Dear Supporter
Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana! Or rather, in English, Happy New Year! After spending a lovely Christmas with my mum in Nepal, I'm now back in my schools helping to improve education for the exceptionally disadvantaged children here. Temperatures have dropped significantly and the teachers have been ever so kind and keep giving me gifts of hand-knitted blankets and delicious ‘daal baat tarkari’ dinners to keep me warm! I've said it before, but the local people are just so friendly and accepting here, and they really value the difference that your kind support is making to their children's lives.
Moving education up the agenda
There are currently 67 million children out of school across the world, and 40 percent of those are in countries affected by conflict. It's only six years since Nepal's civil war ended, and the country is still in the early stages of recovery.
Government-funded education remains a low priority. Yet without it, most children face a bleak future with no way out of the poverty that surrounds them. That’s why the local teachers are so keen to work with me to improve the quality of primary education they provide. They know that the more valuable they can make school for the children, the more likely parents are to keep sending them to school each day instead of pulling them out to work instead.
Try to picture the sea!
You may remember I've been working with teachers to show them how story books can be used in lessons to help improve children’s literacy, spark their imagination, and most importantly increase their curiosity and interest in learning. In particular, I tend to choose science information books that are filled with bright colourful images, because they help the teachers describe things that are difficult to teach without pictures.
It’s made me realise how easy it is for us in the UK to illustrate what we’re talking about with an image or a photo. Here in the rural villages it's really difficult for teachers to explain things to the children that they themselves have never even seen or experienced. So the science books, with their photographs of the sea, shells, and animals are really helping to bring it to life – not just for the children but for the teachers too! In fact I’m really noticing how the teachers are more enthusiastic in class now that they have pictures to help them explain concepts to the children, and the children are grasping science facts much quicker now.
Building children's confidence through words
I recently bought notice boards for the classrooms with some VSO grant money. It sounds insignificant I know, but it's having a big effect on the children's confidence as the teachers can display their work quickly and change it regularly so that each child's work has a turn on the board. It's wonderful seeing the children's faces light up with pride when their work is on display as it motivates them to keep achieving in class.
It's especially touching to see the girls' and Dalits' work up there. Historically they've suffered from so much discrimination in the classroom and many were painfully shy and withdrawn when I began my placement. I’ve been looking into ways to develop their confidence further and decided to focus on improving their speaking skills. It's been so rewarding hearing them articulate words more clearly and speak in fuller sentences in stark contrast to their shy silence just a few months ago. Now, I'm hoping to find some community volunteers to practice conversation and discussion skills with them too.
Creating catwalk schools!
Now that it's the New Year, I'm preparing for our annual programme review. Working with other volunteers and the District Education Office, I've come up with a great way to ensure that teachers can continue to learn to improve education long after my placement has come to an end - by developing 'good practice centres'!
The idea is for each school in the district to focus on a key subject - English and Literacy, Maths, and Science. I will be working on developing the subject of English and Literacy in one of my schools and helping to develop really good practice and resources, alongside helping the staff to become teacher trainers themselves. Once the ‘good practice centre’ is fully established, we can arrange for teachers from other schools to visit and see for themselves the quality teaching and learning in action.
The teachers can then come away from the model schools with a range of practical ideas to use and develop in their own schools. It’s an ambitious project, but I'm excited about its potential. So thank you for your support. I'm confident that with your continued generosity I can keep on improving education for poor children in Nepal.
I'll be in touch again soon,
Beth
