By Teresa Parker | Development Director
NYF knows that an education is the only way to break the cycle of poverty. We have been providing scholarships since our inception in 1990. To offset the inequities against females in Nepal, NYF has been providing more scholarships to girls than to boys. We know that when you educate a girl, you change society. Educated girls will marry later in life, have smaller families, and make sure that their children receive an education.
NYF currently runs 8 different categories of scholarship programs depending on the needs of the children and youth. During 2010, 807 children ranging from kindergarten through college, received scholarships. In many cases, the programs also support physical school infrastructure and providing educational materials.
Out of 807, 68% are female. Grade-wise, the highest number of students is in the Secondary level with 283 students and the lowest number of students is in the Pre-primary level with 6 students. Among the 8 programs, Girls’ School Scholarship is the largest with 187 students.
Under NYF’s disabled program, the children are provided with the special education in child friendly schools.
Success Story of a blind girl
Neera Adhikari, blind by birth, was born into a poor family in a remote village of Lalitpur. Luckily, she received a scholarship from the Special Education Section of the Ministry for her school education. But since she did not have any financial support for further studies she had to struggle to complete her Intermediate level but there was no way she could continue her study after she completed her Intermediate level. The only way she could ‘become somebody’ was by proving herself educationally. But now, even that door was closed for her.
When everything was looking hopeless, she came to know about NYF from her teacher and applied for the Scholarship. When she heard she was selected for the scholarship her joy knew no boundaries: the hope was still alive.
NYF then supported her from 1998 to 2001 for her Bachelor’s degree majoring in English and Sociology. This support raised her confidence. She was intelligent as well as hard working and was thus able to pass BA in 1st division. After graduation, NYF encouraged her to work and earn so that she could pay for her Master’s degree. She worked as Assistant Instructor at Nepal Association of the Blind for 3 years and at the same time passed Masters Degree in 1st division.
As she worked, she started to prepare for the examination of Public Commission for the position of Section Officer. She passed the examination and was appointed as a Section Officer under Ministry of Women and Children. Now, she is the Social Protection Head of Ministry of Women and Children.
We thank you for supporting this worthwhile project.
Teresa Parker
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