With the onset of winter, teaching has been stopped in 93 community schools in the Himalayan district of Solukhumbu. Due to the difficulty in studying due to the cold, seven local levels have given winter vacation. According to Prakanda Neupane, Information Officer of Education Development and Coordination Unit Solukhumbu, schools have been gradually closed since last December.
There are 289 community schools in the district. Of these, 93 schools have been closed for now. Out of the eight local levels, all local levels except Sotang rural municipality have given winter holidays.
The temperature in the upper region of the district has reached minus 20 degrees Celsius, while the temperature has dropped to minus in the Salleri area as well, informed Navaraj Parajuli, an employee of the climate measurement center in Salleri.
Pashi Sherpa, a resident of Garma, said that children could not go to school due to the extreme cold. According to Chet Bahadur Magar, the headmaster of PK Mavi Loding, the school has prepared a calendar accordingly and decided on a winter vacation as the cold will affect the studies.
Khumjung Secondary School teacher Tilak Rasaili said that after the rain started freezing in the high Himalayan region from the second week of December, the winter vacation was given. "At the moment, Khumjung is completely deserted, even the locals have gone elsewhere to spend the winter, so we have given winter vacation to the school," he said.
