By Marissa Kokkoros | Founder and Project Leader
Our needs assessment is in full swing!
A crucial part of project development is communicating with local stakeholders and ensuring their needs and concerns are heard. Aura Freedom is committed to this participatory approach and has met with school officials at the site of Shree Bhumimata School's collapsed remains on several occasions to discuss our project and its goals.
Kalyan, the school’s Vice Principal, has provided our staff with much insight into the reality of the dire situation for young girls at the school:
“Girls here are leaving school in Class 6 - as young as 11 and 12 - to get married. We hate to see them give up their education. If we continue with rebuilding our school and training staff, we can keep them in school longer and stop child marriage, a huge problem in this community.”
The issue of child marriage is one which Aura Freedom is intent on tackling with this new school. Having access to a safe, fully functioning facility in which to attend daily lessons, including gender-specific toilets, is essential to reducing the dropout rate of young girls.
In addition, when teachers undergo capacity building and receive gender sensitivity training, they become better equipped to foster an environment that promotes gender equality and rejects discrimination. In doing so, they also become more attentive, compassionate, and well-rounded educators to all their students. This all contributes to keeping girls in school longer and ultimately reducing the rate of child marriage in the community.
Aura Freedom is also committed to making this school as structurally sustainable as possible. Stay tuned for upcoming info on our collaboration with solar architects!
As we continue with our needs assessment, help us continue to provide a safe, promising future for the children of Nepal by donating today. Thank you for your generous support of this much-needed project – we are off to a wonderful start!
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