The Boy Who Passed SLC

Published30 March 2017

Reading Time 2 mins

Author Stories of Nepal

Location Nepal

"I was the first person to pass the SLC in Ward No. 8 of Libang. Word spread fast in the village and everyone was happy. It meant something important for the villagers. It made them proud, it made me proud. But I had to discontinue due to the insurgency. The rebels would come in large numbers. They got me into confidence and told me that I should stop learning from the bourgeois education system of the tyrants. They told me that I should start teaching their new policies to the primary level students. They would say that it was the commencement of a completely new set of ideologies. I had little choice in this matter so I started teaching what I was told. But this was not an employment that paid. Financial situation at home was very weak so I decided to leave the country for work. I toiled in the gulf for four years but I could not earn much. I could hardly manage to send money home. I would ask myself how long would I keep doing this slavery for someone else. In desperation, I decided to return home. War was coming to an end in Nepal but the promises that were made to the us never came true. The promised 'change' never happened. There is still poverty, inequality and oppression from the rulers of the government. All the rules that have been made do not touch the wealthy. It only applies the the poor. The poor are politically exploited with false promises and their life is a never-ending circle of struggle. Though I am back home and I am somehow able to support my family, the dreams I had for myself never came true." (Hem Kumar Libang, Fungling, Taplejung)

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