Child Education
Education is an essential human right that enables individuals to develop their own abilities and improve their quality of life. However, gaining access to quality education remains a challenge to those vulnerable within the society, especially girls. Globally, less than 40% of countries provide girls and boys with equal access to education and girls are more likely to never enter primary school than boys.
Children with mothers who are educated, are more likely to have higher levels of education and better health. It is estimated that a child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5. Therefore, the more women are educated, the greater the likelihood that their homes and communities are free from poverty.
There is also the issue of adults lacking basic literacy skills such as reading, writing or numeracy skills essential for everyday life due to the lack of education at an earlier stage in their lives. There are still 750 million illiterate adults in this world, two thirds of whom are women. We assist these people to gain basic life skills so that they can make proactive decisions in everyday life.
Partnership with Shree Mahaboudha Secondary School Namkha Rural Municipality 4, Yalbang Humla :
Shree Mahaboudha Secondary school was established in 2037 B.S (1980 AD). It’s a community School that used to run classes up to grade 8. The school was not functioning well and the attendance rate of both teachers and students was very minimum. Like other community schools of rural Nepal, Yalbang school was also facing severe problems related with infrastructure and facilities, budgets, monitoring and supervision from local authority, poor quality education, lack of teachers, lack of educational materials etc. In 2000 AD the school was renovated by joint efforts of USC Canada, Adara Development and the community people. But the school was able to stand up after 2007 when Himalayan Children Society established full functioning residential facilities in the year 2006 and by extending school facilities and infrastructures, teachers support and sponsorships for children.
Pic. Shree Mahaboudha Sec. School, 1987
Pic. Shree Mahaboudha Sec. School, 2023
Residential Facilities:
Residential facilities are provided for the children of Humla. Separate building for boys and girls are provided including separate dining hall. There is a Hostel warden who takes care of the both hostel management and children at daily basis. Cooks and helper are residing 24 hour in a hostel. We have library, playground, warm beddings, infirmary, nutritious food, separate toilets for girls and boys at hostel. HCS has one health assistant at hostel, who looks after the health,personal hygiene and minor problems of the children at hostel.
Child Sponsorships:
By sponsering one child, to provide education, you are helping communities as a whole develop.
Child sponsorships is the major part of Himalayan Children Society. We have been sponsoring 200 children every year .
These students are provided food, uniforms, textbooks and other educational materials required to have quality education. 225 students are already graduated from HCS till December 2022.
All these students are attendings the community school i.e. Shree Mahaboudha Secondary School – Yalbang which is 3-5 minutes walking distance from Hostel. The children are from 7-17 years of age groups in the hostel from grade ECD to grade 12.
Figure No. 2. Distribution of graduates under vocational education
This figure depicts that out of 226 students graduated from Yalbang school, 46 students did vocational education since 2012 till end of December 2022. All these students did Vocational education of 3 years course Diploma level from CTEVT from several parts of Nepal. Out of which 10 % got government job and returned to Humla to serve their community.
Figure No 1. Distribution of Students graduates from Yalbang school.
The above figure depicts the number of students graduated from Himalayan Children Society/Yalbang school from 2012 till end of December 2022. There are altogether 225 (Male: 90, Female: 135) graduated from the school. More than 95% of the students got higher education from Kathmandu and rest the students enrolled at Mahaboudha Higher school – Yalbang and at Simikot.
Infrastructure Support at Shree Mahaboudha School, Yalbang Humla
The basic infrastructure of the schools is Classrooms, school furniture’s, labs, library, and toilets etc. HCS has supported nice, warm and spacious, comfortable classrooms, 250 sets of desks and benches, separate toilets for girls and boys, well furnished and well equipped computer labs, advance agriculture labs, science labs, child friendly and knowledgeable books for library, textbooks, notebooks, warm uniforms and other educational stationeries, sports items for the children of Shree Mahaboudha Secondary school.
eclassroom is setups inorder to organize virtual classes, video conferencing for the students by integrating computer,multimedia, audio visual and network technology . This classroom is well equiped with video protectors, sound systems, computers etc.
Teacher and Staffs Support:
HCS provide teachers to the government school to fulfill the shortages of government teachers. We have 9 teachers (6 at Yalbang and 3 at Kermi Hostel). HCS has given priority to local personel to work with us. All the teachers , warden, cooks and helpers are locals. The teachers are highly qualified and have handful of skills and knowledge in thier subjects.
Extra curricular Activities:
An extracurricular activity (ECA) is any activity children to perform beyond the school’s standard curriculum. These activities are based on their personal interests that can help to develop a new skill.
Extracurricular activities instill social skills into children at a young age to help them as adults. The ECA develops basic social skills like leadership, coordination, and peer relationships. It improves the overall physical health of the children, boost self esteem and elevates mental health as well. HCS ensures that all the students participate in ECA activities, which are organized in every Fridays at Schools. Have been supporting sports items, musical instruments, sports uniforms, and cultural dresses for the students.
Child Protection:
Himalayan Children Society believes that every child should be ensured of their right to education, health, and be free from abuse and exploitation. Children are at risks at any place anytime. Moreover residential facilities with large number of children are always at risks.
Himalayan Children Society has placed Child Protection Policy to ensure every child’s safety from abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence at Hostel and school where we are working. This is to prevent, respond and resolve the abuse,neglect, explotation and violence experienced by children in all setting. The policy will ensure the highest standards of professional and personal practice to do no harm to children and young people wo are at HCS hostel and attends school.
Through the development of child protection policies, formation of committee and several groups we promote child rights awareness campaigns, meetings and help girls and children to protect themselves by providing platform to share their issues and problems to each other and with the HCS staffs at regular basis. HCS has got several child clubs to discuss about their issues and problems;
- Safer environment for Girls Club
- Little Doctor program
- Bal Srijansil Child Club
- Menstruation Day celebration
Our child protection work focuses on the following two areas:
- Children should be aware of their own rights and have the capacity to voice them out. Also, as their caregivers and teachers influence children, it is crucial for caregivers and teachers to be aware and to fulfill their responsibility to protect the rights of children.
- Ensuring child protection policies and systems at the hostel and the works place where we work mainly schools.
Child protection cannot be achieved through individual efforts; it requires establishing a child protection system at hostel, schools and community level. It is also important for governments to recognize and fulfill their duty of child protection.
Diploma in Agriculture
- Diploma in Agriculture education (9-12) is implemented at Shree Mahaboudha Secondary School Yalbang Humla in July 2021. Adara Development is supporting this project. The main objective of this project is to produce technical and managerial expertise for Humla district in agriculture, animal husbandry and horticulture. The major activities of this project are teacher’s support, laboratory support, green house and farmhouse construction for practical classes, farmers’ group formation, research and introduction of improved agriculture tools. Thus, helps to increase the productivity.