A Clean Solar Alternative to Kerosene Lamps, Nepal

Despite increasing accessibility of electricity in many parts of Nepal, a number of remote places in Morang district (in east Nepal) are still devoid of electricity facility. This absence has affected the education of children causing dfficulty during night study as they are compelled to use kerosene lamps.

Therefore, to help students study at night, ECCA has been providing solar tuki lamps to students of various schools of Letang and Warangi villages of Morang district. Also, as an attempt to encourage parents to send their children to school regularly, multiple charging unit (for the solar lamps) is kept in the schools.

With new students enrolled in the new academic year, ECCA distributed 110 additional solar tukis in 3 schools on June 12, 2017. Shree Sagma Secondary School and Shree Bhogteni Secondary School each received 30 solar tuki lamps whereas Shree Laxmi Secondary School received 50 lamps.

"We have been using kerosene lamps at our home since decades", said Rita, one of the students. She added happily, "we had never actually thought about using other forms of energy. But now, after seeing the advantages of solar tuki lamp, I think we can easily afford to use this portable, cost-effective and pollution free device."

Additionally, solar tuki maintenance training was provided to one teacher from each school during the time of distribution. This will enable long term use of the distributed lamps, since they won't have to travel far to repair broken ones.

“There were many things I had forgotten since last time“, said Milan, teacher of Shree Sagma Secondary School and trainee of the maintenance program. He was one of the attendees of maintenance training program ECCA had provided 4 years ago. "I feel more confident now."

Teachers and students of all the schools were thankful for the solar tuki lamps and maintenance training. We are also very thankful to you for helping us make this possible. 

Bhogateni and Sagma are two remote places of Morang district lying in south-eastern Nepal. Letang bazzar is the only market for the people residing there, which takes around 6 to 7 hours walk for the villagers.

After the promulgation of new constitution, both areas lie under Letang Bhogateni Municipality. However, the declaration has changed little for villages, which still lack basic infrastructures like health, road, market, electricity, water etc. In these villages, people are still compelled to use kerosene lamp or solar lamp due to absence of electricity and lack of access to alternative energy sources.

Schools also are in a miserable condition. They do not have sufficient academic teaching and learning materials. Having few schools is also a problem for students. For some, it takes 2 to 3 hours to reach their school and night time is very dangerous for them to go home because of dense jungle. So far, schools have managed a hostel for those students. It did provide some solace to safety of students but learning at evening is troublesome due to lack of electricity.

Realizing the need, ECCA distributed 18 pieces of Solar Tuki lamps to Shree Sagma Secondary School and 20 pieces to Shree Bhogteni Secondary School. These tukis will be used in the hostel by the students (for their evening studies).

“Before, our students used kerosene lamp to study in night time and I was always afraid of fire hazards and their health. But, from now, my worry has gone with these solar tukis.”, said Mr. Jaya - Principal; Shree Sagma Secondary School Sagma.

“We are really happy”, said one the students. “The lamp is portable, really easy to use and has no effects on health and environment.”

In near future, ECCA is planning to distribute solar tuki lamp to other needy households of the area and conduct repair maintenance training for the local people.

Globalgiving has initiated "Renewable Energy Match" (April 20 - May 25), in which Globalgiving will be providing additional matching fund and bonus fund to the donations provided. Our project is also taking part in this "Renewable Energy Match"

https://www.globalgiving.org/leaderboards/renewable-energy-match-2017/

We are very thankful to you for your continuous support and request you for support during the "Renewable Energy Match" period.