SURKHET, Aug. 25 -- Jagat Bhul, 15, does not go to school when it rains heavily. When the monsoon is at its peak, his routine gets disturbed. A local of Ranga village of Kailali, Bhul cannot attend classes even other times if the weather is not fine. Bad weather means risks added to an already perilous journey to the school. "We have to cross the Karnali River to reach our school. And it's always a very dangerous affair. More so, when the river swells," said the 10th grader at Jagganath Secondary School located at Chaukune Rural Municipality of Surkhet.

But why does a boy from Kailali has to study at a school in another district? It's simple - there is no secondary school in his village. Not just secondary, the village doesn't even have ...