The Girls Education Project in Rural Nepal

We have begun the Girls’ Education Project in Nepal in 2009 and, since then we are noticing many changes in the education system of Nepal. Previously, the formal education system in Nepal was categorised as primary education (pupils aged between 5 and 13 years old), secondary education (pupils aged between 14 to 16 years old) and then colleges/universities. Later, it changed to pre-primary education (pupils aged between 5 to 10 years old), primary education, secondary education and then colleges/universities.

Now the schooling years has been extended until 18 years old and the additional two years of schooling is categorised as higher secondary schooling then the colleges/universities start. The higher secondary schooling is also known as ‘+2’. Until most recently, the +2 was taught by colleges and universities but now the Nepalese education authority has made provision to teach the +2 in community schools. Some community schools have already started to teach the +2 curriculum and some are in the process of developing an appropriate infrastructure to teach the curriculum.

The colleges/universities are also, still teaching the +2 but will they allow to teach the curriculum in the near future or not is not clean at the moment. From the quality of education perspective, no doubt that private colleges are providing a better quality of education than community schools. But private colleges are far more expensive than community schools. Few community schools have started to teach a new version of extended curriculum to improve the quality of education and the result is praising. Many parents are transferring their kids to community schools from private ones. However, the new version of extended teaching will take years to reach in the rural area of Nepal.

So, the changing landscape of the education system in Nepal has both a good side and a bad side. The good side is that the education will be affordable for the most so more pupils will continue their education until the age of eighteen because a community school is nearer to their home. I guess the bad side is that the quality of education will be compromised unless the new version of the extended curriculum is introduced as quickly as possible.

Finally, the changes have made us to rethink and plan our commitment for the girls. As the schooling age has been extended by two years, our sponsorship scheme also has to be extended and extending it costs more. Now, sponsoring a girl in basic education costs £60 or $80 per year. Similarly, in secondary education costs £80 or $107 and in higher secondary education £240 or $320. Please sponsor a girl today if you can by making a regular monthly, quarterly or yearly donation. Your support is much appreciated.

Despite the increasing number of coronavirus cases in Nepal, the local community schools, as well as the private schools, are now reopening with precautions. Wearing a mask is compulsory in the classroom so we have provided a packet of the mask to all the girls in the scheme. Now, we are also hearing about the third variant of coronavirus so If we are safe from that then life in villages will return to normal slowly. Vaccination against the virus is also becoming available slowly in the villages but many people do not have faith in it.

As mentioned in the last progress report, we are sponsoring seventy-three girls studying in classes five to twelve and, they are from Bhagawatpur, Majhaura, Dhikuli, Mahadewa, Durgapur, Kajoli, Chakala, Ekbarpur and Bathanaha villages of Mahadewa Municipality, Saptari Nepal. Three of them are new girls, nineteen of them completed secondary schooling and three of them abandoned the scheme. So now, we are left with fifty-one girls in the scheme. 

There are ten villages in Mahadewa municipality and currently, we are working with nine. At least eleven qualifying applications have been received from the village where we are currently not working. Hence, from this year we are planning to extend our sponsorship scheme to the remained village called ‘Pakari’. We have the manpower, it is within our reach and the villagers are also being very supportive and helpful to us in the project.  We aim to sponsor at least twenty-one new girls from this year, eleven from Pakari and ten from the other nine villages. Our commitment for the new girls will be from two to four years depending on their age and class.

The process to select the girls is in the progress. The process involves, visiting the girl’s family, taking an entrance exam and briefing them about the conditions of the sponsorship scheme. We are hopeful that the process will be completed within a month or two. Once the process is completed, we will provide a new bicycle, books, stationery and all other necessary stuff so that they have the full potential to do their best in schooling with the new opportunity.

During the lockdown and school closure, we have been providing a private tuition class to all the girls in the scheme. I believed it was a necessary action to take to keep the girls in the scheme. Otherwise, many girls would have abandoned the education or would have made no progress in the line with other pupils in their class. On average, we have paid Rs. 500 per girl per month. No doubt, it has cost lots of money. However, we have managed it by cutting a little bit of the budget from the other project activities.

Finally, Coronavirus have caused significant problems even at the village levels and, many of us have suffered from mild to severe symptoms. However, there isn’t any loss because of the coronavirus in the villages we are working in. We are also safe, so is our girls and their family. Amongst all, coronavirus has taught everyone how to wash hands properly and eat better to boost their immune system. This definitely will also help them to prevent other preventable diseases.

The cost of sponsoring the girls is increasing every year and many more girls need the support. Therefore, please donate whatever you can afford and/or increase your donation amount if you can afford it. Your donation is the only way to keep the girls in education and education is the most basic right of every child in the world.

$10 a month keeps a girl in secondary education for a year

$30 a month keeps a girl in higher secondary education for a year.

$1600 pays the salary of one staff for a year who monitor girls in the scheme.