Improve education for Nepali girls and minorities

Another wave of Covid-19 infections has swept across Nepal and neighboring India, leading the government in Kathmandu to issue a nationwide lockdown at the end of April.

The situation is dire. Hospitals and healthcare workers in Nepal are overwhelmed as the fragile public health system simply cannot keep up. Hospitals are running out of oxygen and beds for patients. Mass cremations of Covid-19 victims have become a common sight around Kathmandu.

A similar spike in infections last fall had ebbed over the winter and many normal activities resumed. During that time, the staff of our implementing partner in Nepal maintained a busy pace. They were able to conduct several teacher training workshops and deliver the following materials to make classroom reading corners:

• 651 books
• 42 book racks
• 42 low tables
• 22 rooms with carpeting
• 410 floor cushions
• 43 teachers trained
• 23 partner schools

One training session focused on social studies as the core of every interaction between people and the environment. Participants visited a saw mill, a community forest and collaborated to make a group book about the trips.

The second session, with a different group of teachers, was our read-aloud training. The group discussed what makes a good children's book, practiced writing and storyboard techniques, and reviewed research on the benefits of children’s literature as a way to develop literacy skills.

Before the most recent lockdown began, we contacted all of our school principals to make sure they encouraged their students to borrow books while schools are shut.

Over the long term, it's possible that the virus will continue to circulate in Nepal and the surrounding region. With low rates of vaccination and inadequate supply without international assistance for the remaining 28 million Nepalis who've not had a shot, schools may only be able to open sporadically over the next few years.

We have great admiration for the resilience of our staff, the rural communities where we work and all of the people of Nepal as they cope with this latest surge of the coronavirus. We remain grateful for the support of donors like you, who make our work possible. Thank you!

One of the goals of our read-aloud training program is to publish children's stories written by teachers participating in our workshops. We're excited to announce that our first three titles will be available in early 2021.

These three original children's books will be in Nepali with culturally appropriate Nepali settings and characters. It's important to us that all of our books are written, illustrated and published locally by Nepali authors and artists.

We were fortunate to have started developing manuscripts before the pandemic shut down schools and limited our ability to conduct training sessions and bookmaking workshops. In 2019, our partner in Nepal, Kakshyalaya, installed two beehives at two schools in Kavre that enthralled teachers and children alike.

That experience led five primary grade teachers from the two schools to work together to create a book about bees at a training workshop focused on using Nepali children’s literature for literacy instruction.

At a separate training workshop, a teacher composed a story of her first encounter with snow and how it frightened her.

Both the manuscripts were forwarded to our book editor in Kathmandu, who has a wealth of experience in writing, editing and publishing children’s literature. We're also grateful to be working with one of the most prominent children’s literature illustration artists in Nepal.

Our editor has recently polished the manuscripts and they are in the hands of the illustrator. We will share more details of our books soon.

Thank you for your support during a trying and difficult year!