Located 72 km away from Kathmandu, Janajagriti Higher Secondary School in Chautara Sangachokgadhi Municipality in Sindhupalchowk is easily accessible by bus or microbus. There is no hospital facility in the vicinity. A police station is there, CDMA service is available but the people have no access to landline service. Drinking water service is the major problem in the area.

The school was established in 2007 BS (1950 AD) and currently 621 students are enrolled from ECD to Grade 12. TFN Fellows started teaching since 2014 AD and 3 fellows are there now. 23 other teachers are involved in teaching. 14 permanent teachers, 4 Relief Quota, 2 private and 3 technical teachers are there. School enrollment rate among children in primary level is almost 99% but students gradually dropout in higher classes which becomes 36% when they reach Grade 10.

Only girls’ toilet is in working condition after earthquake so the whole school and neighboring communities use it. Electricity is available from national grid but only in the computer lab which has 18 computers in good condition. There is no library and science lab is under construction. The school has enough desks/benches for all the students and all the classes have whiteboards.

SMC, PTA, Junior Red Cross and “Bal Club” are active in school. 65% of the school’s fund comes from the government, VDC provides 15%, 5% revenue is generated from rent and student fees and certificates charge contributes to 5% of the income. The rest 10% comes from other organizations.

Students walk for 1 to 2 hours to come to school. There is hostel facility, too.

Students belong to different ethnic backgrounds including Giri/Puri, Tamang, Bishwokarma (Dalit), Newar, Majhi and very few are from Brahmin and Chettri communities. Livelihood source primarily is agriculture. Many are engaged in transportation (drivers and conductors) and foreign employment is also increasing as they go for low paid jobs in gulf countries. The literacy rate is 80%.

Many organizations are helping the students with stationeries. Nepal HiLife is helping with school buildings, Mahabir Pun has helped with internet connections and Save the Children has helped with TLC.

Earthquake Impact

The school’s building collapsed because of the earthquake. 10 computers and the science lab were totally destroyed.All the houses in the community collapsed. 13 students lost their lives. So there is a need of reconstruction in the area.