Back from Nepal!

Check out the slide show from our trip to inaugurate the Pancha Kanya Primary School.



Summary

The school was opened officially on 2 January 2008 (2064 BS). There are two buildings, plastered and painted white, one with three and one with two classrooms, with blackboards and rows of benches for the students. So far, from start to finish, the costs of the project have been $10,400; some extra money has been contributed by the Nuwakot District Education Office. The work started in February 2007 and was completed by January 2008.

What's Next?

The project is not yet finished. There is more to do to finish this stage (furniture, strengthening the buildings, playground, toilets) and we've started planning for the next stage, which is an important development: extending the school to the status of Lower Primary. This means covering Grades 1-7, instead of 1-5 as we do today.

Planned building works are:

• Surrounding the buildings and playground with metal fence and pillars ($2000)
  
• Construction of an iron gate with concrete foundation and pillars ($700)
• Construction of 1 two-room (8'x8') toilet building ($3000)
• Construction of an extra building with three 13'x13' rooms ($7500)

There is a need for lots of furniture for the school:

• Fixed wall cupboards in rooms (1/room)
• Teacher's desks with locking drawers and chairs (1/room - 7)
• Cupboards (2), chairs (7) and shelves for the school office (2)
• Large table for the school office
• Extra benches and blackboards for 3 new classrooms

We have estimated the furniture costs to be around $7000 (due to sparsity of local materials), but may be able to reduce this amount. The transport costs are estimated at ~$800. The sum total projected is ~$21000. We have already raised almost $2000 of this amount.

Teacher training:

We also would like to conduct some teacher training. Some of it is provided free of charge in Kathmandu; only the teacher's room and board needs to be covered (cheap, TBC). However, the training resources are meager and any volunteers from the West are more than welcome to help in this area.

We presently have 5 teachers in the primary school, 4 have been provided by the government and 1 (intermediate Tamang/Nepali) is paid for by a sponsor. Lower Secondary school will have one extra government-paid teacher and we'll also need one more intermediate teacher ($150/month). There are ~165 children attending the Pancha Kanya Primary School today, we expect closer to 300 for the Lower Secondary School.

Performance Evaluation

We would like to evaluate the school performance and the following has been proposed:

• Passing students count (available in April)
• Reports from secondary schools where students go after this school
• School report from the district education office

Santaman intends to conduct regular parent encouragement/adult education sessions in the village.

3rd phase + going to Nepal!

Well, the project has been more or less a success! Here's where we are at the start of December 2007, about two months short of a year from starting the project:

• two school buildings have been constructed
• doors + windows + basic furniture have been installed
• plastering and painting has been completed
• school is more or less ready!
  

The official school opening date has been set: 2 January 2008. I am going to Nepal on 30 December 2007 and will arrive in Kaaule on the 1st of January. There will be an inauguration ceremony with representatives from nearby villages, school teachers, district education development department and so on. I'll post photos of the event and the school when I come back, in the end of January.

There is still a lot of work left to do on the school:

• playground construction
• office room
• toilets
• additional furniture and other supplies

However, the bulk of the work has been completed and that's quite exciting!

Here are some fresh photos:

Buildings completed - internal work going on!

The blog has been relatively quiet, but work has been going on well. Here are some photos:







As you can see, the buildings are complete now and plastering work both inside and outside is being done right now. Some extra contributions have come in and we have a donor who has committed to paying $100/month for an extra teacher for the next year, at least! Great news that we are incredibly happy to hear. Many thanks to those of you who have contributed through PayPal - it is much appreciated!