Volunteer teachers from Our Sansar this month began work with disadvantaged children at schools in Nepal.
Throughout their yearlong placements, Bethan from Richmond and John from Twickenham will be teaching and organising interschool activities for young students in Hetauda, a city in Nepal’s green but impoverished south. They will also be working with local schools to establish education programs for street children.
Bethan and John arrived in Nepal last month and are currently based at Shree Kamala Lower Secondary School. Both are experienced professionals who will bring valuable skills to a school that currently has just 9 teachers for over 330 pupils.
‘The scenery is very beautiful and the family [we’re staying with] has been lovely to us,’ says Bethan. 'There are so many ideas I have for improving the running of the school, such as trying to make the classrooms nicer places to be by sweeping the floors, putting up cheerful displays and removing dangerous obstacles, and trying to influence the teachers to use more interactive approaches to teaching…We’ll see what can be done with all these ideas.’With the schools now open again after recent Maoist strikes, the teachers have been able to get back to work. Bethan is now teaching at the secondary school, while John will be a link between 5 schools in the area, helping to organise events, festivals, workshops and community projects for the students. Both teachers will be taking classes to improve their Nepalese.
As part of the program, Our Sansar will be looking to establish education programs for street children in and around Hetauda. Julia Krepska, Director of Our Sansar, said: ‘There are over 5000 street children in Nepal, and as children they are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. We would love to help them all, but the problem is substantial.
‘Through our partnerships with Nepali schools, we can help some of these young people to get off the streets and afford them the opportunity to lead lives free of exploitation and marginalisation.’
Our Sansar will be sending another experienced teacher to Kathmandu in June and hopes to be able to send a further 7 to schools in Janakpur, Kathmandu and Hetauda before the end of the year. The project will help 50 street children and over 3000 school children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
