Students receiving financial assistance in Lamjung

Out of 119 students sponsored by NCEF, six live in Besisahar area in Lamjung Nepal. We recently spoke with Mr. Shamser Thapa, a volunteer from Lamjung Nepal for regular updates and planning.

Mr. Thapa reflected on the challenges faced by the education sector in Lamjung over the last two years. Particularly, home schooling was challenging because the teachers had to walk 30-60 mins one way to get to small clusters of students and became impractical. When the government introduced online education, a lack of devices, Internet access, and knowledge on how to use the software resulted in a massive failure in the education sector, especially in rural areas like the outlying villages near Besisahar, Lamjung. He works as an educator and noted that in the public schools in his area, only about 10 students would attend the online Zoom classes out of 70-80 students. The schools and the teachers had almost no visibility about the state of learning of the students because a large fraction of the students were simply absent despite trying all possible means within their disposal, including Viber, phone calls etc.

Everyone is relieved that the schools are now in operation in-person and in full capacity for the last 2-3 months. Almost all the students were promoted to the next grade unless students completely disappeared or there were no attempts at all made by the students to attend the classes over the last year. The level of educational competence is lower compared to two years ago but Mr. Thapa is hopeful things will be back to normal in the next few months as the students catch up on learning.

There were no issues collecting applications for financial assistance, obtaining paperwork for running our program, and most importantly getting in regular contact with the students and families. This news gives us hope that NCEF will have the opportunity to make bigger impacts moving forward.

Mr. Thapa reminded us of the importance of the work we do in Lamjung in a village with families who have faced caste-based and economic discrimination. For example, one of the students comes from a “lower caste” family with 5 siblings with both parents barely having the means to survive. Another student has a similar story. These students were getting school uniforms and books and bags for the first time, their fees paid in full to the schools, and were excited to be back in school, meeting their friends, and finally learning!

Please consider sending a gift of education to the students in Lamjung and other parts of Nepal where we operate. We provide more than 100 need based financial assistance to students all over Nepal focusing on groups that are most needy. You can donate on our Facebook page or on our website.