The local units in Mahottari district have started distributing bicycles to schoolgirls under the ‘Beti Bachau-Beti Padhau’ campaign launched by the Province 2 government.

Loharpatti Municipality on Wednesday provided bicycles to 318 girls studying in grade 10 of various community schools. Mayor Shailendra Yadav said the bicycles were distributed in a bid to encourage girls to pursue education. “Most girls in the area have to walk a long distance to reach their school. We decided to distribute bicycles to encourage girls to continue with their education,” said Yadav.

“It takes about two hours to reach school and return home on foot. But now that I got a bicycle, it takes me only half an hour,” said Khusbuda Khatun, a student at a local school in Loharpatti.

Similarly, Samsi Rural Municipality also distributed bicycles to girl students of several community schools. Shesh Pharuk, chief of the rural municipality, said the local unit distributed bicycles to 200 eighth graders.

The Province 2 government started implementing the ‘Beti Bachau-Beti Padhau’ campaign-a scheme to encourage girl education-from January 15 this year.

The provincial executive has allocated Rs393.5 million for the fiscal year 2019-20 for this programme.