Bye bye to the Rana building that housed the public school of Bhimphedi, built in 1933

Written by Mònica Sans, co-coordinator of Bhimphedi Children’s Home and AWASUKA

The Rana dynasty ruled Nepal from 1846 to 1951, reducing the monarchy to a mere figure and making the posts of Prime Minister hereditary. The Rana government was characterized by being a tyranny with excesses, economic exploitation and religious persecution. However, the Rana developed many infrastructures in the country and Bhimphedi is a good example of this: the hospital (it was the second of the country at the time), the public school building, Hatisar the elephant house (where there are still many historic saddles), the rana minister’s palace (currently in the jail compound), the royal palace (inside Balmandir orphanage plot), the Janajati Hall building (now hotel of entities, formerly temporary residence of the English Prime Minister) and many more buildings. And besides the buildings, they also built the water network and the reservoirs still supplying this town.

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One of the old buildings of the Health Center of Bhimphedi.
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Another of the old buildings of the Bhimphedi Health Center.
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Compound of the historical buildings of the health center of Bhimphedi. Next to these buildings there are the new buildings of the current Health Center.
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Hatisar, Elephant stables.

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Saddle of elephants (with the british coat to honor the visit of the British first Minister to Bhimphedi).
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Janajati Hall building now hotel of entities (where there is the office of Awasuka), formerly temporary residence of the English Prime Minister in his visit to Bhimphedi.
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Building of the Bhimphedi police.
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Mansion of a rich family of that time. The building was bought by the Nepal National Bank, and currently is used by a local family as a home.

Asking Surendra, one of the characters who knows well Bhimphedi’s history, he explains to us that the school building was originally a travelers’ hostel when the village was a major crossing point on the route to Chitwan and India. It later became a public school and has been in use to last friday 18th of November 2016. This last Saturday it has being emptied by removing all furniture, to bring it down soon. The government has decided to do so, because of the minor damages it suffered during last year’s earthquake. The architects who have been in Bhimphedi for the last year, participants in the Awasuka program, are sad because of the government’s opinion, as we believe that the building is easily repairable and retrofittable. But the Nepalese government advocates for complete reconstruction rather than repairing and retrofitting the historical buildings… a real pity!   We’re attaching some photos of the building, which will soon go down in history.

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The building became school in 1947 (2004 BS = Bikram Sambat Calendar, Nepali Calendar).

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Few months ago while the provisional school was being built between the jail and the football ground.
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From this week the classes are already transferred to the provisional school. They say that in two years the new school will be built… But anyway, noone seems sad to be in this place with this big ground.
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Ruins of one of the historical buildings already destroyed. In the background of the photo you can see the old building of the school. One girl runs to the school where the farewell party of the building.
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Photo of the building and the party of farewell of the building.
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Party of farewell to the Rana building used by the government school of Bhimphedi.