RASUWA- After walking for hours to reach school, Durga Tamang turns around immediately to go home because the teachers are always absent. This is the fate of over 11,000 students in this district where education is so marginal that schools close even when it rains or snows because the buildings leak. Several don't even have roofs. Of the 99 community schools in 18 VDCs, the majority remain closed most of the time. To make matters worse, only a handful of teachers have been appointed by the government in most of these community schools. Opening of the Lingling Primary School on the Nepal-Tibet border was approved 18 years ago but the school building has still not been constructed. Around 36 students of this school are forced to attend classes in an open field. Despite all these problems, the District Education Office has shown little concern. "The condition of most schools are similar all over the district, where the rate of school dropout has remained high," says principal Nirmal Jung Sherpa. The problem is most evident in Haku, Gatlang, Charsa, Chilime, Bridhim, Timer and Ramche VDCs, which are barely an hour from district headquarters Dhunche. But the education office still believes it is doing its best. "We have reform programs to solve the problem," says District Development Committee President Khem Bahadur Magar. The literacy rate in the district is only 34 percent.