About Kavre
Maheshwor Kafle, who was the coordinator for NCEF/Kavre
in 2003 sent the following information about Kavre and the
story behind starting the Kavre area.
The Kavrepalanchowk district is located near the capital
city of Nepal. From district headquarters, the valley can be
reached by a 1.5 hour drive on a well-maintained highway.
Though located relatively close to the valley, it remains
isolated from the mainstream of development, especially
education. Despite being home to a university, the
educational status of the area in general can be compared to
a remote district. Nevertheless, Banepa, a town in Kavre, is
one of the very few areas in Nepal to have a school that has
remained in operation for the last 60 years, a fact all
Banepalis are quite proud of. However, this school is beyond
the reach of many of the district's children, especially
those who live further away from the main town. The chief
reason is its cost, as significant tuition is required to
maintain the school's quality.
I used to work in the university and could see many of the
school-age porters in the town; they never had books or pens
in their hands. I wished I could help these children, and
it's for this reason I decided to start an NCEF branch in
Kavre.
It was a daunting task to select the appropriate schools. If
I selected a school that is too far from the road head, then
it will be difficult to visit students and assess their
performance. If I select a school that is just next to the
highway, it does not serve NCEF mission of penetrating rural
areas. After some discussions with local friends, I decided
to select 4 schools, most of them located about a 1-2 hour
walk from the highway.
The next job was to select students. Sudan Dhungel and I
visited the schools, and although the teacher we had been in
contact with was out for the day, we proceeded to talk with
prospective students and teachers. We decided to personally
interview each of the applicants. It was quite a scene when
45 deserving students queued up in front of the Program
Director's office of Kathmandu University Medical School.
Sudan and I kept ourselves busy with the students for the
next couple of hours, and we both produced a score for each
applicant we talked to. After consultation with the
teachers, we produced a final list.
As all the students seemed deserving, producing the final
list for NCEF headquarters was bittersweet - we were happy
to start some of the students on their journey, but at the
same time upset that we had to disappoint the majority of
them. After a couple of days, NCEF selected a group of
students from the finalists we had forwarded to them.
Reactions to the selection were mixed (which I later
attributed to miscommunication; the heartbreaker was to see
one of the kids not chosen by NCEF back in the street
working as a porter), but three lucky kids from Ganga Devi
Secondary School in Raviopi kavre, and 2 from Bhaktapur were
selected for the year. Most notably, three out of the five
were girls.
We began meeting with them frequently. They were excited
about all aspects of this new experience, even their new set
of uniforms and school bags. Every time I went to visit them
they were happy and excited. The parents were so grateful -
I just can't describe it in words. During the time I was
involved with them, they were happy and so was the NCEF
board.
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