ILLUSTRATION: FRAN NG
to what I was saying, where is the guarantee that they will understand that education is important for both a girl and a boy? How can I convince them? Will they indeed keep her in school? Who would fund her studies? What about her female siblings who were facing the same dilemma?” Many questions popped up at that time and I had answers to none. My Experience - Studying Under the Clouds of Maoist8 Threat
Although my family readily sent me to school, I had a hard time convincing them when I wanted to enroll in the University. The law and order situation in the Kathmandu valley had become terrible during the last eight plus years of Maoist guerrilla-based insurgency. Every other day there would be an announcement of Nepal bandh9, called by one or the other terrorism spreading factions. On the days of bandhs, they don’t allow
any vehicle to ply on the road. ‘Chakka Jam’ or blocking of tires is a regular feature on bandhs when the Maoist affiliated goons pelt stones and torch a handful of vehicles which dared to defy the bandh and come out on the road. During bandhs, academic institutions and businesses virtually come to a standstill in the absence of transportation facilities. Those who can afford stock up on provisions in advance and stay indoors. But what about those manual laborers who worked on a daily wage basis to eke out a living? Will education become a priority when there isn’t enough to sustain life? Hurdles to Education
I am an Indian national living in Nepal since birth. I have studied in Nepal and completed my graduation from there. The University where I studied and eventually worked as a Teaching Assistant was located
away from the capital Kathmandu in a far flung area. That region was plagued with Maoist insurgency—thefts, murders, bomb blasts were an everyday affair in the vicinity and led to an air of insecurity. Going to the University meant a travel of 60 kilometers a day in difficult mountainous terrain. On the way there were several checkpoints erected by the national army. They would require us to get down from the bus each time we reached there. Army personnel on duty would do body-frisking for each one of us to ensure that we were not carrying arms and ammunitions. A distance which could be easily covered in an hour and a half would take sometimes more than three hours—for the travel alone. I recall a day when I had my final University exam and the day was declared a bandh overnight. Early morning as I boarded a bus to go to the University, I was shocked to see a
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