This Gorkha municipality has few children

Tsering Angmo and her brother Tsering Lama attend a private school in Gorkha Bazaar, the district headquarters of Gorkha. The siblings hail from Nyaku village of Chumanuwri Rural Municipality, and they visit their parents once every year. 

“We visit our parents once every year after the end-term exams are over, spend time with them for 10-15 days, and return for a new academic session,” says Angmo.  She joined the school as a nursery-level student, and is currently a tenth grader. “I haven’t spent much time in my village. Not that I don’t want to, but my parents want me and my brother to get a good education,” she says. 

Angmo and her brother are not the only children in Chumanuwri who are staying away from their families for the sake of education. Nearly all children of school-going age in the rural municipality share the similar fate.  One can hardly see any children in the rural municipality, as most of them have been sent away by their parents so that they can go to school.   

Nima Wangyal of Lahi village has six children. Except for his three-year-old son, all five children are either studying in Kathmandu or in India. 

“Three of my children are in Kathmandu and two others are in India. They are there for their studies because there is no school in our village,” he says. 

Wangyal has to pay for the schooling of his two children in India, while the education of his three children in Kathmandu is being sponsored by foreigners.  

If he didn’t send his children to school, he says, they might end up like him stuck in a remote village raising cattle and not doing much with their lives. 

“Those who got a chance to get an education are doing well.  That’s why I decided to send my children away,” says Wangyal. 

In many cases, children in Chumanuwri have foreign sponsors to fund their education. Wangyal says these sponsors usually come through their Lama (spiritual leader). 

Lhakpo Tsewang says since there are no schools in the rural municipality, most of the children are sent to the city areas for education. 

“The only children you see in villages these days are infants. It has been this way for about 10 years now,” he says. 

This flight of children from their homes was prompted by the absence of schools in Chumanuwri—though the local government records show the rural municipality has 21 schools in operation. 

Until a couple of years ago, Chumanuwri used to have a school, Juung Primary, but it was closed down for reasons unknown to the villagers, says Tsewang.  

“An organization called Hope Alliance had built classrooms for the school. It even ran a free lunch program,” he says. “But after the organization left, the school also closed down. We don’t know what happened.” 

Namgyal Lama of Syo village says there are dozens of settlements and villages in Chumanuwri Rural Municipality where it is hard to find children of school-going age these days. 

“It’s just me and my wife at home. Like most other children, ours too are in the city for education,” he says.