Improve education for Nepali girls and minorities

Following the success of our first three original children’s books, we’ve started work on some new stories. Earlier this summer, we organized a writing workshop for teachers at our partner schools. It’s the first step in our plan to publish ten more titles over the next four years.

At the workshops, teachers browsed board books, pattern books, picture books, autobiographies and play books. They also sang along to traditional Nepali chanda poetry. The objective of the workshop was to understand the origin of storytelling as well as the different narrative forms of storytelling in theNepali language.

Teachers were encouraged to write a story of their own. Many of them were enthusiastic about the opportunity to create a storyboard as they began to draft their own stories.

Monita G, the editor of our first books and the treasurer of our partner organization in Nepal, Kakshyalaya, met with the teachers at the workshop. She shared the method that worked best for her as she revised the stories. She wrote multiple drafts before reading each one to students in different primary grades to get their input.

In another workshop, we invited friends of the organization, including board members, teachers and authors to join us and brainstorm story ideas. The two-day writing workshop included reading aloud, browsing books, story writing and group discussions. The workshop served as a good platform for creating and sharing vibrant and fun ideas. 

We ended up with three stories we think will become engaging books and look forward to publishing them in the near future. 

Your support is crucial to our publishing efforts. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes with our partners in schools and the community, to bring these stories to life on the page. Thank you for helping us spread the joy of reading!  

• A participant at our writing workshop this summer (PDF)
  

The principal at one school we work with, Kumbheswor Secondary School in Nuwakot, says his young students are hooked on the three new books we've published and distributed to our partner schools in Nepal. 

“For a while now, those three books are all they want to read and see. It’s no wonder we have asked for a few more copies,” he says.

The books are varied in nature. One is a poem, another features short descriptive sentences, and the third is a traditional story. They appeal to every kind of young student:

• “Busy Bees” is a collaboration among five teachers from two schools in Kavre district where we had installed beehives in 2019, fulfilling a request from the local community.

• “Looking Good” is a fun, engaging story celebrating the physical idiosyncrasies of the different members of a family – like a gold tooth, a mole, a luxurious moustache.

• “First Snow” is a story composed by a teacher at a separate training workshop focused on using Nepali children’s literature for literacy instruction; it tells of her first encounter with snow and how it frightened her.

We’ve distributed the books to all our 49 partner schools with a couple receiving extra copies. Local governments have especially appreciated the child-friendly narration as well as the amazing illustrations. While teachers have our books fresh on their mind, our partner organization in Nepal, Kakshyalaya, conducted a two-day writing workshop in Nuwakot at end of March. The workshop focused on understanding the origins of the Nepali language as well as different narrative forms in Nepali children’s literature. 

Along with workshops with teachers, plans are in place to do host a “Read-Aloud Week” with students. The event will also serve as a book fair for students to choose a book to read independently or with their parents or teachers. Students are welcome to bring their parents and younger siblings to the events. Families will be joined by local leaders and stakeholders to enjoy the new books and celebrate the joy of reading. 

“Read-Aloud Week” is scheduled for late April at five schools in five days. Activities will include making books, coloring and making collages, building with Legos, writing a postcard to a friend in America, dramatizing a book (students can act as Muna and Puku from our "First Snow" book), and discussing the stories they enjoy.

In addition, “Read-Aloud Week” will introduce local leaders and parents to the work Kakshyalaya and The Santi School Project are doing to promote reading aloud and the value of quality children’s literature. We’ll discuss the connection between reading aloud and literacy skills and the right of every young student to spend time with books they enjoy.

Your support is crucial to unique events like “Read-Aloud Week” that help us strengthen our relationships with children, teachers and parents in the rural communities of the Kathmandu Valley. Thank you for helping us spread the joy of reading!