By Lisa Lyons | U.S. Director
When it comes to financial and logistical support, primary schools in rural Nepal are often overlooked in favor of larger secondary schools. Primary schools may have as few as three or four classrooms, and serve only a few grade levels. Since the earthquakes, government entities and large charitable organizations have therefore often chosen to focus their (limited) rebuilding efforts on the bigger schools, many of which serve children up through grades 10 through 12.
Yet we know that children's positive experiences in early education are so important to their success in secondary and post-secondary educational levels, and to eventual success in the careers of their choice. A child who drops out during the primary school years is very unlikely to resume his or her interrupted education, and will probably be mired in lifelong poverty. Moreover, these smaller schools were at least as badly damaged by the 2015 earthquakes as larger schools were, and they are in many ways the backbones of their village communities.
With these facts in mind, Educate the Children has already enabled the construction of many new classrooms at six primary schools in Dolakha District. ETC provided the original design, managed the approval process, purchased some of the building materials, and oversaw the construction progress. Local residents (some of whom are parents of children in the schools) did the physical building work and provided/transported some of the building materials (e.g., stone for foundations).
Funds permitting, it is our goal to support the remaining thirteen primary schools in our project area with these new multi-room PLCs (Permanent Learning Centers). One of these is Laliguras Primary School, which had been closed for two years after the earthquakes but is now reopened, much to the benefit and happiness of the village children who now don't have to walk so far to attend a different school! Every one of these thirteen schools is of great importance to its community. Collectively, they nurture many hundreds of children every year - children who will be the future teachers, farmers, health care providers, and parents in their villages.
On behalf of everyone at ETC, thank you for caring about these children and for helping to ensure their brighter futures!
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