Stakeholders Urge Correction of One-Sided Amrit Basic School Merger Decision

Panchthar – Stakeholders have drawn the serious attention of the Kummayak Rural Municipality leadership to correct the one-sided decision to merge Amrit Basic School elsewhere, neglecting the legal provisions related to public school integration.

Amrit Basic School is the oldest school in the Kummayak area and the first beacon of knowledge in the region. Stakeholders say that the rural municipality’s unilateral decision to merge the school is not only against the law but also impractical. The school does not face any issues such as budget or student shortage and has its own building, physical infrastructure, and seven ropani of land.

Local residents claim that a decision made without proper planning will only erase the history of the area. Currently, 43 students are enrolled at Amrit Basic School, and its budget has been continuously provided by the federal government.

Although the Kummayak Rural Municipality administration decided to merge the basic school into Prithvi Secondary School, the basic school, along with its management committee, has strongly requested the municipality leadership to correct this mistake.

The school administration and management committee claim that the unilateral decision made by the municipality, without coordinating with the school management and parents during the academic session, violates the Public School Integration and Consolidation Program Procedures, the Education Act, and integration procedures.

A letter jointly signed by Tejprakash Lawati, Chairman of the Basic School Management Committee, Urmila Niraula, Chairman of the Teachers-Parents Association, and Bheshbahadur Lawati, Head Teacher, was submitted by the school delegation to the Rural Municipality Chairperson Bam Lawati on Friday.

For a school merger, the consent of both school management committees, parents, and the local community is required. A memorandum of understanding must also be signed between the two management committees, which has not been fully complied with legally.

After the merger, there is no plan for how to use the seven ropani of land belonging to the basic school. The municipality has not informed or consulted the land donors regarding this matter.

Given the central location in Yasok Bazaar, it is almost impossible to find such a large vacant land. With discussions of school mergers ongoing, doubts and suspicions regarding the use of the land have started to arise at the local level.