The Nepal Weekly 
January 16, 2024
Education should be free; all should have easy access to it for each Nepali has a right to education as per the constitutional provision. The saying, although known to many in Nepal, has not yet been translated into reality.
Samata Schools, spread in 77 districts in their own ways, aimed at providing education at cheap price – just 100 rupees per month. A noble idea indeed! They inserted the point in their slogan which attracted many initially.
Today, however, they, charge upto Rs. 2,500 under one excuse or the other – far more than the amount scripted in their motto. They are also learnt not to have followed the general guidelines for providing education. Teachers in Samata are also either under paid not paid in time despite fulfilling duties towards the Schools.
School properties under the Samata should also be scrutinized by proper authority and they should be updated as per laws. Informed sources fear if this is not done people will lose trust in those who pursue the noble path of providing education.
Samata Shiksha Niketan situated in Ward No. 4 of Mahalaxmi Municipality in Lalitpur district is found not only charging high fees from economically backward students in the name of providing affordable education, but it is also found to be violating various rules, regulations, evading tax and avoiding house rent as well. The monthly salary being provided to the teachers serving in the Samata range from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 8,000 only, which is far less than the minimum wages standard set by the authorities. Many teachers have complained that they have not received their salaries for months. When contacted Principle of Samata Niketan situated at Wachu Height of Imadol, Ramkrishna Bhandari however, claimed that the school is paying salary to the teachers par with other private school teachers.
Samata Niketan was earlier registered at Ward No. 17 of Gwarko in Lalitpur Metropolitan City. After operating in Gwarko for more than 12 years, the school has now been shifted to Mahalaxmi Municipality but without completing any legal formalities. It has not paid any charges it owed to the Lalitpur Metropolitan City, which amounts to more than one million rupees, according to municipality sources. It has been operating at Mahalaxmi nearly for two years but without being registered at the municipality. The school didn’t pay house rent for two years to the house owner at Gwarko before shifting to Mahalaxmi.
Mahalaxmi Municipality may take action
When the weekly contacted Deputy Mayor of Malaxmi Municipality said, “We are investigating in to the matter.”If the schools is found to be practicing irregularities we will certainly take action against the school management,” she added.
Samata constructed its school buildings at Mahalaxmi without taking any permission from the Municipality and the building’s maps were not approved. The school buildings are also weak, narrow and below standard.
Uttam Sanjel is known as the head of the Samata School chain being operated across the country in the name of providing affordable education to the economically backward people. Sanjel is not available for clarifying the charges labeled against the school management.
Education experts and guardians feel the way Samata Schools, currently over 80 in number in 77 districts, are running should be reviewed and appropriate measures should be taken in time. Otherwise Samata could end up as yet another way of making money out of the slogan of education for 100 rupees.
As for the need for providing education for all those who cannot afford to pay for education, the government should come forward and introduce measures to leave no one behind in education.
All those who are also providing education for the children of the poor section of the society should also be studied well. The way they charge and manage schools should be reviewed from time to time.
If this is not done, and if this is not made transparent, schools will be the other ways of earning money in the name of serving the kids of the destitute and the deprived.
