On the 16th of January, at the 48th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the school, Grishma Giri, a student of class 7, gave a welcome speech in English for the guests present. Today’s children speaking a few words in English is a common thing in the city, but it is not a common thing for a 7th grade student studying in a village government school to speak in English.
When a girl student of Pauditari Basic School in Badigad Rural Municipality-5 Gwalichaur of West Baglung gave a speech in English, there was a glow on the faces of the parents present. At a time when there is a debate about the educational quality of government schools, migration has been stopped to some extent due to the quality education provided by village schools.
Not only because of sufficient resources, but because of donations and financial support from individuals, this school is also providing quality education to students who cannot afford private boarding. Teaching is being done in English medium up to class 8 with 7 teachers from government posts and 7 teachers from private sources. The attraction of students is increasing.
Bishnu Prasad Acharya, the ward president of Badigad Rural Municipality-5, says that due to the quality education provided by Pauditari School, the process of evacuating the village and entering the city has stopped in the name of educating children. “There is also a fashion of making the fields of the village fallow and migrating to the city in the name of educating children. If the village schools start providing quality education, the migration will also stop,” said Acharya, “we will make this ward of Badigad Rural Municipality a model for education.”
Principal Tika Bahadur Bhujel says that according to the demand of time, the school is teaching in English medium. 236 students are studying in the school. Ward president Acharya has been providing 38 thousand rupees annually for the scholarship of 3 students.
Bimal Gautam, editor of Lokantar.com, who studied at Pauditari School, says that along with the infrastructure, the school should improve the quality of education. “I got an opportunity to work in foreign media after learning Kakhra in this school. I got a chance to work in the BBC because of the English language,” Gautam said in a program organized on the occasion of the 48th foundation day of the school’s establishment.
Gautam has established “Manikala Gautam Akshay Kosh” worth Rs.
Keshav Kharel Pauditari School, Principal of Bhanu Mavi in Gwalichaur, says that it is providing quality education in this area. He said that students from Pauditari are better than those from other schools.
According to Nar Bahadur Balami, the president of the parents’ association, the parents are satisfied because of the quality education provided by the school.
Naveen, the hero behind the scenes of Sample School
During the 48th anniversary celebration of Pauditari School, Ram Bahadur Kunwar ‘Naveen’ was sometimes on the stage and sometimes walking around. He was also the one who took the initiative to distribute lunch to the students. Even though peers of his age have moved abroad or to the city for employment, Naveen is determined to make the village school a model.
He has been the coordinator of the new program since the school started teaching in English medium in 2069. Rishiram Ghimire is the president of the school management committee (business). “The government schools in the village began to dry up when the economically prosperous started sending their children to boarding school. We started teaching in English medium because we had to increase the quality of government schools and stop the exodus of students,” Naveen told Lokantar. A teacher had to be brought from Darjeeling to teach English.
Naveen says that students from financially poor families have to be provided with paper, pens and bags. Initially, teaching was started in English medium till 3rd grade, now it is being taught in English medium till 8th grade. “We started teaching in English medium so that village children can compete with students from other places when they go to school and college, the success we have now has given us self-satisfaction,” he said.
He says that their aim is that the students who have studied from the school should get technical education and return to the village to serve the people. We want at least 2 of the students in our school to study technical education. We want the students who studied here to become engineers and come to the village to serve the people, we want the students who studied here to treat animals,” said Naveen.
At the time of starting English medium education in the school, funds were collected from former students of the school and locally wealthy people. “After Bimal Gautam, a student of this school, provided 5 computers and projectors, the students gained experience in computer education. He also took the initiative with the government to budget for the construction of the school building,” said Naveen.
Also good at extracurricular activities
Despite the limited resources, the school has been making students participate in extracurricular activities. On the occasion of the 48th Foundation Day, students performed various arts. Even in well-equipped schools in the city, the recorded national anthem is played, but the students of the school enlivened the program by singing the national anthem and the welcome song.
Teacher Buddha Pariyar played the harmonium while the 8th grade students played madal and flute. Formed the shape of school foundation day through PT. Teacher Kalpana Kharel Shai
She says that there is a need to increase the number of posts to increase the quality of food. “The output of our school is good, there is a need to increase the number of posts to increase the quality in the future,” she said.
With the help of UK Trust, 2 British teachers stayed in the village and taught English to the students for some time. Although there was an agreement to provide volunteer teachers for 2 teachers for 10 years, the teachers returned to Britain due to the Corona epidemic. According to the agreement, the school management committee is preparing to try to bring back British teachers.
Present at the school’s 48th anniversary celebration, the philanthropist and world famous company Yonex Nepal chief Raju Banstola handed over the sports equipment to the school. In the same ceremony, editor Gautam inaugurated the newly constructed 4-room building of the school.
