Help us rebuild schools in Nepal

A final government assessment of our teacher training program promoting children’s literacy and reading aloud found that over the course of a year the reading fluency of the children had improved along with their access to books and reading materials.

The assessment, conducted by the Social Welfare Council, showed the program had achieved all of its objectives:

• Create a reading corner for students in first through fifth grades in each of the partner schools, with age appropriate reading materials.
• Train teachers to encourage their students to read more books and effectively use children's books for literacy instruction.
• Provide teachers with classroom management techniques appropriate for implementing such instructions.

A survey of a handful of students from each school found that almost all of them had improved their literacy capability. Eighty per cent of classrooms from kindergarten to fifth grade had engaging book corners.

More than 70 per cent of students had access to extra reading materials in school, but only about one-fourth of the students had books to read at home. More than 90 per cent of the students through grade 5 acknowledged using the reading materials inside their classroom.

One of the highlights of the training program was a two-day literature festival that attracted 625 participants, including students, teachers, parents, school management committee members, local representatives and others. The purpose of the festival was not only to promote reading habits in children but also to encourage schools and their communities to sponsor their own literature festivals in the future.

One element of the program that we plan to continue in a new round of training is routine monitoring of the teachers in their classrooms. In the program just completed, trainers observed children and teachers reading aloud in class, students creating stories and sharing them with their peers, teachers establishing a library routine for their class and teachers planning future workshops.

As an added benefit, trainers found that student attendance also improved.

As we begin to plan the second round of our teacher training program that emphasizes reading aloud to children, the feedback from our teachers has been very positive. But, of course, there is still room for improvement.

Earlier this month, our new partner organization in Nepal, Kakshyalaya, (the name loosely translates into English as “inspiring classrooms”), met with teachers from the six schools in Kavre district who participated last year. They said that the new reading corners installed in their classrooms have encouraged students to spend their spare time with their favorite books.

This is great to hear, because it reinforces the idea that children enjoy reading; they just need access to books and a place to engage with them.

This year, we will expand the training program to work with schools in Lalitpur district as well continuing with the same six schools in Kavre that participated last year. We will supply books, bookshelves and other reading materials in addition to the training sessions. Some of the tentative activities for children include karaoke and storytelling using puppets.

Kavre and Lalitpur districts both suffered heavy damage during the earthquakes. Generally, schools in Lalitpur were hit harder than those in Kavre and remain in worse condition.

Teachers also had some suggestions for changes they would like to see in the program. One asked for books that were more closely related to the curriculum, to help students understand their lessons.

Nearly all the principals we spoke to agreed that the training would be more effective if it included practical sessions about teaching methodology and improving the English language skills of teachers. This is a common request of many schools we work with, since the Nepali government has declared that all schools conduct classes in English but has provided few if any resources to improve the English language skills of teachers.

We also need to work on library management techniques, because some books have gone missing. Although this is unfortunate, it’s also something we expected, because the idea of a lending library is completely new in many rural schools.

Thank you for your continued support of our training program.