Tanahun: The only Sanskrit school of Tanahun district is not attracting Brahmin children, but Dalit students.

An increasing number of Dalit children are attracted to Gyankunja Maharsi Bedbyas Sanskrit Secondary School situated at Byas Municipality-10.

Majority of the students in the Sanskrit school are Dalits.

With the Brahmin and Chhetri communities admitting their children in expensive private schools, it’s hard to even find non-Dalit students studying Sanskrit, said school headmaster Tulsi Sharan Sigdel.

He said the number of Brahmin and Chhetri students declined sharply following the end of the conflict in the country. Earlier, during the conflict there were 15 Brahmin students in the school that was established to impart Sanskrit education to students of all communities.

Of 205 students in the school, majority are Dalits. After Dalits, the Muslim community accounts for the highest number of students, Sigdel said. "It’s our pleasure that we have high number of Muslim students today."

A teacher of the school, Krishna Raj Tiwari, said it was unfortunate that the number of students is decreasing even though the school boasts of sound physical infrastructure.

In Kailali, Ministry of Health and Population and the District Population Office, Kailali, have jointly started Sathi Education Programme at school level from today targeting the youths.

The programme will be run at 10 schools of 10 VDCs of Kailali district.

Principal Bal Bahadur Rawal is providing training on different topics related to health including situation, problem and prevention of HIV/AIDS and teacher Krishna Gautam is providing training related to public health activities.

The programme has been running with a purpose to save youths doing from bad activities due to physical condition where students and teachers have been participating.

source: Rising Nepal(2011),"Dalit students studying Sanskrit ", RisingNepal,8 June 2011