3. Stories
Sisters for Sisters’ Education in Nepal...........................................................1
Breaking the language barrier to get an
education – Bhawani Paswan’s story............................................................2
Supporting my daughter’s education – Tika BK’s story.................................3
Breaking tradition for education – Anisha Sharma’s story............................4
Unveiling for education – Mala Devi Shah’s story .......................................5
Teaching to Learn..........................................................................................6
Parental involvement is key to education -
Sampurna Chanara’s story ............................................................................7
Creativity to enhance education - Urmila BK’s story.....................................8
Education is a parent’s responsibility - Jay Bahadur Pun’s story..................9
4.
5. There are many barriers to education for girls in Nepal, from
poverty, to social and cultural traditions that prevent them
from attending school. In rural Nepal, VSO’s Sisters for
Sisters programme places older ‘big sisters’ from the
community as role models for ‘little sisters’ who are at risk of
dropping out. Adult champions then help those older girls
mentor the younger ones.
These are their stories.
Sisters for Sisters’ Education in Nepal
6. 2
Breaking the language barrier to get an education –
Bhawani Paswan’s story
‘Little sister’ Bhawani Paswan managed to overcome not
understanding the language her lessons were taught in and escaped
early marriage to become successful at school.
When other girls were sent to get married an early age, Bhawani
stayed in school to pursue her education.
That’s thanks to her ‘big sister’,
Rubi Kumari, who is also a
neighbour.
In grade five, Bhawani was shy and
a slow learner. At times she could
not understand what was being
taught in class at all because she
only understood Bhojpuri – a
different dialect.
Rubi visited her in the evenings to
help her with her studies and gain
the confidence to speak in class,
helping Bhawani learn to talk
happily with anyone in and outside her school. If she has a
question now she’ll stand up in her classroom to ask her teacher, and
she can also now read and write in Nepali and English.
This could have been a very different story. In early 2016 Bhawani was
almost married to a man 13 years her senior.
Only the intervention of her ‘big sister’ and ‘aunty champion’ was able
to stop the marriage. The groom’s family demanded a lot of dowry and
didn’t want Bhawani to go to school. Together, the ‘sister’ and ‘aunty’
double act brought in the police to stop the marriage. Rubi even
recruited the help of her own father to stop the marriage successfully.
Bhawani is really happy that she was saved from marrying early and
can continue to go to school. She is now passing her exams and in
future she hopes to be a teacher and work in her own community.
Bhawani Paswan
7. 3
Tika, mother of ‘little sister’ Gauri, sees her dreams of being
educated fulfilled in her daughter and supports her to be successful
at school.
Gauri’s mother, Tika, doesn’t want
to ruin her daughter’s life by
getting her married at an early
age. While her brothers went to
school she had to stay home to do
house chores causing her to finish
only grade 3. At 15, she was
married and was not able to
continue her schooling.
Gauri is __ and did not attend
school regularly. Most of her
friends are married.
Tika is happy that her daughter
was chosen to be one of the little sisters. With the support of the
project especially the big sisters, Tika sees a change in her daughter’s
attitude. “Before she did not want to go to school.” With the
activities with the big sisters, Gauri is now happy to go to school and
knows the importance of learning.
Tika sees hope in her daughter and wants her daughter to be a dancer
and create her own identity.
Tika BK and daughter, Gauri
Supporting my daughter’s education – Tika BK’s
story
8. 4
‘Little sister’ Anisha Sharma is now in her adolescences. She breaks
tradition to continue her education.
According to Hindu tradition, women and girls are isolated from their
home and not allowed to see male members of their family while they
are menstruating. They are considered impure and called ‘untouchable’.
For girls going to school, this means being absent from class for at least
four days a month.
Anisha Sharma, now aged 13, was able to break
this tradition. Her parents did not follow the
ritual of isolating her from the family and
allowed her to continue going to school during
her periods. She has now become a role model
among her friends by coming to school even
during her period.
Her father, a teacher where she studies, believes
that girls should not be stopped from attending
school just because of tradition.
Breaking tradition for education – Anisha Sharma’s
story
Anisha Sharma
9. 5
‘Auntie’, Mali Devi Shah breaks tradition of using the veil to help girls
in her community continue their education.
Mala Devi Shah was in grade 10 when she got married at the age of
15 . As an ‘Auntie’, Mala assists Big Sisters in guiding and mentoring
Little Sisters in her community.
In her community, married women must wear veils to cover their
faces and are not allowed to go out of their home.
Before being an Auntie, Mala could not even talk
with her own family members. (How was she
chosen?)
With the training provided by the project and
guidance provided by Community Mobilisers, she is
now confident to convince families of Little Sisters
to send their daughters to school. She is able to
persuade parents not to get their daughters married
at an early age.
By being an Auntie, she is one of the very few
women who has been able to break the tradition of
wearing the veil. She now actively works in her
community advocating for girls to go to school.
Unveiling for education – Mala Devi Shah’s story
Mala Devi Shah
10. 6
Poverty, parental attitude towards education, ineffective
teaching methodologies, unclear management systems, and
poor infrastructure are just a few of the barriers preventing
children from going to school. In Midwest Nepal, VSO’s
Teaching to Learn project addresses these barriers by
ensuring quality teaching and creating learning environments
for early grade literacy and numeracy program.
Here are stories how the project has contributed in changing
the lives of people.
Teaching to Learn
11. 7
Parental involvement is key to education -
Sampurna Chanara’s story
Sampurna Chanara’s parents learn the importance of education and
encourages him to go to school.
Ten year old Sampurna, studies in grade five at Shree Dipendra
Primary School, Rawatgaun, Jajarkot. Sampurna did not go to school
regularly and mostly left early before classes finished. His parents are
illiterate and did not bother much about his education. As a result of
this, Sampurna raised cattle and was also more focused in doing
household chores and helping his family.
This ultimately led to his loss of interest
towards education and reluctance to
participate in any activities organized in
school.
During the course of project
implementation, Sampurna’s parents
attended parental awareness raising
workshops and Community Education
Campaign Committee (CECC) meetings.
These activities highlighted the importance
of education and responsibility of parents
towards promoting a reading culture at
school and at home.
Learning about the importance of education from the meetings,
Sampurna’s parents encouraged their son to go to school and study.
Sampurna now goes to school regularly and also participates in
extracurricular activities. He does his homework regularly and pays
more attention towards his studies than the household chores. He
presents his queries in front of teachers in classroom. Teacher Balram
Shah stated "Sampurna stands as the most regular child in school
among others from Kolchaur tole". He also said that Sampurna was
not a diligent student before but now stands in second position in his
class. His parents are very happy about his success.
Sampurna Charna
12. 8
Urmila KB was able to express her creativity by creating a wall paper
magazine which helped her education.
Urmila BK is a grade three student of Shree Hanuman Primary School. In
2014, when she was in grade, Urmila was not doing well in her studies.
She did not attend school regularly coming to school once or twice a
week. She did not obey her teachers and also did not maintain good
personal hygiene. During project implementation, extracurricular
activities were organized for children in
her school. One activity was creating
wall magazines that were published.
The Community Mobilizer and
Classroom Assistant encouraged
Urmila to bring out her creativeness for
a wall magazine. They motivated her to
read books during leisure time. They
also met with her parents to convince
them to create a reading corner in
their house. During vacation, the
Classroom Assistant gathered Urmila
and other children and helped them
with their homework. Urmila now goes to
school regularly, maintains personal hygiene, actively takes part in
extracurricular activities and does her homework regularly. She now is
able to identify letters and read books.
Creativity to enhance education - Urmila BK’s story
Urmila BK
13. 9
Parents and community help make their school become an enabling
environment to children to learn.
Bheri Triveni Secondary School lies at the confluence of Thulo Bheri
and Sano Bheri rivers in Khalanga- 8, Rimnaghat, Jajarkot. (What is the
state of the school?)
Parents of children in school catchment area were not aware about
the educational needs of their children before project started in 2014.
They thought that their responsibility was merely sending their
children to school. They showed indifference and ignorance towards
their children’s needs and learning achievement.
Community Mobilizers along with members of the Community
Education Campaign Committee (CECC) and Classroom Assistants
oriented school staff and
parents how on promoting
reading culture in the
community. They organized
door-to-door campaigns and
discussed with parents to make
them aware about the
importance of education and the
role they can play to promote
education of their children.
Knowing that they are responsible in enhancing their children’s
learning, parents started developing ’no cost, low cost’ educational
materials to assist the teachers and students in their teaching and
learning activities. Jay Bahadur Pun, secretary of CECC in his
community, serves as a role model for other parents. He made
educational materials and provided them to the school. He also
created a reading space for his children equipped with a table,
alphabet and number chart. He also goes to school to know how his
children are doing.
Education is a parent’s responsibility - Jay Bahadur
Pun’s story
Teaching materials made by Jay Bahadur Pun
14. For more information please contact:
VSO Nepal
Sanepa,Lalitpur
P.O. Box 207
+977-1-5547469 (tel)/ 5524743 (fax)
www.vsointernational.org
15.
16. For more information please contact:
VSO Nepal
Sanepa,Lalitpur
P.O. Box 207
+977-1-5547469 (tel)/ 5524743 (fax)
www.vsointernational.org
