Sixteen-year old Sah had been serving a well-off family for years so that he could pursue education, but he has been forced to leave the home just as he started to prepare for School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations. [break]
The family was disappointed after Bijaya Memorial School, Dillibazar, where Sah is enrolled, started providing coaching classes. Sah could not escape the coaching classes as the school had made them mandatory for all students.
"Sah´s masters told him that he is not needed in the house as he could not give much time to the daily chores" said Pradeep Dangol, a child rights officer at Children-Women in Social Service and Human Right (CWISH).
The organization advocates rights of children and women. After being expelled from the house, he sought refuge at the children club of his own school, from where he was sent to CWISH. The organization has said it would support Sah so that he can stay in the capital and continue his study. Dangol said that Sah had come to the capital in the hopes of getting better education.
Likewise, Ranjana Budha, 17 of Darchula, has a similar tale. She, too, was expelled from the house she was serving after her school started to hold her longer than her masters wanted.
Most of the schools in the capital take extra classes to get better results in SLC. Ranjana left her home when she was still a child as she did not want to compromise on studies. CWISH is supporting her education as well.
In the last six months, the organization said that it has dealt with five such cases."Several such cases never reach us," said Dangol, adding, "Domestic helps have been forced to quit studies if they start spending more time on studies." He said that most children working as domestic helps are not allowed to go to schools regularly.
He said that very few children, who have been serving well-off families in the capital, have been getting better education. Their masters admit them in schools just to show they have been providing education. Due to poverty, small children have been forced to work as domestic servants in the capital.
Several studies have divulged that such children have been denied even their basic rights. In some instances, underage domestic servants have been victim of physical exploitation and sexual abuses.
The organization said that hundreds of children from the districts adjoining to the capital have been toiling as domestic help in the Valley. A study conducted by International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2003 estimated that about 21,000 domestic helps have been working in the capital.
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