Narrator: We all know it,

walked it every day,

but none of them were like these.

The World's Most Dangerous Ways to School.

Climbing,

freezing,

paddling for hours,

all for the chance of a better life.

Risky, spectacular,

and sometimes just simply beautiful.

The Most Dangerous Ways to School.

(peaceful music)

Nepal, the highest country on Earth,

runs through mountain ranges, sometimes reaching heights

of more than 4,000 meters above sea level.

The mountain village Kanpur in the province of Bagmati,

whoever wants to make it to school on time

must go unusual ways under extreme conditions.

The destination, the Shree Adarsha School.

650 students,

some of them have the most extraordinary ways to school.

A daily adventure trip,

arduously walking through mountains on foot,

risky hitchhiking across the highway,

and twice a day

crossing the most dangerous river of the area

with a ramshackle ropeway.

One of the most the most dangerous ways to school,

all for one goal,

a better life.

(soft music)

Six o'clock, daybreak,

another normal day in the Nepalese mountains dawns.

The schoolboy Ajit has to wake up quickly

because before he is allowed to head off to school,

he must lend a hand in the fields.

His father, Hari, needs every single helping hand.

Two hours of early work from six to 8 a.m.,

for Ajit, it is quite natural.

But nothing to say against a bit of daydreaming.

-: When I grow up,

I want to do more than just work on the farm.

I want to explore the world.

(light music)

Narrator: Ajit's father has never attended school.

He knows,

just like all the other parents living in the mountains,

education is the key for his son's future.

Each day the parents in the mountain village Kanpur

prepare their little ones for their great adventure.

The same scene, 400 meters down the mountain.

Here, little Kabita

works her way through her early morning spit bath

with the help of her mother.

Kabita is not more than four years old.

Mother Nirmala has decided to send her to school

as early as possible.

Nirmala would love to have her daughter

by her side the whole day,

but she believes that without schooling

Kabita would have no chance finding a job

and, almost more important, in finding a husband.

That's why she accepts that her four-year-old daughter

takes on the long way to school,

more than six kilometers.

Together, they practice every morning before school,

do Kabita's homework,

and learn the Nepalese alphabet.

(speaks in foreign language)

(engaging music)

A bit further done in the village,

Ambika's farm awakes.

Ambika is happy that her seven-year-old, Asmita,

does not have to go to school by herself.

Fortunately, she has two other children

who also attend school,

eight year-old Amit and six-year-old Anita.

Until recently,

the mother brought the children to school herself,

but the work required in the farm suffered for it.

That's why a couple of days ago,

her son and her daughter started to go on their own.

Especially in the morning, they are all a bit tensed.

No one knows how dangerous the way to school will be today.

And these are the last moments Ambika and her children

share until evening.

Quickly, they slip into their school uniforms,

and off they go

on their dangerous two-hour-long way to school.

(pleasant music)

After working in the fields, Ajit is also getting ready.

In two hours, at 10 o'clock,

school starts down in the valley

on the other side of the river.

Not bad going such a long way for a dream.

-: When I grow up, I want to become a pilot.

It must be great to be a pilot and fly around the world.

(speaks in foreign language)

Narrator: Together with his sister Sapana,

Ajit hits the road,

leaving behind a worried family.

Most of all, a mother who knows all too well

about this way to school.

-: Every day I'm afraid to send my children off to school.

Everybody in my family has gotten hurt

on the way down to the valley.

My son, my daughter, myself,

even my husband hurt himself.

Ajit: Often, I'm afraid I might slip and hurt myself.

I'm also afraid of wild animals

like jackals, monkeys, or tigers.

But I really want to go to school.

(pleasing music)

Narrator: Unlike most rapidly growing Asian countries,

in Nepal, 80% of the inhabitants live outside of big cities.

Just about 2/3 of the children attend school.

The others,

like the 12-year-old Ganesh who must stay behind today,

must help in the fields in order to secure the harvest.

The illiteracy rate in Nepal is over 50%.

Those who attend school in the mountain village of Kanpur

walk across the mountains of the highest

situated country on Earth.

Nearly half of Nepal

lies more than 4,000 meters above sea level.

In order to reach their destination,

Ajit and Sapana have to go down to the city

at the foot of the mountains.

And for that,

they have to cross the dangerous river Trishuli

which winds through the entire valley.

The Trishuli River comes from the Himalaya mountains.

It is 60 meters wide.

And at this time of year, the time of the monsoon,

it is especially wild.

The next bridge, miles away.

There is only one way to the other side for the pupils,

the so-called tuin,

a basket on two old wire cables.

Rusty and inspiring little confidence,

nobody knows how long this construction will last.

Many accidents have happened here.

A number of students have fallen in the river

while trying to reach the other side.

Some nearly drowned.

-: I'd like to learn how to swim,

but the river is so wild.

I never dared trying.

My biggest fear is that the river

could carry me away with it.

Narrator: On some days,

the weather intensifies Ajit's fears.

In times of the monsoon,

sudden rain showers make the water level rise dramatically.

But today, the students are lucky.

(speaks in foreign language)

Kabita: Mommy, bye.

Nirmala: Buh-bye.

(speaks in foreign language)

Narrator: At each goodbye, there is a touch of fear.

But there is no alternative.

Besides, the children from Kanpur always stick together

and help each other to cope

with their dangerous way to school.

A bit further down at the foot of the mountain village,

mother Ambika also sends her children off.

Amit, the eldest, is supposed to lead the others safely.

He is the most experienced.

But still, every morning saying goodbye to her children

costs Ambika a lot of strength.

(serene music)

-: Every day when my children head off to school,

it's a terrible moment.

I'm afraid that they might try to swim in the river.

I often wonder on which side of the river

that they might be on at any given moment.

Have they managed to reach the other side?

There's so much that could happen to them.

Narrator: 1 1/2 hours before school starts,

from all over the Kanpur village,

the children gather together at the foot of the mountain.

They are on their way to school,

and the school is in the city.

Today, it's normal.

But just 50 years ago,

the village was completely self-sufficient.

Only if there was a lack of salt

would someone, twice a year,

head off to refill the stock.

Today, the children go to the city almost on a daily basis

and are forced to cross the dangerous river.

(troubled music)

A village in distress is left behind.

Worries unite the families in Kanpur

more than anything else.

-: We simply don't have the time

to bring our children across the river every day.

We have to take care of the fields.

But we're worried every day,

afraid they might hurt themselves crossing the river.

Narrator: The village community Kanpur

is spread across 18 farms on (mumbles) mountain.

The families live in a very remote area.

And every mother fears the moment

when her child is old enough to go to school

and has to cross the Trishuli River.

At nine o'clock, the children arrive at the so-called tuin.

The name can be translated into, "The way on the rope."

But there is a problem.

The basket is on the other side of the river.

60 meters away,

out of reach for the children.

The river Trishuli,

which can only be crossed by two rusty ropes,

separates the region in two halves at this point.

On the other side,

Nepal seems like a whole different world,

with cars, buses, and shops.

But without the basket,

the children stand no chance to reach it.

Sometimes the students from Kanpur

wait for up to three hours.

If no one comes,

they have no other choice but to return home.

-: I am sad when we have to go back.

The other children learn more.

I keep getting worse and worse.

(light music)

Narrator: The only hope the children have

is that someone comes in brings them the basket.

-: Often, the teachers yell at us when we are late.

Sometimes they really get very angry.

Sometimes they hit our hands with a stick

or pull our hair if we're late.

Narrator: After 20 minutes,

a village farmer arrives at the riverside.

He, too, has to cross in order to sell

his cucumbers and his goat.

A stroke of luck for the children.

Because farmer Pramod is in a hurry,

he can't wait for someone to crossover with the basket.

The market closes in just under two hours.

Therefore, he crosses the river with a very special method.

A device the villagers called kirikiri,

a pulley and a rope.

This is how he wants to reach the other side

in order to collect the basket for the children

and himself.

-: The children do not have this pulley

and they're simply not strong enough.

Only us farmers can cross like this

if the basket is on the other side.

Nearly none of the children can swim.

If they fall into the river, they die.

(delightful music)

Narrator: When crossing the river on the rope,

the farmer Pramod is not only in danger of drowning,

the rusty old steel rope is dangerous enough by itself.

With each grasp, tiny rusty splinters of wire

bore their