14 SAHAS – our fight against modern slavery
A school principal’s resolve to address students dropping out Mr. Basudev Thapa has been a school principal for many years. Due to his vast experience in education, he has been instrumental in supporting CLAMP’s work in improving retention rates and well-being of school-aged children in Nuwakot district of Bagmati Province in Nepal. It was through the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) meetings in Shakti Samuha’s CLAMP project that some of the challenges of high child-dropout rates, and the reasons behind these problems, were openly discussed. One of the reasons identified as a main demotivating factor for children was name-calling by students, and even some teachers. Children with different looks or features would sometimes be addressed by demeaning names, such as giving someone a nickname which points out their dark complexion or short height. Mr. Thapa admitted that this was very common
behaviour by students, and even some teachers, and realised its consequences and effects on children after it was raised in the PTA meetings. “Over my years of work here, I have seen many children dropping out of school for various reasons. However, I never realised that casual name-calling could be a big reason for such drop-outs.” Some of the other reasons identified for the dropout were poor economic conditions at home, peer pressure, bullying and humiliation in school, family responsibilities placed on children, social norms, and gender discrimination.
