Ghunsa Basic School, located at an altitude of 3,100 meters, is set to open from February 10.

Principal Bidyananda Singh, who is based in Biratnagar, reached the Ghunsa settlement on Falgun 9 and informed that the school will open from the next day. According to him, the students will reach the school only after 18/20. ‘The Sherpa community will celebrate Lhosar on Falgun 6,’ Singh said. ‘Looking at the trend so far, there is a buzz that they will return only after celebrating Lhosar. There is a possibility that the villagers will reach the settlement by the 15th.’

More than half of the people of Ghunsa are currently outside Taplejung in places such as Kathmandu, Dharan, and Darjeeling in India. About half of the residents of Olangchungola, another settlement at an altitude of 3,100 meters, are still in the settlement. The residents here do not leave the settlement and go outside. But since there is not much work during the cold season, they go to the district headquarters Phungling and the capital Kathmandu to meet relatives. They usually return only after Falgun begins.

The residents of Yangma, the highest point in the district at an altitude of 4200 meters, are in the village. They have started the practice of staying in the settlement since last year, when they descend to a place called Chene every winter. This year too, they are in the settlement.

These are the polling stations at the highest points in the district for the House of Representatives elections to be held on Falgun 21. ‘As voters return to the settlement after celebrating Lhosar, there is no problem on the part of voters.’ If it snows at that time, there may be a problem for the staff conducting the voting,’ said Cheten Sherpa Lama, ward chairman of Phaktanglung Rural Municipality-7. ‘In our country, leaders do not reach the settlement to ask for votes in advance, and voters who are outside do not come in elections other than local level.’ Those in the village vote, they will reach the settlement by Falgun 20.’