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Student Selection for 2017: Notes and Updates
New and renewal applications have been received from all the areas except for Kavre. We are in touch with the volunteers in Kavre to help them expedite application collection. However, the Nepalese academic year starts in mid-April so we don't have much time left. There is a possibility that the start of the academic year might be delayed a bit this year due to the elections, but we want to be ready with student selection whenever the school year begins.
We also formed a selection committee, which is a group of volunteers, to review and evaluate the applications. The selection committee has already started reviewing the applications. It will take about a month for us to analyze the data on the makeup of the application pool and to share their findings with our readers. Nevertheless, we wanted to share two trends we have seen in our application pool this year:
1.We received an unusually large number of applicants in Nawalparasi who were impacted by the earthquakes. Interestingly, Nawalparasi is not one of the districts most severely hit by the earthquake. These applicants seem to be displaced from other parts of the country. There are ongoing discussions about how these earthquake-displaced students should receive priority selection for financial assistance.
2.Our application pool in general has seen an increase in the number of special needs children. When there is no plan to provide additional resources, our concern is these students may not do well in regular schools. However, any help they can get will likely increase their chances of success in their education and life.
We will continue to share insights and discussions from student selection in our upcoming newsletters.
On a final note, Nepal celebrates new year in mid-April. We would like to wish a very happy new year to our readers and supporters.
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