Scholarships Awarded to Students Whose Parents Were Killed by Wildlife

Kathmandu. Scholarships have been provided to students from families affected by human-wildlife conflict whose guardians lost their lives due to wildlife attacks. Minister of Agriculture, Forest and Environment, Gita Chaudhary, handed over scholarship amounts of Rs 10,000 per person to the students from affected families during a special program organized at the park office.

Minister Chaudhary stated that this financial assistance has been provided to students studying from class 1 to 12 who lost their guardians in attacks by tigers, bears, rhinos, and elephants at various times.

Out of the 9 students receiving scholarships, 4 have received continuity this year as well. Those receiving relief include children from impoverished and affected families in the areas of Paupaudwa, Baghauda, Raiwa, Budhirapti, Meghouli, Kerunga, Ayodhyapuri Intermediate Consumer Committee, and Mrigakunj Intermediate Community Forest Consumer Committee, surrounding the park.

This program has been brought by the park in collaboration with the National Trust for Nature Conservation, targeting extremely impoverished families who contribute to conservation amidst high wildlife risk at the local level.

While distributing scholarships, Minister Chaudhary expressed confidence that this assistance will provide some relief, however small, to the education of children from families who have been victims of wildlife attacks and are mostly economically weak.

Mentioning that the government is sensitive to the suffering faced by the residents of the intermediate areas, Minister Chaudhary stated that the government is continuously striving to minimize human-wildlife conflict in the long term and to provide appropriate relief and compensation to the affected.