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Exposure visit: Inspiration for community based child and adolescent education

In Hariharpur VDC, Kapilvastu, 42 children and teenagers have benefited directly from an intercultural exchange of ideas and experiences. In February 2004 two members of the Hariyali group went together with JASC to Eastern Nepal for seven days. The visit to the former MS partner Nari Bikash Sangh in Biratnagar inspired the group to focus on child and adolescent education in their home area. They decided to initiate non-formal education classes for those children and adolescents in the community who have not got the chance to go to school. The community consists of about 150 families of which approximately 100 are of lower castes. Only five of these families have a little piece of land. The rest of them have to work in the fields of others in order to earn a living. These families do not have enough money to send their children to school. If they do, it is the boys who tend to be given the chance to become educated but the girls have to stay at home.

In order to support the group’s initiative stationery was provided by JASC. Two teachers volunteered to educate 13 teenagers and 29 children who all belong to deprived groups in the community. One teacher taught the youth in the morning and the other to the children in the afternoon. During their absence from home, members of the group would help the two teachers to look after and feed their buffalos and cows -a kind of ‘service exchange’ as group chairperson Man Bahadur Khadka puts it.

Unfortunately, the classes only went on for four months. According to the chair person the teachers were no longer motivated and the service exchange was no longer enough for the two teachers. Therefore, the group would like some financial support in order to pay a teacher’s salary and to buy more books and stationery. At first sight this sounds a reasonable explanation but according to JASC there are other reasons also as to why the classes stopped. They were closed because of the conflict. The rebels in the area threatened the group to stop their activities. Some misunderstandings occurred but after two months the group is now able to continue their activities provided that they receive the financial support they ask for.

Nirmala Kahar belongs to the group of Dalit families and is one of the girls who attended the morning classes. She does not know her exact age but thinks she might be 15 or 16 years old. Nirmala Kahar is the daughter of a rickshaw puller. Her two elder brothers are now working in India but unlike her they used to go to school. Nirmala Kahar however spends her days at home helping her mother or working in other people’s fields for money.

“Before I could not read or write but now I have learned that. I need to write my name on paper when I work for a land lord”, says Nirmala. Learning to count numbers has also been a big asset to Nirmala: “When someone gave me money before, I did not know if it was the right sum of money.”

The chairperson emphasizes the big effect of education on both Nirmala’s and her family’s life: “Nirmala’s father used to ask me to help him count the money he earned by pulling his rickshaw. Now he does not ask me to count anymore. Nirmala helps him.” Nirmala’s last request makes it very clear how she feels about not being able to attend the classes anymore - “We hope that somebody will help us to run the classes again. We learned a lot but we would like to learn more.”