The Footprints Network funding is helping to improve the education of nearly 6000 children, 350 teachers in 59 schools in the Nele district, which is part of the Solu Khumbu region.
Unlike its more prosperous Sherpa communities that live beneath of the shadow of Everest, Sotang is in dire need of support. Educational facilities are basic with some schools accommodating over 100 children in one classroom, where teachers have little or no training and where children regard textbooks as a luxury. It is therefore not surprising that educational outcomes are among the lowest in Nepal.
Program Objectives
- Develop child-centred teacher training methods
- Provide relevant and appropriate teaching materials and resources to schools
- Increase teacher and student attendance, increase girls’ enrolment in schools, and reduce drop-out rates of children from schools
- Promote mechanisms for reliable and fair annual assessment of student achievement
- Ensure that the key teachers are selected and extra training given for their capacity building in classroom support and management
Photo: One of the volunteer teacher trainers
Activities
Between November 2011 and December 2012, the following workshops were held
- Key teacher training (in Nele, Salleri, Sotang & Khumbu)
- In-school support training (in Nele, Sotang and Khumbu)
- Refresher training (in Solu Khumbu)
- SMC/PTA Training (in Nele and Sotang)
- Basic Training Workshop (in Nele)
Challenges
There have been significant ongoing challenges in improving the level of teacher training in rural communities. These include:
- The commitments and skill of the teachers is often disappointing – simply put, they have no idea how to teach
- The percentage of new untrained teachers being appointed.
- Knowledge of subject content often very weak
- Parents often don’t understand the value of education, and encourage students to work as porters, help in the fields, look after the children.
- School Management Committees and parents and even headmasters often have a poor understanding of the role they can play in improving education standards in the school.
- Lack of teacher learning materials
- Lack of support for the poorest students.
- Class sizes are incredibly high with small dark classrooms
- Lack of Stationery for the children
- Limited areas or facilities for the children for recreation.
Program Outcomes
- Improved teacher training as is evident by the workshops attended by nearly 300 teachers
- Access to more relevant and appropriate teaching material and resources - including regular supplies of textbooks and writing books to all schools in the district
- Increased teacher and student attendance and girls’ enrolment and reduced student drop-out rates – with encouraging figures over the last two years
- Improved understanding of quality student assessment by trained teachers and Government agencies - as is evident from the marked improvement of support by the district education offices
- Development of a team of education resource personnel and a Key Teachers Program to implement ongoing training and support activities – again encouraging signs with 16 outstanding teachers being selected for advanced training.
Future plans
This report covers the first year of the 3-year quality education program in the Nele
district (December 2011
to December 2012).
Activities in Nele provide part of an overall 9-year program in the Solu Khumbu region that affects over 30,000 children and
nearly 1050 teachers in 207 schools that extend from the impoverished
foothills to the base of Mt Everest.
The program intends to expand into the nearby district of Necha with in 2014 following the completion of the Nele program. However to ensure the sustainability of the program and improve educational standards further refresher training and key teacher training workshops will continue and further educational resources supplied to the Nele district.
‘The only load a child should carry is their school bag’.
Children as young as 11 carry heavy loads for days at a time with no chance of availing themselves of the opportunities that education can offer. Our Quality Education program in one of the poorest regions of rural Nepal will help to ensure that all children have access to primary education.
Project background
This is the fourth year of our Quality Education program and builds on the previous years of successful grassroots education projects that Footprints have funded. This far reaching program extends educational opportunities well beyond the more assisted upper Solu Khumbu region in the vicinity of Mt Everest and focuses on the impoverished districts of Nele and Sotang that are in dire need of educational support. You can read past project and participant reports here.
The project will cover:
- Round the year community and ‘In School’ support conducted in the districts of Nele and Sotang where AHF is operating its Quality Education program
- Support for the poorest children in order that they can attend school
- Assess demand from parents requesting adult literacy classes
Educational improvements
The Quality Education program is closely aligned to the U.N Millennium Development Goal 2 (MDG 2) that all primary school children should have access to full time education. We aim to do this by:
- Developing child-centred teacher training methods
- Providing relevant and appropriate teaching resources
- Increasing teacher and child attendance and girls’ enrollment in schools and reducing drop out rates for children in schools
- Enhancing community support for schools by improving the relevance and desirability of education practices for the children in poor rural communities
The program schedule
The Quality Education program is conducted throughout the year and includes a series of workshops that include
- Key teacher training – to train gifted teachers to train other teachers in the region
- Refresher teacher training – to provide additional training to teachers who have already attended the main teacher training workshops
- Primary teacher training – to provide initial training for inexperienced teachers who have only completed a rudimentary education
- Community Support workshops – to ensure community involvement and support that is vital to the long term outcomes of the program
Specifically, this project funded through The Footprints Network will provide for the Community and In School workshops. The workshops provide a vital link between the village associates and the TTQE and aim to ensure that the parents and wider community appreciate the value of quality education.
Educational issues in this region of Nepal
The Solu Khumbu region comprises of three districts – the Khumbu (Everest) region, Sotang to the southeast and Nele and Necha to the southwest - see map below.
In the impoverished and remote regions of Solu Khumbu there are very limited opportunities for children. With an appropriate education strategy that includes support for community support - vital for attendance), social cohesion and local involvement in schools - there is every likelihood that there will be an increase in the children regularly attending and remaining in school.
Community Involvement
The Quality Education program is run in conjunction with the local community and experienced volunteers, ensuring sustainable benefits and increased community support.
The AHF program is jointly led by a highly experienced teacher training coordinator and our in-country partners in Nepal together with a small team of Australian volunteer teacher trainers
Can I visit this project?
Australian teachers (and other nationalities) can participate as
volunteer trainers of key Teachers as well as helping with general
teacher training.
You can visit some of the 260 schools involved, on specific occasions as a member of an AHF support trek (coordinated by World Expeditions), subject to availability and timings.