Last weekend we made another visit to Nalang VDC in Dhading to Jaleswory Primary School. The construction of the building that you all so generously funded is now finished! White paint and blue animals now cover the outside. But there is more…
In the meantime the local education government and village have been in touch to update the local government of the building of the school. The community requested for the government to fund the building of the rest of the school (a side building with a teacher and meeting room). The government agreed and this part of the school, except for a layer of paint, is now also finished! We and the community were very happy about this progress.
We also received more donations in the meantime (thank you!!), and discussed future plans with the school community. On the short term, we are hoping to finalize new benches and tables. Ideally, wood would come from the community forest, but there is currently not enough wood to cut sustainably. We may have to buy wood on the market at a more expensive price. We also would like to build a fence around the school to keep out the animals and make a separation with the new improvised road that now carries a bus. Also, we would like to provide a new set of pens, notebooks, and a few books (school books are generally donated by the government).
In the more distant future, we would like to see if we could upgrade the school. Currently, the school is allowed to teach 1st through 3rd grades. It would be great if we could discuss with the government the possibility to teach 4th and 5th grades as well. In addition, we discussed the possibility to have volunteers stay and teach the teachers for short periods in Nalang. And it may also be possible to start scholarships for further study for a number of underprivileged children in the area. Alternatively, we may start the construction of a day care center for very young children in the area. Please let us know your thoughts on these ideas, and other possibilities!
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As the title suggests, we were really content after our visit. Where before there was an old leaking hot and broken overcrowded shack there is now a concrete good looking spacious school. We had a small ceremony with loads of flowers and a tika to celebrate this effort. There were already more children at the school than there were when we visited, and the community greatly appreciates the improvements. Hope there may be more…
Here are some pictures.
Very best,
Lok and Wietse
