Moti Secondary School in Munuwa VDC returned fee collected from Sonu Pariyar. Sonu has rudimentary left hand and she has been living along with two other siblings in her family. Her parents migrated to India for labor work and have not returned since last seven years. Sonu is enrolled in Grade Eight of Moti Secondary School.
Although government has provisioned free education policy for PwDs, the system is not strictly implemented in public schools due to various internal problems. In addition, there is no clear guideline to effectively allocate scholarship fund in most of the public schools. Many genuine students including the PwDs are falling back due to muddy scholarship distribution mechanism.
The school and community level advocacy campaigns under the Pilot Initiative in Mainstreaming Disability project sensitized the school teachers and members of school management committee in Moti Secondary School. Sonu also participated in the program and she raised her concern relating to the fees she paid in spite of provision for students like her. Mr. Rajendra Pokhrel, principal of the school informed about resource crisis in the school. However, he also committed to provide basic facilities for PwDs and create PwD friendly environment in school.
Following Mr. Pokhrel’s commitment, seven cases of fee return to PwDs were observed in the school. It has benefited other students like Sonu. The free-ship is very important to me and my family, says Sonu. I wish to become a teacher and contribute for my family and community.
The school and community level advocacy is integral part of Pilot Initiative in Mainstreaming Disability project. It has covered 40 schools from 5 working area of project.