Helping improve the quality of education in rural areas
One of the main reasons children are enticed away from home into orphanages or other similar institutions or sent to cities to work as live in house helpers is the hope of a better education. The perception is that private schools in the city will enable their child to have a much brighter future than if they stayed in the village and attended the local school. English medium and modern, interactive teaching methods are major drawcards for children and their families.
Many village schools are still of poorer quality than those in urban areas, and the government is working actively to change this with the help of a number of organizations, to rectify this. In its School Sector Development Plan (SSDP), the government has a plan to develop selected schools in each area into ‘model’ schools that others can replicate. SCAI is providing various levels of support to a few schools earmarked as having potential to become model schools.
How our support helps
SCAI facilitates an education that not only includes academic achievement, but that develops the child’s personality and talents, to help prepare them for active life as an adult.
SCAI empowers students through various awareness and capacity-building activities through its children’s clubs (Youth Empowerment) to give them a voice and shape their own future.
Our support provides an inclusive education, access to high-quality teaching and some of the facilities in line with private schools.
What support we provide
Shree Kalika Devi Secondary School
Infrastructure
In 2012 SCAI bought just over an acre of land and constructed a new school block of 14 light, spacious rooms using Rat Trap Bond walling for better insulation, earthquake resistant design, a playground, sports ground, science and computer lab.
English medium, secondary level teaching
We introduced English medium from Nursery up to class 10, which was a huge development for the school, which prior to SCAI’s involvement, only ran classes from 1-8 and only in Nepali medium.
SCAI introduced, and continues to fund, qualified, experienced secondary level teachers for the first time which has raised the standard of teaching, and provided teaching materials such as Midas e-Class, Nepal’s leading e-learning software and other operational support.
These developments have helped create a much more child friendly, effective learning and teaching environment, and meant that children from the local community have been able to gain the critical foundation to their education in pre-school, and complete their schooling in their own community for the first time.
2019 saw the 6th group of students graduate from secondary school as a result of SCAI’s support.
Model school support
One key development outlined in the SSDP is to make the schools tech friendly with inductive teaching environments. Each year SCAI provides support to one school with potential to become a model school in the project area. In partnership with the local rural municipality offices, SCAI recently co-funded the equipment and e-learning software for these two schools that are candidates for development as model schools.