Schooling for Dalits, Indigenous, and Rural Poor
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Do You Like to Contribute on a Campaign to Help Send the Dalits, Indigenous, and the Poor Kids to School in Rural Nepal?
Dear friends and families,
Nepal has experienced a significant improvement in the school enrollment rate from the last ten years. During this period, the school dropout rate has also decreased in rural Nepal. This is good news! However, there exists a significant difference in school dropout by caste/ethnicity and by gender.
The school dropout rate is higher among Dalits and indigenous caste than in upper caste. That difference between boys and girls is also significant. The dropout rate among girls is higher than boys. At the societal level, this is one of the major causes of forgone productivity because education and human capital are at the center of a highly productive workforce. In addition, education plays a vital role in building and transforming our societies for the welfare of the wider group of the population throughout the world.
Primary schools are the foundation of all other levels of schooling and are the most important sources of education. Skilled manpower, physical infrastructures, and the essential school supplies are the pre-conditions for basic education. In addition, modern computers, projectors, whiteboards, a better library system, improved hygiene and sanitation, and a regularly supplied portable drinking water system are equally important for quality. But because of the financing gap between the public schools in rural vs urban locations and between public vs private schools within the rural system too, most of the public school systems are at the verge to collapse in rural Nepal.
Sagarmatha Primary School is located in one of the rural villages (Rautipani) in South-Western part of Gorkha District in Nepal. The main school building that was constructed many years before was significantly damaged by the devastating earthquake of 2015 and the reconstruction was not immediate. Majority of the villagers from the school’s catchment area also lost their houses and their properties at the same time. That resulted in a significant decline in school enrollment and a larger increase in school dropout. By the end of the school year 2018/2019, the number of students declined to 9 from around 75 students in the school year 2014/2015 (before the earthquake). Most of the students at Sagarmatha School were Dalits followed by indigenous and upper caste groups. From the joint initiatives of the local villagers and the school alumnus including myself, last year we have constructed a two rooms school building, formed a parental advisory committee, actively organized few meetings with the local villagers, and walked in to each houses in the school catchment area to invite and to encourage each school going age children to enroll in to the school. As a result, we are able to increase our enrollment to 69 in this school year that was started on April 15th, 2019. Out of those 69 students, 32 are from the Dalits, 21 are from indigenous caste group and the remaining 16 are from the upper caste. To serve the need of the increasing number of students, we raised the fund from the school alumnus and hired three new teachers and a helper. Our fund can pay their salary for 1-2 school years.
Still, we have to do some physical construction such as a school building, a separate toilets for boys and girls, a portable drinking water system, a playground, and the school garden and plant the trees. In addition, we need to manage the fund for better school supplies, to establish a functional computer lab, and to provide a small ($5) conditional cash for a poor or a Dalits or an indigenous or a girl with very good academic standing. Thus, we are at the dire need of the resource for the better quality and the sustainability of the program at Sagarmatha Primary School. In that sense, we are joining our hands with the wider human society to request your support in kinds or cash.
Thus, I have started a campaign to establish an endowment fund account to fulfill the above-mentioned objectives. At this time, I begin this initiative with an objective to collect up to $10,000. In the end, I will match another $1,000 from my behalf and establish a formal endowment fund account to better serve the future students in the Sagarmatha Primary School, located at the Rautipani village in Gorkha District of Nepal.
Please allow me to reiterate this beautiful song from Songs and Stories for Mother's Darling, 1854:
Little drops of water
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the beauteous land.
And the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.
So our little errors
Lead the soul away
From the path of virtue,
Oft in sin to stray.
Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden
Like the heaven above.
And this extra verse from the Juvenile Missionary Magazine:
Little deeds of mercy,
Sown by infant hands,
Grow to bless the nations,
Far in heathen lands.
Thus, a little effort from everyone can bring a big change. Your small help can contribute a lot to eliminate differences in school enrollment and the school dropout by caste/ethnicity and by gender in rural Nepal. It means a lot to promote quality education in rural Nepal and in the direction of producing global citizens with a better education.
Once again, please allow me to join my hands to request your support in cash or in kind to fulfill this sacred initiative for the sustainable future of Sagarmatha Primary School.
With regards,
Satis Devkota
Morris, Minnesota
Dear friends and families,
Nepal has experienced a significant improvement in the school enrollment rate from the last ten years. During this period, the school dropout rate has also decreased in rural Nepal. This is good news! However, there exists a significant difference in school dropout by caste/ethnicity and by gender.
The school dropout rate is higher among Dalits and indigenous caste than in upper caste. That difference between boys and girls is also significant. The dropout rate among girls is higher than boys. At the societal level, this is one of the major causes of forgone productivity because education and human capital are at the center of a highly productive workforce. In addition, education plays a vital role in building and transforming our societies for the welfare of the wider group of the population throughout the world. Primary schools are the foundation of all other levels of schooling and are the most important sources of education. Skilled manpower, physical infrastructures, and the essential school supplies are the pre-conditions for basic education. In addition, modern computers, projectors, whiteboards, a better library system, improved hygiene and sanitation, and a regularly supplied portable drinking water system are equally important for quality. But because of the financing gap between the public schools in rural vs urban locations and between public vs private schools within the rural system too, most of the public school systems are at the verge to collapse in rural Nepal.
Sagarmatha Primary School is located in one of the rural villages (Rautipani) in South-Western part of Gorkha District in Nepal. The main school building that was constructed many years before was significantly damaged by the devastating earthquake of 2015 and the reconstruction was not immediate. Majority of the villagers from the school’s catchment area also lost their houses and their properties at the same time. That resulted in a significant decline in school enrollment and a larger increase in school dropout. By the end of the school year 2018/2019, the number of students declined to 9 from around 75 students in the school year 2014/2015 (before the earthquake). Most of the students at Sagarmatha School were Dalits followed by indigenous and upper caste groups. From the joint initiatives of the local villagers and the school alumnus including myself, last year we have constructed a two rooms school building, formed a parental advisory committee, actively organized few meetings with the local villagers, and walked in to each houses in the school catchment area to invite and to encourage each school going age children to enroll in to the school. As a result, we are able to increase our enrollment to 69 in this school year that was started on April 15th, 2019. Out of those 69 students, 32 are from the Dalits, 21 are from indigenous caste group and the remaining 16 are from the upper caste. To serve the need of the increasing number of students, we raised the fund from the school alumnus and hired three new teachers and a helper. Our fund can pay their salary for 1-2 school years.
Still, we have to do some physical construction such as a school building, a separate toilets for boys and girls, a portable drinking water system, a playground, and the school garden and plant the trees. In addition, we need to manage the fund for better school supplies, to establish a functional computer lab, and to provide a small ($5) conditional cash for a poor or a Dalits or an indigenous or a girl with very good academic standing. Thus, we are at the dire need of the resource for the better quality and the sustainability of the program at Sagarmatha Primary School. In that sense, we are joining our hands with the wider human society to request your support in kinds or cash.
Thus, I have started a campaign to establish an endowment fund account to fulfill the above-mentioned objectives. At this time, I begin this initiative with an objective to collect up to $10,000. In the end, I will match another $1,000 from my behalf and establish a formal endowment fund account to better serve the future students in the Sagarmatha Primary School, located at the Rautipani village in Gorkha District of Nepal.
Please allow me to reiterate this beautiful song from Songs and Stories for Mother's Darling, 1854:
Little drops of water
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the beauteous land.
And the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.
So our little errors
Lead the soul away
From the path of virtue,
Oft in sin to stray.
Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden
Like the heaven above.
And this extra verse from the Juvenile Missionary Magazine:
Little deeds of mercy,
Sown by infant hands,
Grow to bless the nations,
Far in heathen lands.
Thus, a little effort from everyone can bring a big change. Your small help can contribute a lot to eliminate differences in school enrollment and the school dropout by caste/ethnicity and by gender in rural Nepal. It means a lot to promote quality education in rural Nepal and in the direction of producing global citizens with a better education.
Once again, please allow me to join my hands to request your support in cash or in kind to fulfill this sacred initiative for the sustainable future of Sagarmatha Primary School.
With regards,
Satis Devkota
Morris, Minnesota
Organizer
Satis Devkota
Organizer
Morris, MN