Parents, teachers, and students of the Thimyul Lower Secondary School of Gangzur Gewog in Lhuentse call for the need for a boarding facility in their school. With no boarding facility in the school, every day students have to walk for more than two hours to reach their school.
Walking to school is an everyday struggle for the students of the Thimyul Lower Secondary School.
“I wake up at 4.30 am and start my journey to school by 5. And I reach school by 7:30. Since my village is far away from school, during summer, my books get drenched in rain and when the water level of the river rise, we are not able to come to school. If we have a boarding facility in our school, we can study well,” said Jigme Zangmo, one of the students.
“I come to school by 5.30 in the morning and reach school by 7:00. By the time we reach school we get tired and cannot concentrate on our studies. We also don’t get enough time to do our homework. We can concentrate and study well if we have a boarding facility in the school. Since our village is located far from the school, we cannot study well,” added Sangay Dorji, another student.
“Since it takes almost two and half hours to reach school from home, we are not able to concentrate on our studies. We get so tired by the time we reach back home. So we cannot study well. During monsoon, we face challenges of flood and landslide and our clothes also get wet in rain on our way to school,” said Sangay Lhamo, another student.
Likewise, tired of walking to and from school for hours, some students are compelled to stay with their relatives who reside nearby the school area. This they say, has only affected their studies due to poor guidance.
Meanwhile, the lack of a boarding facility in Thimyul has forced Tshering Choden, a mother of four, to construct a makeshift hut and live near the school for her children’s education.
“One of my children is twelve years old, and till class 4, I kept him with my relatives who lived nearby the school area. I also kept one of my kids with other people. But this year, I came myself to live with my children since it is not convenient to keep many children with other relatives. Moreover, I have another child to be enrolled in the school. The village is also located far away from the school. We have to walk almost two hours from school. It would be beneficial for us if we have a boarding facility in the school,” said Tshering Choden.
However, next year, Tshering plans to send her children to a school where boarding facilities are available.
Despite not having a boarding facility, students however are provided with free meals of breakfast and lunch every day.
According to the education ministry’s policy, a school needs more than 300 students to provide a boarding facility. For now, Thimyul school has a little over 200 students. The education policy also states that a student can be enrolled in a boarding school if the student has to travel at least five kilometers from home to school.
Thimyul Lower Secondary School was established in the year 2000 as a day school.
Sonam Tshering, Lhuentse
