Kalika Secondary School Salayan Sets Example in Public Education

Kalika Secondary School in Salyan Sets an Example: Teachers’ and Management Committee Members’ Children Study in Community School

Kalika Secondary School at Kapurkot Rural Municipality-3 in Salyan has started an exemplary practice with the objective of improving the educational quality of community schools and increasing trust in public education. The school has implemented a decision to withdraw the children of teachers and School Management Committee officials from private schools and enroll them in its own community school.

According to School Management Committee Chairperson Madhusudan Giri, the decision made on Chaitra 31 has now been implemented in practice. Principal Bamdev Adhikari of the school, which runs classes up to Grade 12 and currently has around 300 students, said the decision has not remained limited to paper but has already come into implementation.

Those who have implemented the decision by bringing their children back from private schools and enrolling them in Kalika Secondary School are:

Teacher Gausari Thapa: Enrolled her son after bringing him back from a boarding school.

Teacher Omkumari Budha: Enrolled her two daughters after withdrawing them from a private school.

Teacher Kamala KC Wali: Enrolled her child after bringing the child back from a boarding school in Dang.

School Management Committee Member Parbati Pun Khadka: Enrolled her two children after bringing them from a private school.

The school expects that when teachers and management committee members educate their children in the same school where they teach and manage, parents’ trust in the school will also increase.

Meanwhile, Kapurkot Rural Municipality Chairperson Durgabahadur Pun has said that this decision of Kalika Secondary School is positive from the perspective of educational reform and building trust in the community. However, he clarified that since children have a natural right to choose their school, there is no legal basis for making a compulsory provision such as “they must study in a community school, otherwise action will be taken.”

Chairperson Pun emphasized that instead of making such a decision mandatory, an environment should be created to improve the school’s quality and increase its attraction. He said the rural municipality would make necessary considerations regarding encouraging and motivating such schools that send a positive message.