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"Everyone Should be Treated as Equal". Student Interviews & Updates
This month, our volunteers sat down with students to interview them about their lives, interests, and experiences with NCEF. Below is one such interview with Hemant, a 12-year-old 4th-grader from Jumla, conducted by Shyam Gnawali.
Q. Which course do you like the best? Least?
A. I like Nepali best. I like Science, too, but I'm not good at it.
Q. What are you gonna do after your exams?
A. Play with friends. Like football, badminton, cricket. Most kids play football here. I also enjoy playing Police and Thief. When I am an adult I want to be a cop. To protect the country.
Q. Have you talked about your ambitions in your school? About becoming a cop?
A. No, I have not. I ask my ma’am (female teacher) but I have not talked to others in the school. They think it’s a good idea.
Q. Don’t they give you any other helpful ideas?
A. One’s gotta work hard. School is helping me learn to work hard. School also teaches me things like how to study well, interact with people, respect elders and love younger people. They explain stuff when I don’t understand, there’s no one at home to explain those things.
Q. What do you like best about your school?
A. That our teachers play with us...they never played with us in my old school. The food’s good too.
Q. What was for lunch? How about dinner?
A. Biscuit, tea and a banana. Curry and rice with chutney for dinner.
Q. Ok. What don’t you like about school?
A. Nothing really, I like everything about school. It’s doing well, they’re building labs, we didn’t have a computer lab in the past but now they’re building one..science lab too. So, I think it’s adequate. I wish there was a bigger playground.
Q. Who do you live with?
A. Mom, grandmother, brothers and a sister.
Q. What do you like about yourself?
A. I am mostly doing well, but need to study harder. Hoping to do well this year. I like playing football. I have played against other teams in Jumla, but not here. I play defense, keeper, and forward.
Q. Apart from being a cop, what would you like to do when you’re an adult?
A. Treat my family nice and return favor to those who helped us in need.
Q. Do you know how long has NCEF been helping you out for?
A. It’s been about 2 or 3 years. Mum says it has helped me by paying school fees.
Q. Ok, don’t you spend time with your friends? Have you got a best friend?
A. Yes, Milan. Apart from playing and hanging out with my friends, I generally like to stay around my mum.
Q. Let’s say you become a cop, what would you change about your country, village and yourself? I mean, what would you do?
A. I would catch thieves and stop the violence around us. There are plenty of thieves and many people get murdered even in the village these days.
Q. Is there anything else you want to say?
A. Nothing really, except that there are many in the village who don’t have the opportunities to study, especially the girls. Teachers in some government schools aren’t very ethical either. Also, we all should stop discriminating people on the basis of social castes. Everyone should be treated as equal.
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