School Environment Improvement Program - Nepal

Shree Kalidhunga Higher Secondary School lies in Mirge of Dolakha district. It is one of the many schools in the area receiving aid from ECCA, since past few years. Sabina Tamang, aged 15, is a student of class 9 in the school. She also happens to be an active member of the Children’s Nature Club at her school. Her house is situated at 800 meters radius away from the school. Her younger sister, Sabita and she commute to school daily on foot.

According to Sabina, her school lacked any kind of separate toilet for girls, a year ago. This used to cause a lot of uncomfortable situations for girls her age in the school. “I used to skip school during the time of my menstruation. It is difficult to change sanitary napkins, when you have to share a common toilet with the boys” is what Sabina had to say. She shared with us incidences of when boys did not understand the issue and teased the girls and just how uneasy that used to make the girls feel. “There were many other girls who used to skip school during that time of the month, just to escape the embarrassment of having to use a common toilet or get teased by one of the boys,” said Sabina.

Having to skip classes and missing out on academic progress was not for the likes of an A-grade student like Sabina, who is a staunch believer of going home and revising everything that has been taught in the class. “I did not like missing out on my classes but, I had no other choice, at that time,” recalls Sabina.

After receiving help from ECCA, the school now has two girl friendly toilets, for the ‘School Environment Improvement Program' conducted by ECCA in the vicinity.

Girl friendly toilet with incinerator at the back

“I feel very relieved now that we have these female friendly toilets. I don’t have to skip school during my menstruation days anymore,” said Sabina with a smile across her face.

Menstruation should not result in absences and girls missing out on an education due to completely preventable reasons. Just by constructing girl friendly toilets the positive impact of the project could be witnessed. Due to the efforts of ECCA the female absentee rate has declined, since the construction of the girl friendly toilets, according to the schools records.

Toilet is well equipped with water facility, Sabina during her school hours

Sabina shared that many of her friends have also stopped missing school and are very glad with the newly constructed toilets. “I am glad my younger sister will not have to face the difficulty I went through, when she hits her puberty. She will not get teased by the boys, now that things have been made more comfortable for us. I would like to thank your organization and supporters for educating and supporting us with this,” Sabina smiled with a sigh of relief.

We are also very thankful to you for helping us support students like Sabina and improve school environment of Mirge.

This July, 1822 students from 14 project schools of Dolakha district were provided educational materials support by ECCA. Out of these schools, 8 are from Mirge VDC. The support included essential learning materials such as school bags, copies, books, calculators, dictionaries, geometry boxes, pencils, sharpeners and pens.

The distribution took place on July 28 and 29, 2016. Sujan Rajbahak, one of ECCA counselors involved in the distribution program shared,“This wasn’t easy. The rainy season brought challenges; landslides and vehicle problem had us both tensed and worked out. But all the fatigue disappeared when we started distributing the materials in schools. Children were so happy that we knew all the hard work was worth.”

The road was blocked due to landslide

Distribution at Laligurash Bright Future English Boarding School, Mirge

Sujan, with a student, during distribution 

Dolakha, being adversely affected by 2015 earthquake, has been in need of frequent support. Even before the earthquake, ECCA has been consistently working in Dolakha for school environment improvement through nature clubs and support programs. This support will also add up to providing some relief to the struggle of Dolakha’s school children in receiving quality education. We thank you for your support in helping us make it possible.

(For more regular updates regarding our programs and activities, please visit our blog site, Facebook,website, Twitter and YouTube Channel.)

With an objective to unite school stakeholders for sustainable development of the schools, ECCA recently conducted 3 days long workshop in Mirge, Dolakha. The training welcomed over 32 participants from 8 schools. Envisioning of common goal and strategy development were the highlighted issues of the training. The training participants were representatives of School Management Committee, Parents Teachers Association, School Principals and child club supervising teachers. 

One of the progressive situation brought by the training was the opening of a platform for women and parents to put their views forward in terms of school development plans. "By reviewing current status of the school, we were able to make a vision statement of our school and I am very glad I am a part of it", said of the female participants. All the schools pledged to give their best to make it come true. "Sharing our ideas and success stories has motivated us to unite and work for betterment of our schools."

Along with visioning activities, WASH sessions on safe drinking water, water pollution, personal and menstrual hygiene, and importance of girl friendly toilets in schools helped each participant to be more conscious about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in the schools.

The training brought a change in the Mirge village. Next, ECCA aims to facilitate the trained schools to implement the school improvement plan effectively and efficiently. For more updates, please visit our Blog site,  Facebook,  Twitter, website, and YouTube Channel.

Facilitator Ms. Shakya (standing) listens to a participant during an interactive session

ECCA Program Officer talks about development issues

Group discussion

"Here's how development can be sustainable.."- a participant speaks out 

Learning through games

Winter continues to torment lives of earthquake victims in Nepal. Among places destroyed beyond the threshold, many regions in Dolakha district still go through excessive struggle to revive. Dolakha, the epicenter of major earthquake shocks had all of its Village Development Committees affected with more than 130 reported deaths and 300 injured people. Each and every sector got affected, and amongst the most sensitive issues were the children- and their right for education.

The earthquake brought chaos in its worst forms. Desks and benches were no more an option when classrooms got buried. Teachers could not assure the safety of their students anymore. With the situation getting better with establishments of Temporary Learning Centres and increasing series of educational support, arrival of winter created new problems. Majority of schools have recently been witnessing decreasing number of students due to cold. Students and teachers attend school daily from far areas, some even taking an hour long of walking. School dropout rate in this place is high due to low income source in family because of which they are unable buy stationary materials and school uniform. Most of the students having lost warm clothes in the earthquake were unable to attend school in the shivering cold. 

However, now students are more than happy to go to school. To help them attend schools regularly in peak hours of winter, ECCA Nepal through GlobalGiving’s support conducted Winter Support program. Tracksuits (along with a pair of shoes and socks) were distributed to 155 students of Kali Devi Lower Secondary School, Mirge “I used to catch cold every time I came to morning classes. But that has changed. Thank you for the warm tracksuit”, said one of the tenth grade students.

It wasn’t just students. In Majh Gaun Lower Secondary School, blankets were distributed to 55 guardians (on Feb 10, 2016) with GlobalGiving’s support basically with two motives; provide them with a warmer housing and to motivate them to send their children to school regularly.

“After the earthquake weakened our economy, my wife and I had frequent debates over sending our children to school or let him stay at home helping with chores”, a guardian responded. “Now that he has got warm jackets, he doesn’t miss his classes anymore and we are happy too”, he shared remembering how happy he was when Bipin babu (ECCA program officer Mr. Bipin Shrestha) provided him with a blanket.

He spoke out one of the positive thoughts brought by ECCA among hundreds of those parents who couldn’t send their children in school. It is true that education after earthquake has a long way to reach pre-achieved quality but it could bring about new and innovative ideas on development. Furthermore, contribution of our donors during this time of struggle has helped us provide comfort and we are more than thankful to GlobalGiving as well. 

Blanket distribution in Dolakha

 "Thank you  very much for the blanket and I like the colour too! May be I will let my  children use this one... "- a resident of Dolakha in her Temporary shelter

"Winter doesn't feel so bad anymore!"

[For regular updates regarding our programs and activities, please visit our Blog site,  Facebook,  Twitter, website, and YouTube Channel.]

Dear all,

Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness (ECCA) is currently in its 29th year of establishment. Over the years, we have succeeded in making significant improvements in the sector of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), school environment, community development, promotion of alternate and renewable technologies (A Clean Solar Alternative to Kerosene Lamps,  ICS training) and even conservation related entrepreneurship. We can proudly say that our actions have helped people change their lives. Women in Jajarkot have learnt to invest in income generating activities through saving and credit schemes initiated among their own group. Children of Dolakha have learnt to initiate community awareness programs on their own. Our actions have made a difference in a sense that each trained member in the society now bears a sense of responsibility. The earthquake was however a turning phase for all but it proved more of a reason to work harder right from renovation and rebuilding to development that offers sustainability. From construction of Temporary Learning Centers to formation of nature club in schools, we have been attempting to bring progressive change from local to national level.

This note, henceforth, is to remind each of you contributors for your priceless support because all our successful attempts would have not been possible without you. To all supporters who are incessantly helping us in every way, be it on site volunteering or project donations, we express our heartfelt gratitude. To every heart out there that believes in us, we are thankful.

Considering the present hardships (due to cold weather) being faced by the earthquake affected people (who are still living in temporary makeshift shelters), ECCA recently initiated a campaign Win Against Winter. We're sure we'll receive support from each one of you as well.

We wish to move on with your ever-growing aspiration to help our motives.

Furthermore, we have prepared a short 2 minute video on our post-earthquake activities. We look forward to receiving your response on it.

Thank you!

ECCA Nepal

Links:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psY0wRkxkBY