ENSURING EDUCATION

Concept Paper for Providing Education for Underprivileged Children

Background
Those of us who have had knowledgeable hands to guide our childhood can agree, childhood was our
best experience of life. Unfortunately this is not the case for many children born under the same sun,
and who share same sky above their head. Children are denied their proper childhood; misery and
torment are synonym of their early days, which greatly affects the rest of their life and society in days
to come. Their children too cannot be guaranteed a safe childhood. Substance abuse, alcoholism,
violence and numerous other disorders among adults can be traced back to their bad childhood
experience.

Let’s look at a broader picture

• 121 million children are out of education worldwide
• 4000 children die each day due to polluted water and adequate sanitation
• Among 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion lives under poverty, this rate is even high in
Nepal.
• 42% Nepalese live under absolute poverty (<$1 a day).
• Adult literacy rate is about 50%.
• Only 3.5% of GDP is allocated to education in Nepal, it ranks 133rd among 182 countries.
• Nearly four million (30 %)children are out of education in Nepal.
• Repeat rate is above 40%, and dropout rate is 23% in grade 1.

The list and numbers can go on, but none of the above is acceptable given the fact that simple solution
exists for these problems. With small investment and good management along with lot of love and
sense of care no child deserves to suffer from these readily solvable problems.

It does not have to be this way

Today 7 million children go to school each day working and studying hard for a good future for
themselves, their families and society. Their childhood is to some extent better than their friends and
others who do not have such a simple opportunity that we all believe is a basic human right. There are
estimates which show that hundreds of millions of dollars will be required in order to attain these
enrollment levels in Africa.
In Nepal, despite these high enrollment rates, drop out rates are high as well. Education is free in
government school but ineffective. Teachers are not regular, and they lack basic infrastructure.
• 61% of the Nepali schools do not have toilets while 29% have separate toilets for boys and
girls. Of these, a third was not working!
• 23% schools have piped water and 26% have pumps or tube wells for ground water. The rest
require children to walk some distance to get water.
• Free text books are provided but at the end or middle of the session the money is refunded,
poor people cannot afford for such an investment.

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Mahendranagar VDC an introduction.
Mahendranagar Village development committee lies on south of “East West National Highway”
connected by 15 kilometer graveled road to it. It is agglomeration of numerous ethnic groups,
languages and cultures. Over 75% are migrant households chased by poverty from the hills and parts
of Terai (Plains of Nepal). Many live by cultivating fallow lands of the forest. Koshi; the largest river
of the country always threats the life there, so each year in rainy season people sleep with their eyes
open in case of flood and emergency. Jhagar and Mushar are the most underprivileged tribal
communities.They live near to forest and far from the economic and educational mainstream. Rai,
limbu, Tamang are among the ethnic groups, minority of them have sound economic condition from
pension of Indian and British army service or foreign employment. The Tharu community is in
significant number, but most of them have no land to support their once rich culture. Yadav, Meheta,
Mandal, represent the Madeshi community. And so called Dalits or Untouchables are in significant
number, though some hesitation still exists, untouchablity is story of the past now. Brahmin and
Chhetris are the highest class people in the society, but majority of them are poor. Only a small
number of them are well to do, but they are aware about education and acknowledge its importance.

The proposal
CSH - Nepal on its study found there are two major areas of work that needs to be undertaken
regarding school enrolment.
The first is Annual fee, stationery and School dress. This helps to pay for quality education,
appropriate study materials and create symmetry with other students regarding the dress code.
The second is tiffin or light meal for afternoon break, this adds to nourishment for sound physical and
mental growth of the students and regular health checkup.

Our Progress
Till now CSH - Nepal is able to help twenty children for their Annual fee, Stationary, School dress
and Tiffin. The progress of children seems commendable and we are very much excited in days to
come. With it comes the factor of continuity and additional enrolment. We are really looking for some
helping hand regarding it as we are in a bottleneck due to lack of resources.

We bear all the administrative cost of the expenditure. In case of a helping hand we can serve more
children to shape their future and bring back joy to their innocent face.

Small Gift Can Bring Significant Change

New Year and Christmas is approaching, we all are concerned about gifts tour dear ones. Can we
imagine a gift of a year’s education, stationary, school dress and tiffin to one underprivileged children
of eastern Nepal?

It just costs $300 to change a life

Imagine a child riding on a back of water buffalo, miles away from home, near half full stomach
thinking about his future. What appears as a future to that child?
One day he will go to India, or gulf country to earn, he will struggle like his parents all of his life to
make two ends meet, and still the future is like darkness, unclear.

On the other hand imagine a child in a neat clean class, in front of him are books full of coloured
pages and is singing a rhyme. What appears as a future to that child?
One day she thinks she will be as good as her teacher, or serve as a nurse in her village or take some
university degree and will advocate against poverty and illiteracy

The gap between two dreams is very wide but two dreams are just $300 a year far. Small amount of
money can bring such a significant change in future of a Nepalese child of east Nepal wrenched in
poverty.

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Soliciting support for launch stage
The process is not going to start on its own. It has to be put together and launched and catalyzed. It
needs to get some visibility before others begin to value it and wish to join in and contribute. It is for
that initial stage that CSH - Nepal seeks support to get this process going.

Children Safety Home – Nepal

Happy Villa- 430
Janamarga- 1, Maharajgunj- 3
G.P.O. Box: 5540, Sundhara
Kathmandu
Tel: 977-1-4375291
Fax: 977-1-4376624