National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

City Limits

Students from remote regions flocking to the capital for better education and opportunities face adjustment problems

By THAKUR AMGAI

Top-class higher education is the dream of all those who complete the 10-year school life after enduring its hardships and monotony. Particularly for students from rural areas, entering college life marks the beginning of modern urban lifestyle.

Initially, they hold urban lifestyle in high esteem and set out to experience it on their own. They expect an easy life in the city with good physical facilities, decent work and diverse opportunities that are easily available.

Students in front of Tri Chandra College : Overcoming all hardships

Carrying such hopes, more than 50,000 new students come to Kathmandu each year for higher education. From different nooks and corners of the country, youths pour in expecting a nice present and a brighter tomorrow.

However, they usually do not find things flowing as smoothly as they had expected. Be it inside college campuses or while searching for opportunities in the job market, they confront hostile situations and negative attitudes. Expectations are shattered and hopes dimmed. These youths realize their illusion when it is too late.

Bharat Sharma came to the capital from the western district of Gorkha with great dreams. A student of arts at the Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, he is finding it difficult to adjust to the pressures and realities of city life. His despair is exacerbated by the disorganization and mismanagement he faces at the college.

Sharma takes classes in the evening shift. "Yesterday two classes were conducted, although the black board could hardly be seen in the dimly lit room," he says. "But today, even those classes weren't conducted. The administration says the teacher has gone to attend the wedding ceremony of one of his relatives," Sharma laments as he comes out of the college premises.

Coming from a family with a poor economic background, Sharma did not originally intend to pursue higher education in the capital. "I had planned to study in the science stream in Bharatpur. However, I could not continue to do that after my family was unable to provide financial assistance. Since I could not find any work there, I had to come to Kathmandu."

Asked how he expected to meet the higher expenses of the capital when he could not do so in Bharatpur, Sharma said: "I will find some work here. It is easier to find jobs here. This is the capital and a lot more opportunities are available here."

In search of a job, Sharma's spends his days visiting different offices and meeting people he knows. In the evenings, he sets out for college with an exhausted brain and body, hoping to learn something new.

Sharma has taken refuge in a rented apartment of one of his seniors from his home village. Asked how optimistic he is about getting the right opportunities in the capital, he answered, "I was quite optimistic when I first entered the city. But with the passage of each day, I am being more and more pessimistic."

There hundreds of thousands of youths going through Sharma's fate in the capital. Nine out of 10 students coming from remote areas to Kathmandu for higher education share his plight.

Whatever their condition here, they do not intend to return to their villages. As a result, scarce jobs are becoming harder to get and the poor physical infrastructure of the capital is finding it hard to hold the booming population.