To any one who read this message!!
Originally I’m from a remote and isolated region of Nepal called “Arupokhari”. In rural regions of Nepal adequately equipped schools with quality education facilities rarely exist, a factor that contributes to continuing poverty and lack of economic development.
I finished my primary school (till class five) 15 years ago from Dharapani school, since then local people have only able to add 3 more class rooms with poor and very limited facilities, most of the teacher’s and class sizes remain unchanged and the government has showed no inclination to contribute in anyway. I was fortunate and privileged as a trekking guide to meet Shirley Escott from UK, who gave me the gift of education through sponsorship, now a lifelong friend and mentor, Shirley’s gift changed my life, for that I’m truly thankful. My lifelong dream is to transform the Arupokhari area with quality educational facilities giving hundreds the invaluable gift of education.
Dharapani Lower Secondary School is in dire need of support as the existing two buildings are deteriorating and becoming very weak, they are in urgent need of cement restoration, left untreated the building will have to be demolished, leaving the children, school less. Ten rooms house 2 office/staff rooms and eight class rooms with 312 students attending classes one to eight, with as many as 52 students jammed into a room designed for 30 students, as the classes are grossly overcrowded expansion is imperative, some students sit on the floor therefore additional desks are also required. Existing teachers don’t have any teaching qualifications; most of them are local volunteers. Each exam is hand written by the teachers for students four times a year as they don’t have computers, printers or photocopying facilities. Water and toilet facilities are very basic there is one tap that doesn’t have a constant supply of water and one local toilet to cater for all staff and students.
We require the assistance of BBC and its networks to seek support and donations for the urgently needed revamp of the Dharapani School.
For the existing building, urgent cement renovations are needed to ensure the current building is safe and structurally sound, as some of the walls are slowly crumbling away, making the building unsafe in certain areas. Funds are required to buy a large piece of land for the construction of four furnished class rooms, along with a furnished library equipped with educational books as well as extracurricular reading materials. The new class rooms will accommodate expansion to operate class 9, 10 and School leaving Certificate (SLC) which effectively turns Dharapani into the multipurpose Primary and Secondary School. One fully furnished room equipped with a number of computers would provide enormous benefit to teachers and students. Currently the children have never seen or touched a computer nor would they know how to turn one on. New toilet facilities will also need to be constructed for the growing attendance of students along with a water tank to supply the entire school with constant clean water. A generator or solar panel would be an ideal completion to enable computer lessons, late studies or additional classes when required as there are no electricity facilities. Computer knowledge in this day and age is a basic entry requirement for college and university without it you are unable to get a job which in turn means the cycle of poverty continues, as the students would have no choice but to work in the fields as their parents have done for generations.
For more information on this school please visit http://www.sambhavnepal.org/history_dharapani_school.php
To enable me to fulfill that dream I have registered a small foundation with the involvement of local people within Arupokhari, “http://www.sambhavnepal.org”. I feel there are many ways in which the media audience could help us, for example associations through church groups, sport clubs, Primary and High schools and even corporate contacts or individuals would be interested in networking to support or contribute, please contact me prem@sambhavnepal.org for more information. Personally feel that networking is the best option to obtain more opportunities and to gain a wider support base. Here in Nepal a little help goes a very long way, if you have any ideas or you can provide feedback on your past experiences working or assisting a foundation I would be more than glad to hear about them, experience and knowledge is a powerful tool.
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Yours Sincerely,
Prem K Khatri
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