As the cold weather worsens, schools have been closed for six months after the annual exams for the ongoing academic session.
What you should know
Schools have been closed for six months in Upper Dolpa due to the increasing cold.
As the cold weather is increasing day by day, the schools have been closed for six months after completing the annual examinations of the ongoing academic session.
The Upper Dolpa region has only six months of teaching and learning every year. Since there has been heavy snowfall and bitter cold since Kartik, all the schools at the three local levels have been closed since Kartik fortnight.
'Our school has been closed in the second week of Kartik, and in the meantime the annual examinations have also been completed,' said Nanda Bahadur Shahi, principal of Tasi Sumdo Basic School in Ku village of She-Phoksundo Rural Municipality-7.
‘There is thick snow above, when returning home after school, two of the girls were trapped by the snow. It snows continuously after the second week of Kartik, which is why the school closes at this time every year,’ he said, ‘Now, sirs, we will reach school all at once in the second week of Baisakh. Until then, the school will be closed, and then we will return all at once in Kartik.’
Most of the teachers in Upper Dolpa have gone from the lower regions. Since the school is open continuously for six months, they are not allowed to come home for big festivals such as Dashain and Tihar. ‘Upper Dolpa is geographically difficult and remote, so it takes up to a week to go from Lower Dolpa. Some have even lost their lives by falling off cliffs while going to school and returning home.
There are a total of 13 schools in Shey Rural Municipality alone, including primary and secondary schools. Schools in Dolpobuddha Rural Municipality and Charkatangsong Rural Municipality have also been closed. In Dolpobuddha, the school was also closed after this year's annual examination, said Manoj Budha, principal of Siddhartha Kula Basic.
He said that the school was closed for six months after publishing the results in the second week of Kartik. There are five schools in Dolpobuddha Rural Municipality, he said. Although all basic schools in Dolpobuddha have been closed, teaching is still being conducted at Crystal Mountain Secondary School in Dho, said Pemma Dhorche Gurung, vice-chairman of the rural municipality.
'This school is functioning up to the secondary level, government teachers have stopped teaching up to grade 3 and have gone home, local teachers will continue to teach for some time,' said vice-chairman Gurung. With the onset of winter, all schools in Charkatangsong Rural Municipality have also closed for six months and teachers have gone home.
There are a total of seven schools in this rural municipality. Dal Bahadur Basnet, Head of the School Administration Branch of the Education Development and Coordination Unit, Dolpa, informed that schools are closed after the annual exams in the second week of Kartik due to the geographically difficult location of Upper Dolpa and the extreme cold in winter.
