POKHARA--Colleges and schools in Pokhara have benefited from the fees tourists pay to visit scenic spots. In what could be a model for nationwide budgeting, visitors' fees earn schools millions a year. This fund is used to provide scholarships to needy students and pay for part of their operational cost.

Chhorepatan High School has been managing Devi's Falls for 30 years. Fifteen hundred students from nursery to grade 10 are studying free of cost. Students in grade 11 and 12 have to pay minimal fee. Principal Laxman Thapa says all this is paid with the Rs 5 million that the school earned from entrance fee to the Devi's falls. It also pays salaries of 62 teachers. Rs 2 million is set aside for the upkeep of the falls area itself. The management committee also rents out shops to curio vendors and earns another Rs 1.8 million a year.

Learning from this model at Devi's Falls, Gupteshwor Mahdev Campus earns Rs 10 million a year from entrance fees to Gupteshwor cave. Pokhara's other tourist attractions, Mahendra and Chamere caves, have helped Bindhyavasini High School build infrastructure and provide free education.