Improving rural schools in Nepal

I feel safe at school

I am Asmita and I am studying in grade eight. I love singing and dancing. My family has nine members and the earning from my parents is not enough to support our whole family. My elder brothers and sisters left school at a young age as there was no support from my family for them to continue their education. My parents tried to marry me off at an early age so that they wouldn’t bear the burden of educating me. However, one of my neighbors who is also a school teacher interrupted and saved me from being a victim of early child marriage. But I did not have the opportunity of going to school until I came in contact with EBMF (Child Rescue Nepal’s partner in Nepal). 

EBMF have supported me to continue my education by providing education materials since I was in grade six. At the moment I have convinced my parents that I want to continue my studies but still they bring marriage proposals in one form or another. Additionally, I have to face challenges from my society as they bully me and irritate me for not getting marriagied at an early age. However, sidelining all these challenges I am moving ahead and EBMF is playing a vital role. Furthermore, I feel safe at school because it is the place where I can freely share my feelings and emotions with my friends and teacher. I get motivated by reading books and inspirational stories from my teacher and at the same time I have had the opportunity to learn new things. I want to become a teacher and teach small children in my village and I hope EBMF will continue to support me to achieve my goal. 

"Asmita is intelligent young girl who takes her studies seriously. She always comes first or second in her class. The support of EBMF in providing an educational bursary has been a significant factor in enabling Asmita to continue her studies" – School Principal

Girls who attend school are likely to achieve a higher income than those with less schooling. An additional year of primary education boost a girl’s future wages between 10 and 20%, while an additional year of secondary school adds to her income by 15 to 25%2. – The Girl Effect 2016

An educational bursary starts at just £12 or $15 per year. If you would like to fund an educational bursary for a girl like Asmita in Nepal, please make a donation through GlobalGiving. Let's keep even more girls in school. 

In this report we'd like to do something a little bit different. We'd like to share with you a short film we have made that illustrates how something as simple as providing a midday meal can keep children safe in school, and out of the hands of traffickers.

When our staff first saw the children at Dokotar primary school they were shocked. They couldn't believe that parents would send children as young as five to school with "hooch" - which is locally produced alcohol. 

When we saw this, we just knew we had to do something. 

You can find out what happened by viewing the film here

Links:

• Our short film showing how midday meals make a difference