First SEE from Chanja

Chanjagaon is like an innocent in front of the world enjoying the age of modern technology. There is no internet here and there is no road. Not even a school in the village. Children here walk two hours more every day to reach school. But all these sorrows have now been forgotten by the people of Chanja. Chanja village, which was carrying the pain of Peer, is now full of joy. We are now happy after forgetting the pain, suffering and pain. Everyone's head is high. A student who has passed SEE has just left our village,' Local Preeti Baijali Magar said.

After 16-year-old Regum Khadka of Chanja passed the public SEE results on Thursday, the whole village was happy. Regum is the only person who passed SEE in this village. Preeti told that apart from her, no one in the village has passed class 10 so far. In Chanja, where there are 24 households, most of the children drop out of school after studying 6th/7th standard.

When we reached Chanja village on Friday afternoon, there was a gathering of locals there. Everyone's face looked happy. Those who were present were saying the same thing, "The nose of the village has been maintained, it has become the first SEE passer in our village." Regam seemed even more happy that he became the first SEE passer from the entire village. He is studying from Jutungkhola's social school in Rolpa and has passed with a GPA of 3.03. 16-year-old Khadka had been studying at his uncle's house when school was away. He studied in the village till class two and then went to Jutungkhola in Rolpa to study. He used to commute from home to school by spending two hours more every day. Regam narrates that he started studying at his uncle's house after having problems when the school was far away. "There is no school in the village. To go to school, you have to go through the forest. I lived far away at my uncle's house," he said, "There were more problems during drought." I am happy now that I have faced problems like getting leprosy while going to school, having to cross a river on the way to the mountain.'' Although he thought of studying IT subject, he does not know much about it. He said that due to the financial condition of the house, he is worried that he will not be able to study as expected. "You have to study, but it is difficult to go to the city to study," he said, "It would be easier if there was a school where you could study for free for higher education." His father now works as a laborer in India. The 10-year-old brother is also studying at his uncle's house.

His mother Khali Khadka is overjoyed when her son becomes the first person to pass class 10 from the village. However, there is a separate worry in Khali's mind. She said that Khadka's family, whose husband was working as a laborer in India, was worried that their son would not be able to get the education he wanted. "As soon as the results came out, many people called and congratulated us. We are very happy," Khali said. She said, "The husband's income is enough to run the house, how can he send his son to the city?"

Her husband Anurag Khadka is now in India. He is even more happy that his son has passed SEE. Regum said that when he heard the news that his son had passed, he could not speak on the phone for a moment. 'We feel that our son has passed class 10 for the first time,' said Anurag, 'we can say that there is a person who has passed class 10 in our village.' He studies in the social school of Jutungkhola and the Siddha school of Jumrikada, Pyuthan municipality-5 in Pyuthan. Before this, one or two people from the village reached class 10 but did not pass, but they chose a different path, the locals say. Most of the girls here are married before they reach their age and drop out of school. Some of the youths, who fail or drop out of studies, go to work in different districts, while some of them go to the Indian Himalayas with their relatives. Most of the time it is difficult to meet the youth in the village.