Durga Kami (C), 68, and his classmates pose for a group picture in their classroom at Shree Kala Bhairab Higher Secondary School in Syangja, Nepal, June 5, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Walking into the Shree Kala Bhairab higher secondary school and the buzz created by 200 children is a welcome contrast to the hush of the isolated one-room home, with its leaking roof and frequent power cuts, where Kami lives in Syangja district, some 250 km (155 miles) west of Nepal's capital Kathmandu.

"To forget my sorrows I go to school," Kami, one of the oldest students in Nepal, said in the classroom where he studies alongside 14 and 15-year-olds.

Kami, whose children have all left his hilltop home, first went to Kaharay primary school where he learnt to read and write with the seven and eight year olds before leaving after finishing grade five with the 11-year-olds.