After 27 years as a teacher, Tirtha Shrestha still smiles as she remembers her early school days in Myagdi. Polio left her crippled at an early age but her father said nothing was wrong with her mind and encouraged her to study. Then came the biggest hurdle in every Nepali student's life: the SLC exams.

"Students from my village repeatedly failed, so when my turn came, my father told me not to bother as I would probably fail too," she remembers. But Tirtha had no intention of giving up. She snuck out of her house and secretly went to the exam centre in Baglung. "It took me more than six hours because back then I didn't have crutches," she says, "so I crawled with the help of a wooden stick." When the results came out, she was one of only three girls who passed from the district that year.

Tirtha went on to be a young teacher and then the principal of Beni Secondary School. Her biggest regret is never having the opportunity to pursue academics more fully. "I got so far with just an SLC diploma, who knows what I could have done if I finished my IA or higher?" she laughs.

In Myagdi, where education was once considered a wasted exercise, public opinion began to change when Tirtha's education launched her career. Many parents followed her father's example and started sending their children to school. Tirtha is usually cheerful, but her face darkens when she talks about her pet peeve: NGOs.

"So much money is donated but almost nothing reaches the schools," she complains. "If it did, a lot more could have been accomplished." She is proud of Beni Secondary School and is quick to point out that she hasn't had any problems with the Maoists. They acknowledge her immense contribution to the people and leave her alone. Students with disabilities are encouraged to attend, but as the school cannot afford special provisions for them, very few are able to do so.

This teacher hopes to open a school exclusively for the differently-abled in Myagdi someday. These plans are just a dream as Tirtha concentrates on a more immediate challenge, a task that brings her full circle, as she prepares her first batch of SLC students. Luckily, they have her for inspiration.
(Milan Wagle)