In Nepal, woman returns to school with her son to pick up from where she left off

New Delhi

Parwati Sunar, a Nepali mother of two, has returned to the educational system she left when she eloped with a guy seven years her senior at the age of 15, and now she attends the same school as her son.

"I enjoy learning and am proud to attend with classmates who are like my own children," Sunar told Reuters from her village of Punarbas on the southwestern edge of the Himalayan nation, where she studies in seventh grade.

With a population of 29 million, only over 57% of women have access to literacy in Nepal and Sunar, 27, expressed the desire to acquire "enough literacy" to manage household finances.

Parwati Sunar, 27, calls to check on her eldest son, Resham Sunar, 11, after he went home unwell, in Punarbas, Kanchanpur district, southwest Nepal, August 7, 2022. 

"I think I should not have left my school," she said, explaining the desire to catch up on the lessons she missed, having had her first child at 16.

"I feel good to go to school with mum," said her son, Resham, 11, who is a grade behind his mother, spends lunch breaks with her and rides pillion as she bicycles to computer classes they attend at an institute nearby.

"We chat as we walk to school and we learn from our conversation," he said, adding that his mother hoped he could become a doctor.

According to Bharat Basnet, the principal of the local school Jeevan Jyoti, Sunar was a below average student but a motivated learner.

Parwati Sunar, 27, sings the national anthem of Nepal while attending an assembly at Jeevan Jyoti secondary school in Punarbas, Kanchanpur district, southwest Nepal, August 7, 2022. 

Her day starts at sunrise in a two-room, bare-brick building with a tin roof that she shares with her mother-in-law, sons Resham and Arjun, and their goats corralled in one section. The family uses a neighbouring piece of public land because their home doesn't have a toilet.

They bathe with water from a handpump outside their house, labour in the lush fields nearby, and even bake cakes for birthdays, which Resham cheerfully celebrates with a hibiscus flower tucked over one ear.

Sunar's spouse supports his family by working as a labourer in Chennai, a city in southern India.

The lowest caste in Hinduism is the Dalit community, sometimes known as the untouchables, and according to Sunar, the family has not experienced any mistreatment as a result.

Nobody discriminates against my family or me, she said.

Parwati Sunar, 27, and her son Resham Sunar, 11, ride a bicycle to their computer class at New World Vision Computer Institute in Punarbas, Kanchanpur district, southwest Nepal, August 8, 2022.

With her kid, Sunar walks the 20 minutes to the school, which is also a tin-roofed building surrounded by trees, after a basic supper of rice and lentils. Sunar then dons the school uniform, consisting of a light blue shirt and skirt with a striped tie.

One of her 14-year-old classmates, Bijay B.K., expressed that she enjoyed having Sunar in the same class with her.

Using the Nepali word for an older sister, "Didi," he said, "She's nice." Both she and I support each other in our academic endeavours.

Village women in Nepal, where they still experience discrimination and child marriage is common despite being against the law, may be inspired by Sunar's efforts to broaden their horizons of knowledge.

(With inputs from agencies)

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