Action Blog: South Asia

Read about how the second wave of COVID-19 is impacting education for children and youth in India. 

Read here to learn more about Educate the Children (ETC) and their work in Nepal. 

Schools in India have been disrupted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This blog discusses how the closing of schools can impact the education of girls and young women. Read to learn more and how you can help.

Teachers in rural Nepal, where Educate the Children works, are disadvantaged in many ways. They are often undereducated themselves. They are usually paid poorly, particularly in public (government) schools. They routinely suffer from lack of adequate classroom furniture and supplies. Most have few or no professional development opportunities, and tend to be isolated from peers other than those at their own schools. 

Educate the Children discusses their experience working with Nepal's rural schools to move beyond rote learning by promoting a well-rounded approach to teaching and the overall educational experience for children and teachers of all grade levels from pre-kindergarten through high school.

"In January 2015, the World Assembly of the Global Campaign for Education formally recognised the need to represent and include youth-led movements more formally in its structure. Many of our members already work in partnership with youth-led organisations, and it was time to give them the place they deserve in the global education civil society movement. 
This year, the GCE goes one step further by hosting a Youth Caucus during our World Assembly in November.
The idea? Let the Youth exchange and debate, and have their voice heard in the definition of GCE’s new strategic plan and policy positions." From the Global Campaign for Education

"Traveling to Nepal (or any developing country for that matter) can often be seen in a series of pictures or images that we can look back on and learn from. On my recent return trip to Nepal to review work done by Edge of Seven I also had a series of images that were important in telling a story of the importance of girls’ education in fighting poverty." edgeofseven.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/nepal-snapshots-of-hope-from-march-2018/

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015 and subsequent 7.2-magnitude “aftershock” on May 12th destroyed or badly damaged every building in Educate the Children’s project area. Over the following years, ETC designed and constructed two-classroom buildings at some of the 29 schools with which we had already been working before the earthquakes so that children can get back to achieving a successful and safe education in Nepal.

In April and May 2015, two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.8 and 7.2 respectively devastated much of Nepal. The sudden loss of family members and homes shattered countless people’s lives. The sudden loss of thousands of schools, while understandably not people’s immediate focus of concern, made itself felt as the weeks passed and the desire to get “back to normal” strengthened.

In Nepal, the School Leaving Examinations, or SLCs as they are known are a series of tests taken by students completing the 10th grade. Every student that is seeking to become a graduate looks forward to the SLCs with a sense of dread and anxiety. For many this is quite possibly the toughest examination of their life. The mixed emotions of anxiety, hope, and fear is insurmountable – as people believe that the results of this exam can make or break you. It is also known as the "iron gates" of education (and life) not only because it is difficult to pass, but also depending on how well you do can determine how far you go. Parents usually put pressure on their kids to not only pass, but to do better than your cousins, or your friends, or your neighbor’s children.