Shree Janapriya students thrilled with their new school

Students at Shree Janapriya Secondary School couldn’t be happier with their spacious new classrooms, library, drinking water taps and school furniture.

Shree Janapriya Secondary School is the oldest school in the Myagdi District, established in the town of Darbang in 1951. The original school buildings had been very close to the riverbank, and in 2001, heavy rainfall caused a flash flood and the riverbank to collapse.  Sadly, the main school buildings were swept away. Classes moved to a temporary site in the town, but as student numbers increased to over 600, the existing facility became overcrowded and inadequate, and the quality of education suffered. Desperately in need of more space and better facilities, the school committee applied to The Gurkha Welfare Trust, and in 2021, construction began on the new school.

Over the course of eight months, we constructed a new school campus that included buildings containing 16 classrooms, a library, gender-separate toilet blocks, and four drinking water taps. We also furnished all the classrooms with new desks, benches, and whiteboards. With the buildings constructed to an earthquake-resilient standard, and the site situated far away from the river, teachers and parents won’t have to worry about the risk of floods and landslides.

“Now that we have the new school, we are already seeing increase in the number of students,” said Diwaker Subedi, school headmaster. “As the academic year is in progress, we hope that we will be able to welcome even more new students for the next academic year.”

Krishna thanks GWT supporters

Krishna Kumari Pun, aged 15, told us the difference the new campus has already made on her quality of education. “The classrooms were cramped in the previous school building. They are now much bigger and feel much more comfortable,” she said. “We didn’t have a canteen inside the school compound either, so we had to go out every time. It’s convenient now that we have a canteen within the school.

“There was shortage of water in the toilets before and there was no provision of proper bins when we had girl problems. Now, there is sufficient water and provision of [a toilet block] and bins too.

“Our library before was small and didn’t have many books in it, which meant we didn’t get to study the books that we wanted to. But now, there are many books. We have a dedicated librarian and we can go to the library whenever we have free time.

“I would like to thank [the donors],” said Krishna. “With your help, we now have a new school building with a clean environment. I would like to extend my gratitude for the support that you have provided to our school. Dherai Dherai Dhanyabad (Many many thanks)!”