Kathmandu, July 23 -- At the holding centre inside the Bode Agriculture Training Centre in Bhaktapur, 15 children wake up every morning to prepare for school. By 8 am, a government vehicle arrives to pick them up. They have a long road ahead.

Aryan, 7, for instance, attends Janabikas Secondary School in Balkhu, Kathmandu, more than 15 kilometres away. It takes anywhere between an hour-and-a-half and two hours for him to reach school. "By the time my children return in the evening, they are completely exhausted," Punam Devi Paswan, Aryan's mother, told Kantipur recently.

Meanwhile, Paswan's elder son Shyam, 12, and two other children from the centre attend Paropakar Adarsha Secondary School in Bhimsensthan, over 12 kilometres away. It re...