The lunch program conducted at the school in Bajura has given a lot of enthusiasm to the students for the regularity in the school. In most of the schools in Bajura, students were enrolled in large numbers, but few children were allowed to study, and even those regular children would run home at half-time, saying they were hungry.
The Government of Nepal and the World Food Program (WFP) have recently started feeding the children in Bajura school by making various dishes like oatmeal, dal bhat, khichdi and so on.
A couple of years ago, most of the students used to take school enrollment books and did not come to the school.
According to Bipin Bista, a teacher at Balmandir School in Badimalika Municipality-9, all the children of the village have started enrolling in the school after the implementation of the lunch program.
He said, “In the past, some of the students enrolled in the school used to run away and go home because of hunger. Now, after the implementation of this program in the school, no one runs away.
The school has stated that the number of students in all the nine schools of Bajura has increased significantly after coming to the school regularly.
The number of students in the school has also increased after the children who used to leave school and live in the village for various reasons are now enrolled in the school.
Bista, a teacher at Balmandir Basic School, said that the children are very happy after getting lunch at the school and their education has also improved a lot.
This program was started for the first time in Bajura under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Government of Nepal and the World Food Program to test about five thousand students of Bajura from the 1st of January, 2057 BS.
At present, about 28,347 students from 247 schools in Bajura are participating in the lunch program, said Ramesh Bahadur Janal, Acting Chief of Education Development and Coordination Unit, Bajura.
He said, "Earlier, this program was implemented only in the schools of six municipalities of Bajura, but now this program has been implemented in all the nine municipalities."
After the Government of Nepal has deposited the amount in the school account so that one person can get 80 grams of rice, 20 grams of pulses, 10 grams of oil, two grams of salt and 112 grams of food in the school's account. Chief Janal explains.
After the implementation of this program in all the nine municipalities of Bajura in recent times, the children who have dropped out of school have also been re-enrolled in the school and the number of school dropouts has also come down significantly, said Chief Janal.
Sher Bahadur Sarki, Bajura
