In the project of rural development organization Kavre, B&B Neuro Center and Bethanchok Rural Municipality's cooperation and with the financial support of Ein Luxermbug, 40 teachers from 18 schools of Bethanchok Rural Municipality have been given psychosocial counseling.
The study and research conducted there after the disaster revealed the need for psycho-social counseling among the children of that place, Balram Timalsina, secretary of the rural development organization Kavre, said that a psycho-social counseling program was conducted for 40 teachers of 18 schools in two phases in collaboration with Bethnachok Rural Municipality.
According to him, in the study conducted before the disaster, it was seen that there was a psychosocial impact on the children of this area. He said that there were problems like depression and suicide. This program has been organized to minimize it.
``Teachers from 18 schools are participating in this program,'' he said, ``Teachers and teachers who have gone for counseling will give psychosocial counseling to their students in schools. According to him, it may show post-traumatic stress disorder in them. "Many parents don't know about it, and teachers don't know much about it," she said. Teachers have to pay attention, they may also need counseling, because of that it has been given to teachers knowing its importance.'
She said that the goal of this program will be achieved only if the teachers consulted here give counseling to the school students. He said that due to the disaster, the pain of losing a member of his family, the loss of his home, and becoming socially and economically weak, various problems related to mental health can be seen.
According to him, one of them is suicide. It is mentioned in the statistics of Banepa area police office that 6 people committed suicide in Bethanchok Rural Municipality during the period of 9 months after the second week of October. According to the statistics of the office, 6 people including 3 men, 2 women and 1 child have committed suicide.
