The Australian Himalayan Foundation’s first Teacher Training & Quality Education (TTQE) program was inspired by the work of Sir Edmund Hillary’s Himalayan Trust that has benefited the Everest (Khumbu) district of Nepal since 1961.
In 2005, the Australian Himalayan Foundation first started working with local Nepalese NGO, REED (Rural Education & Environmental Development) to develop a program to improve the quality of education in the Everest district.
Nine years later, this long--term program is improving the education of over 42,000 children in approximately 300 schools in the entire Solu Khumbu region, with 1700 teachers receiving training.
This program is divided into five three year project cycles and we have just completed work in the district of Nele – one of the most impoverished districts in the region.
What we've achieved:
- We are please to confirm that over 90% of the teachers in primary schools in Nele attended training workshops during this past year.
- The main Teacher Training Workshop and the Refresher Workshops targeted 315 teachers from all 59 schools in the region.
- A Key Teacher Workshop was also conducted, involving 19 teachers in the district.
- To date, over 55 local teachers have been trained as part of the Key Teacher Workshops and these teachers have all now successfully become teacher-trainers themselves, which speaks to the sustainable, long term nature of the program.
- To support this training workshops, in-school support was provided in all schools in Nele throughout the school year and targeted all 350 teachers in the district
- In the Sotang district, three refresher workshops targeted 480 teachers from the 78 schools along with one Key Teacher Workshop, which targeted 20 teachers in the district
- In the Khumbu district two refresher workshops were conducted targeting 375 teachers from the 70 schools in the district as well as a Ket Teacher Training Workshop that targeted 18 teachers from all schools in the district.
Photo: Delisha (pictured on the left) is 10 years old and lives with her brother and sister and her mother, Gita, in the village of Nele. Thanks to the Teacher Training & Quality Education program, Delisha now attends school, has proper shoes to wear, a school uniform and textbooks and picture books to use. Her teacher, Tek (pictured in the top photo) has attended Teacher training and his classroom is now an interactive and fun place to learn.
"We developed a good rapport with the training team. They presented lessons according to their knowledge and strengths. The volunteers with leadership roles and a wide experience of teaching strategies and methods were most useful"
June Hughes, Australian Himalayan Foundation Teaching Volunteer
‘The only load a child should carry is their school bag’.
Children
as young as 11 carry heavy loads for days at a time with no chance of
availing themselves of the opportunities that education can offer. Our
Quality Education program in one of the poorest regions of rural Nepal
will help to ensure that all children have access to primary education.
Project background
This
is the fifth year of our Quality Education program and builds on the
previous years of successful grassroots education projects that
Footprints have funded. This far reaching program extends educational
opportunities well beyond the more assisted upper Solu Khumbu region in
the vicinity of Mt Everest and focuses on the impoverished districts of
Nele and Sotang that are in dire need of educational support. You can
read past project and participant reports here.
The project will cover:
- Round-the-year Teacher training workshops conducted in the districts of Nele and Sotang where AHF is operating its Quality Education program.
Photo: Student from the village of Sotang, Lower Solu Khumbu
Educational improvements
The
Quality Education program is closely aligned to the U.N Millennium
Development Goal 2 (MDG 2) that all primary school children should have
access to full time education. We aim to do this by:
- Developing child-centred teacher training methods
- Providing relevant and appropriate teaching resources
- Increasing teacher and child attendance and girls’ enrollment in schools and reducing drop out rates for children in schools
- Enhancing
community support for schools by improving the relevance and
desirability of education practices for the children in poor rural
communities
The program schedule
The Quality Education program is conducted throughout the year and includes a series of workshops that include
- Key teacher training – to train gifted teachers to train other teachers in the region
- Refresher
teacher training – to provide additional training to teachers who have
already attended the main teacher training workshops
- Primary
teacher training – to provide initial training for inexperienced
teachers who have only completed a rudimentary education
- Community Support workshops – to ensure community involvement and support that is vital to the long term outcomes of the program
Specifically, the project funded through The Footprints Network, will contribute to the Teacher Training workshops that ensure the provision of child friendly education to primary schools in some of the most disadvantaged regions of Nepal.
Educational issues in this region of Nepal
The
Solu Khumbu region comprises of five districts – the Khumbu (Everest region), and the more impoverished regions Sotang, Nele, Necha and Kerung to the south - see map below.
In the impoverished and remote
regions of Solu Khumbu there are very limited opportunities for
children. With an appropriate education strategy that includes support
for community support - vital for attendance), social cohesion and local
involvement in schools - there is every likelihood that there will be
an increase in the children regularly attending and remaining in school.
Community Involvement
The
Quality Education program is run in conjunction with the local
community and experienced volunteers, ensuring sustainable benefits and
increased community support.
The AHF program is jointly led by a
highly experienced teacher training coordinator and our in-country
partners in Nepal together with a small team of Australian volunteer
teacher trainers
Can I visit this project?
Australian teachers (and other nationalities) can participate as
volunteer trainers of key Teachers as well as helping with general
teacher training.
You can visit some of the 307 schools involved, on specific occasions as a member of an AHF support trek (coordinated by World Expeditions), subject to availability and timings.
How was it this funded?
Thanks to hundreds of tiny donations from these online businesses and their customers.
- ***WorldNomads.com.au
- ***WorldNomads.co.nz
- World Nomads Canada
- www.WorldNomads.com
- ***World Nomads UK
- Travel Insurance Direct AU
- Travel Insurance Direct NZ
- ***Temando.com
Over the years, thousands of Australians have visited the Himalaya. For many it is an opportunity to trek beneath the world’s highest peaks and to appreciate some of the world’s most hospitable cultures.
However, for the remote communities in Nepal, Bhutan and northern India, access to basic health and education services is often out of reach and climate change poses a growing threat to Himalayan communities, livelihoods and glaciers, which are a critical source of water for millions of people.
The Australian Himalayan Foundation believes that the people of the Himalaya know their local environments best. Therefore, since 2002, AHF has worked in partnership with local organisations to design and deliver cost-effective and practical programs that help remote Himalayan families withstand serious challenges such as poverty, injustice and natural disasters.
Giving to AHF as a traveller is an opportunity to give something back to one of the most incredible mountain destinations in the world.