Myagdi, Oct 18: Children from Simkos of Mudi VDC-9 in Myagdi have been deprived of their sole means of transport to school after an improvised cable crossing broke down recently.
The 8,000 households living in Simkos have stopped sending their children to school after the improvised cable crossing over the Myagdi River snapped recently. There is another long way to school which is around 90 minutes walk and passes through a jungle, but parents are reluctant to send their children for fear of wild animals, according to locals.
"Due to the difficulties faced by the students to reach the primary school across the Myagdi River, parents have stopped sending their children to school," said Hari Prasad Tilija, chairman of the school management committee. "We tried our best to bring them to school but could not convince their parents," he added.
Children brave flooded river to reach school
The school's management committee went from door to door to request the parents to send their children to school, he told Republica. "But they were reluctant to send their children alone through the jungle citing fear of animal attacks and other safety concerns."
Jog Bahadur BK, the principal of Buddhi Vikas Secondary School, said, "The journey to school is lengthy and even more dangerous without a cable crossing."
The previous government had announced to replace such cable crossings with suspension bridges by July 2018.
We have informed the local bodies about our problems but no agency has taken it seriously, complained the locals.
Giri Prasad Chhantyal, the resource person at the local Hem Secondary School, said that the government should work to improve the basic infrastructures. "We have been consistently raising this problem with the concerned government agencies. Providing a safe route for the students to reach their school should always be top priority of the government," he added.
