Kumari Lama, who lives in the Red Cross Holding Center in Banepa, Kavrepalanchok, had her daughter in Grade 8 by now. But even as the first trimester exams were approaching, Kumari had not been able to enroll her daughter in school. “It is time for the exams to start. But living in Banepa meant that her daughter would miss out on her studies,” Kumari said. Since the government had made no arrangements for her children’s education, Kumari sought shelter in PepsiCola in Kathmandu a few days ago. She enrolled her daughter in a school near the shelter on Friday. “There is only one quota left in the school. I enrolled her, but I don’t want her to go because she has missed a lot of her studies,” she says.

It has been two months since the government demolished the settlements of squatters living in various places and placed them in holding centers. But the children in the holding center at the Red Cross building in Banepa, Kavrepalanchok, have not been able to go to school yet.

After the education was not finalized for a long time, Rima Pokharel and Rozina Pariyar, who were in the holding center, started teaching themselves 20 days ago. ‘Now we are having difficulty teaching. We do not have textbooks. Since there are no books, we are confused about what to teach and on what basis,’ said Rima Pokharel, ‘I sometimes watch YouTube and online classes. I try to choose a common syllabus that suits everyone.’ According to her, there are 16 school-age children here. ‘It is very difficult to teach this way. If you teach a child in grade 7 about grades 1-2, they feel lazy, they do not want to sit in class. Then the child in grade 1 does not understand grade 7. Due to the lack of proper management, we have to struggle a lot,’ said Pokharel.

Some parents have taken some children to relatives, saying, ‘This is not how education should be done.’ The remaining 8 children are deprived of education. When Rima asked the relevant people at the Red Cross, she only got the answer that there was no official information. In the meantime, she decided to stop the studies that she was starting. But the children started asking her, “Ma’am, when will you teach again?” “They want to study, but we don’t have the resources. It would be good if some initiative was taken for the future of these children,” Rima said.

Government unaware of whether children are going to school or not

It is the responsibility of the three levels of government to ensure that all children receive compulsory and free education. Especially, the responsibility of basic and secondary education lies with the local governments and they should be more responsible and knowledgeable about whether the children in their area have gone to school or not. The government is unaware of the fact that children in Banepa are deprived of going to school. Mahendra Parajuli, Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Education and Human Resource Development Center, says that he is not aware of this. He said that it is the responsibility of the local government wherever there is a holding center. “It is the responsibility of the governments at those levels to ensure that all children receive compulsory and free education. Especially, the responsibility of the local government is for basic and secondary education, and they should be more responsible and aware of whether the children in their area are going to school or not. We have coordinated with them in the same way,' Parajuli said. It is the responsibility of the three levels of government to ensure that all children receive compulsory and free education. Especially, the responsibility of basic and secondary education lies with the local governments and they should be more responsible and knowledgeable about whether the children in their area have gone to school or not.

But the federal government has not coordinated with Banepa Municipality either. Banepa Municipality Mayor Shanti Ratna Shakya said that there is no information about whether the children have gone to school or not. 'We have not done any coordination. If the students are sent to nearby schools now, the results of the schools will deteriorate. The buildings may not even be enough,' Shakya told Kantipur.

The government does not have data on which schools the children in the displaced settlements are studying in. Kathmandu Metropolitan City, in collaboration with PABSON and NPABSON, has arranged for 16 children from the Radhaswamy Satsang Holding Center in Kirtipur to be sent to private schools and the remaining students to a nearby government school. However, the students studying in government schools have not been admitted yet.

Indra Bahadur Thapa, who is staying in the same holding center where the children from the Drinking Water Training Center in Nagarkot are also going to the nearby Kalika Secondary School, said. ‘There are 17 children here. There are 11 in the government school now. Some have returned to their relatives’ places of study. Some have returned to their dormitories to study. The rest have gone to this school,’ said Thapa. ‘They have been given pens and paper. They do not have uniforms. They have not been admitted either.’

Pawan Gurung, who is also staying in the same holding center where the children from the Electricity Training Center in Kharipati, Bhaktapur are also going to the same community school. ‘Around 22-23 children are going to government schools here, but none of them have been admitted. The parents are also worried about the lack of admission,' he said.

Children from Kirtipur Holding Center in Balkhu go to study at Janabikas Mavi. But students have not been admitted there yet. 'The reason for the lack of admission so far is that their families have not decided where to go. But the metropolis has facilitated admission here from this week. Now, those who are there will be admitted here,' said Anil Kumar Jha, the school's principal.

Initially, the school received the names of 58 children from Kirtipur Holding Center. But only 41 students showed up on the first day, Jha said. 'We distributed books 4-5 days after the school started. Children came regularly for about 20-25 days. After that, it started decreasing,' he said.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City had sent 16 children to various private schools for study with hostel arrangements in collaboration with PABSON and NPABSON. According to PABSON Kathmandu President Nawaraj Bhatta, 16 students have been admitted to Pepsicola-based Nexus School, Gateway Academy, Jorpati-based Venus School, Kalopul-based Hems School, Buddhanagar-based Innovative School, Kapan-based Valley Public School, Manmaiju-based Angel Heart School, and Nagarjuna-based KBC School. According to President Bhatta, some children had run away from the hostel and returned to the holding center after they could not stay there. “We had received news that two students from Venus School and Nexus had run away. We have yet to follow up,” Bhatta said. A phase of data collection was conducted to prepare a report on where the children are after the displacement of the slums. But the situation may be different now. 

The number of students in Balkhu’s Janvikas has also decreased. Currently, only 12-13 students are regularly coming, said Principal Jha. “Sometimes, there is a tendency among children not to come to school and to go home. We also found that some of them called their mothers and insisted, 'I am not feeling well, I will come home.' But we have also arranged for dresses, track suits, books and snacks for them to integrate into school,' he said.

Jha said that another reason for the decrease in students is that they are returning to their regular schools. When Kantipurkarmi reached Kirtipur Holding Center last Monday, parents complained that some children were not going to school. 11-year-old Sisan used to go to Janvikas Mavi. He had stopped going to school recently. His grandmother complained, 'We do not have a good environment here. There is no condition to study. That is why children do not want to go to school. Last Monday, many students did not go to school because food did not arrive on time.

Sushil Subedi, head of the Education Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, said that they have managed the students in Kirtipur Holding Center. According to him, initially there were 66 families in Radhaswami. The children from those families who were in contact,  Some started living in dormitories and some with relatives. According to the data collected at that time, some of the 57 children are studying at Bishwa Niket in Thapathali. Some are also studying at Guhweshwari Secondary School in Thapathali and some are studying at a private school in Babarmahal. ‘Out of the remaining 44 children, 16 were managed in hostels and the rest in Jabvikas,’ he says. Subedi said that since the metropolis does not have the latest data, further follow-up and updates should be obtained.