Written by our Nepal Team.
Educational materials in FSF parter school.
In December 2020, the FSF Program Coordinator, Neeru Tuladhar, visited partner school, Shree Bhairab Basic School, to learn and evaluate the impact of the education box project which was initiated in November 2020.
The education box particularly, was targeted at students who have no access to the internet and the learning environment in their homes. The educational materials prepared by the FSF Nepal hub were distributed in coordination with the schools’ teachers at school. In November 2020, out of 50 students, 30 students were present at school to receive the educational materials. However, 20 students were out of contact and those who came to school were not even regular. In mid-December, the FSF Nepal continued its follow-up with the students. However, only 17 out of 30 students who received the educational materials were present in school. The FSF Nepal hub conducted various educational activities and distributed the educational materials for those who were present in school. Among the students, it was found that Grade 4-5 students completed their worksheets which were quite impressive, while Grade 1-3 students were struggling to do even basic reading and writing skills.
Now, the school has resumed its normal classes and the number of students are gradually increasing. The FSF Nepal hub is planning to deliver the educational sessions, following the CoVid-19 guidelines.
Nepal hub prepares for Virtual Internships.
In December 2020, the FSF Nepal team kept busy planning the virtual internship programs for teacher training and women’s health. The FSF Nepal team developed the briefing packs, finalised the orientation session, confirmed the community partners, and followed-up communications with community partners and experts.
Ludha Manchanayake, a public health graduate from the Deakin University, Melbourne, was scheduled for her 5 weeks internship starting from 4th January 2021 on menstruation and menstrual hygiene and its impacts and challenges faced by girls in school. She is expected to prepare detailed modules and lesson plans to raise awareness of menstrual hygiene among girls and boys. Similarly, Avnoor Brar and Talea Paraskevas, two education and teaching students from the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, were scheduled for their 3 weeks internship starting from 11th January 2021. They joined with two other interns: Henrica Burns and Paris Northwood in Cambodia to work together. The objective of a joint virtual internship team (Cambodia and Nepal) was to develop a teacher’s training curricula for FSF Global Programs using inquiry and experience-based learning methods.
Partners communication.
In December 2020, the FSF Nepal Hub continued partners’ communication as usual. During this time, two partner schools: Harisiddhi Basic School and Purna Sanjeevani School were visited. However, communications through a mobile call with other partner schools: Shwet Ganesh Basic School. Shreekhandapur High School, Bhairav Basic School, and SV Academy continued throughout the month.
In a field visit to Purna Sanjeevani School, we learned that the school was reopened informally from 22nd November. There were 66 out of 145 students present and those who were present were not regular in school. Similarly, in Harisiddhi Basic School, where we initiated our education project, there were 30 out of 50 students were present. Mr. Ishwar Banjara, the principal of Harisiddhi School told us that the parents were reluctant to send their kids due to fear of infections in the school area and it is very difficult to convince them to send their children to school.
According to the teachers, the schools held meetings with the government officers of the education department in Dhulikhel municipality to reopen the schools formally in this area. However, most teachers agreed that it was tough to implement the CoVid-19 guidelines in schools among children.
Celebrating Christmas.
Amid the fear over coronavirus, Nepal did not celebrate even its local festivals: Dashain and Tihar like previous years. As a
majority of the Hindu population, Christmas is not celebrated like local festivals in Nepal. However, the impacts of Christmas is increasing significantly among the young generations in cities and they love to celebrate it. The FSF Nepal hub remained closed for 2 weeks during the festive season.
