Pokhara Metropolitan City Sees Surge in Public School Enrollment Following Reform Efforts

Pokhara. The condition of community schools within Pokhara Metropolitan City has been changing encouragingly in recent times. As the policy and practical steps taken by the Metropolis for education sector reform begin to bear fruit, the attraction of students and guardians towards government schools has sharply increased.

According to Mayor Dhanraj Acharya, more than 8,000 students have been added to community schools since he took the leadership of the Metropolis. Government schools, which once faced a shortage of students, are now in a situation where securing admission is difficult. 

Currently, more than 2,000 students are studying in some schools within the Metropolis, signaling that community schools are becoming stronger in competition with private schools. The Metropolis has implemented reform plans based on 55 different points to improve the quality of education. Mayor Acharya claims that these efforts have instilled new confidence not only in the physical infrastructure of the schools but also in the teachers and management aspects.

The Metropolis has also brought about a major change in the system of spending development budget, not just in education. Mayor Acharya has widely decentralized the budget to ensure development funds reach the grassroots level. 

He stated that the budget received by the ward chairpersons in five years during the previous term has been made available to the current ward chairpersons in the first year itself. His understanding is that the overall development of the Metropolis is possible only by empowering the ward level administratively and financially.

Mayor Acharya mentioned that to accelerate all small and large projects happening at the grassroots level, he has sent the equivalent of the budget a ward chairperson would normally receive in 25 years to the wards in a single year. Expressing confidence that the face of the Metropolis will change through the work being done at the ward level, he clarified that the success of the wards and ward chairpersons is the success of the Metropolis. 

Moving past the days when they had to rely on higher authorities for budget and complain, work is now being rapidly carried out from the wards based on local needs.