Clarion call to donors!

Nepal even today is not short of benevolent souls. Though overly involved in a state of emergency and of the insurgency, this Himalayan Kingdom can still sing our own praises for the existence of a few broadminded souls in the society that have been spreading lights in the gloomy places. Nepal has reasons to take pride of some of its citizens who though themselves have hand to mouth problems each day but yet demonstrate their seriousness in providing some sort of support to their own societies so that others could benefit from their modest help. Our acknowledgment to such souls who day-in-day out have been engaged in such noble works aimed at elevating the ranks of the society that needed greater reforms and changes.

Our attention has been drawn to a news report printed in a vernacular daily dated October 1, 2004, which says in part that a group of men and women hailing from Galkot, Baglung district have been collectively running a primary school in their own village by contributing their labor each day and that too without any interruption.

Speaking more precisely, the villagers in effect go to the jungles early morning and collect "pasture" in the forest and the amount thus collected from the sales of the grass is donated open heartedly to the school to keep it going. What is more interesting is that these villagers are running the school since four years or so. The fact is also that the grass, which the villagers cut during the days, provides them an earning for themselves. Marvelous idea indeed. The proceeds of the sales of the grass cut in the morning hours goes absolutely to the school coffer and the rest for their own livelihood. The process thus is continuing till today.

As expected, the money thus collected through the sales of the grass is insufficient in order to run the school. Since the number of students is growing every year, the school management is finding itself in difficulty on how to prolong the school for long. The disastrous news is that the school has only one teacher who teaches the students of different grades at different intervals but yet the process has been kept going all along these years.

The tragedy has been that neither the government in Kathmandu nor the local administration there has come to the rescue of the school problems. This is sad and unpardonable act. Shame on us all. Shame on the parliamentarian who represented that district. Ugly creatures indeed.

We have been told that some kind hearted friendly donors have allocated some budgets for such sectors. We wish that the donor community in Kathmandu gets attracted towards this real story which does hint that Nepali children wish to learn provided they have the options.

Our salute to those who have been keeping the school alive. Our salute to the men and the women of that particular village who in doing so have done a remarkable job unparalleled in the history of serving the society in their own fashion. Our salute to the teacher, Mr. Dambar Karki, who though is not paid for his contribution but yet has not yielded to the financial miseries of the school. The school that has now the strength of the students to the tune of two-hundred-forty has to be kept going. But how that will be accomplished will have to be watched. Should we expect that some friendly donors in Kathmandu would take note of this sad episode and come to the rescue of the school in a way that they consider most apposite? 

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