Itahari: Amar Singh High Secondary School in Sahebgunj of Sunsari only has an admission of eight students in grade 11 this year. The reason for the low turnout is believed to be the new colleges in the surrounding areas offering courses in the Education stream.

There has been no new student admission in grade 11 besides the ones who passed SLC from the same school. Due to lack of students, the operation of the school is at stake.

“We even visited the villages and encouraged parents to send their children for further studies and they said they would do so, but no one has turned up yet,” said Indra Dev Gupta, Principal of the school.

According to him, students are getting admitted to the education stream rather than in the commerce stream. Hence, the turnout has been low this year.

“Students who come in for admission from the rural areas are opting for education stream because, if not for anything else, they can at least become teachers in the future,” informed Gupta. The flow of students has been low in the surrounding schools also, like Nera HS School in Amahibela, Ram Sita HS School in Ramgunj, Begalchiya, and Shree Krishna HS School.

41.12% of students passed SLC this year from Sunsari. More than half of them failed this year from the region but the passing out rate increased by 10%. Hence, it’s inevitable for the flow of students to be low.

However, in Mahendra HS School of Itahari 2, 10 students have enrolled in commerce and two have opted for education stream. 32 students passed SLC from the school this year.

“The turnout can also be low because students have lost faith in the schools,” said Dharma Bhattarai, a teacher, adding, “They may not have been satisfied with the management.”

“We, the teachers, are trying our best to attract students but the college managements haven’t been doing their job well,” he opined.

At present, only 15 students have enrolled in Bhairal’s Janata Dedhraj Jagannath HS School. However, Bholanath Koirala, Principal of the school, expressed hopes that more students will enroll in. He said, “Since it’s the season for planting and harvesting crops, many students in the rural area are yet to join school. 34 students have passed the SLC examinations. There is hope that all the students will come to study.” Last year, the school had 85 students.

While only two students from Inaruwa’s Sharda HS School appeared for the SLC examinations, 50 students from nearby schools have enrolled in. Students enroll since there is only one private +2 school in Inaruwa and other schools are quite a distance away, said the principal, Atutya Khatiwada.

Even though there is a lack of students in the higher secondary schools in rural areas, Janata HS School is not open for admissions. Dev Narayan Chaudhary, a teacher, hopes that the students who passed the SLC examinations from the school will join again.

In his opinion, apart from students who opt for technical studies, students will enroll in their own school as they can’t afford to go out. Students are attracted by the “secure life” that technical courses give them and hence the number of students enrolling for plus two is diminishing, he says.

The higher secondary schools in the cities have a slightly higher number of students than those in villages. However, there is a substantial gap in the number of students compared to last year.

The Peace Zone Higher Secondary School in Itahari is considered one of the most popular schools in eastern Nepal. Principal of the school, Yuvraj Sitaula, said that no students have enrolled in the education stream whereas 25 students have joined the commerce course.

With the rise of plenty of higher secondary schools in the east, and students being few, schools have now started taking in any student. Sitaula said, “If established institutions don’t make any new plans, the situation can worsen.”

In Itahari and Dharan alone, some private +2 schools have seen a satisfactory enrollment of students. Students with good grades from popular schools in these towns have already enrolled in schools in Kathmandu and Biratnagar instead of their own schools.

“Seven students who got good grades went to Kathmandu while some of them went to Biratnagar,” said Mukunda Neupane, Principal of St. James HS School in Itahari.

According to him, more students have opted to study in Biratnagar and Kathmandu this year than the previous years. “Last year, students who got distinction and wanted to study science used to go to the capital. But this year, the trend has changed,” shared Neupane, adding, “Students are leaving because they think they can score higher marks and also take bridge courses in Biratnagar. But it’s wrong.”

Schools like St. James, Kasturi, Bishwa Adarsha, and Godawari HS School claim that the flow of students have been like any other year.

There are 39 plus two community colleges and 25 private colleges. Most of the community colleges focus on students from rural areas.

source: republica,9 July 2012