Dream #39

Dream #39

Education is the top priority area in our projects in Dreams of Kathmandu.

We believe that through education, one can change his/her future and the next generations to come. It's the only sustainable weapon against poverty and represents the ONLY possibility for the children of Nepal to have a better future. 

When the children of Nepal don't have acess to education, they have to start working very early, maybe around 14 years old. The jobs they do are usually in agriculture or other heavy industries like factories or washing dishes in a restaurant 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

It's a dramatic situation! And also, when the children start working, they usually get married a couple of years later. It's the normal order of life in a society where Hindu and Budhist traditions are still very rooted. Children only leave their parents house to get married! And then around 18 years old the babies arrive, and the future life of the parents is now totally compromised. They can not study again. They will have to work all their lifes getting low wages for the rest of their days. And then the same will happen to their children. It's a non ending cycle that can only be break through education.

And besides this social portrait of the country, there is still a long road to go in terms of education in Nepal. According to UNICEF, the country still has many challenges to tackle. Issues that persist in education include poor quality and inequity in access, geographical remoteness, gender, and socioeconomic and ethnic differences. Key barriers to enrolment and attendance include poverty, social exclusion, disability, migration, child labour, social norms and gender bias.

Some numbers

• 770,000 children aged 5-12 years are still out of school.
• Only a half of students in grades 3, 5 and 8 meet the academic achievement criteria for Nepali and mathematics.
• Attendance in early childhood education (ECE) is still low at 51 per cent.
• There is inequity in the education sector as only 12 per cent of children from the lowest wealth quintile are developmentally on track in literacy and numeracy compared to 65 per cent from the highest wealth quintile.
• Very few schools meet child-friendly school standards. 
• Only 11 per cent of school buildings are earthquake-resistant. 

This is why we want to invest this area. Because we feel that we can make a difference in the lives of the children of Nepal. This time we got 150€ from Cristiana Rodrigues and we decided to apply them to help the 8 children of the Tchecho shelter having on-line classes. With this money we bought 2 tablets and now the children can access the internet and have their lessons. Thank you so much Cristiana, this donation has really had a huge impact!

 Help us to make more dreams come true by donating to our projects! Contact us in pedro_queiros@hotmail.com or ghazalvaziri@gmail.com. Help us to help! Thank you so much!