Santi School Project

Manikhel Lower Secondary School Construction Completed

bijaya — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:03:48 +0000

Front Facade of the School Building

The construction of four rooms of Manikhel Lower Secondary School, Manikhel, Lalitpur, Nepal has been completed. The school building has been handed over to the school management committee on May 18, 2013.

An agreement to complete the four rooms of the building was signed between the school and the Shanti Education Initiative Nepal on December 4, 2012 and work on the building started soon afterwards. The construction consisted of fixing walls, doors, windows, and plastering the floor.

For more information about the school, please visit this page.

MoU Signed with Guru Lower Secondary School

bijaya — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:40:51 +0000

Rabindra Maharjan (l) and Ramesh Prasad Dahal exchanging the signed MoU

We have signed a MoU with Guru Lower Secondary School, Bukhel, Lalitpur for completing the construction of two room building at the school.

Rabindra Maharjan, chairperson of Shanti Education Initiative Nepal, and Ramesh Prasad Dahal, chairperson of the school management committee, signed the agreement representing their respective organizations.

The total cost estimate for this project is NRs. 400,000 (around US$ 5,000). The community is contributing 25 percent of the costs and Small Earth Australia is contributing 50 percent of the costs. The remaining 25 percent of the costs is contributed by Friends of Shanti project of the Austrian Mountaineering Association, Imst Oberland.

The project is expected to be completed by mid July 2013.

For more information about the project, please visit this page.

Santi School Project Participates in Walk for Nepal

bijaya — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:42:48 +0000

Santi School Project board members and well wishers have participated in the Walk for Nepal event held in Washington DC, USA on April 14, 2013.

Altogether 35 people walked the 1.7 mile long route on behalf of the Santi School Project. They were able to raise a total sum of US$ 1077 from 35 sponsors.

Mahesh Dahal, Santi School board member officially represented the organization at the event.

Teacher Training Interaction Programs held in Gotikhel and Chandanpur

bijaya — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:42:11 +0000

We have organized teacher training interaction program at Gotikhel and Chandanpur of Lalitpur district on April 4 and 5, 2013 respectively.

This program was held after completing the training and observation sessions for all the schools of these areas. We had conducted Early Childhood Education and Teaching in English Medium training at three centers in Gotikhel and Chandanpur.

37 trainees, principals and resource person attended the program at Gotikhel and 27 of them attended at Chandanpur. All the program participants shared their experiences about the training and its implementation.

Certificates were distributed to all the participants for successfully completing the training. Eight top performing teachers from two training centers of Gotikhel and 3 top performing teachers from a training center in Chandapur were awarded with the cash prizes and top performing certificates as well. The top performers were selected in three categories; those participating in early childhood education training only, those participating in teaching in English medium training only, and those participating in both the training.

Volunteer Experiences

bijaya — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:31:41 +0000

Weena Pun’s volunteering experiences published in the Kathmandu Post on March 23, 2013. She volunteered for a month at Gupteshwor Secondary School, Nallu, Lalitpur.

To read the article, please click here.

Volunteering Experiences of Suman Karki

bijaya — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 05:41:31 +0000

Suman Karki volunteered at Sisnery Higher Secondary School, Lamatar, Lalitpur for a month as a Santi Education Fellow. Here, he shares his experiences of working there:

When I was appointed as a Santi Education Fellow, I got an enormous opportunity to explore a new way of life. With the assigned responsibility, Shanti Education Initiative Nepal (SEIN) provided me with a teaching/learning environment which will be highly useful in my future life.

On the day of my appointment, I was accompanied by a staff at SEIN to Lamatar, Lalitpur to start my assignment. I must admit that SEIN had arranged a comfortable home-stay over there. The new environment was extremely good and the hosts were very friendly. Initially, I was briefed about the main objectives that I had to accomplish during my stay over there. Then, I was told that I had to assist in the Sisneri Higher Secondary School, a governmental school established in more than six decades ago. The following day, I talked with the principal of the school and and he delegated the responsibility of assisting students of grade 9 and 10. Basically, I had to help them with their regular Mathematics course.

I tutored Grade 9 students every morning from 9 to 10 a.m. and helped Grade 10 students from 1:30 to 4 pm. As this teaching scenario was completely new for me and I had to teach them in entirely Nepali language (I have been taught in English medium throughout my life), it was a bit difficult for me to cope up with it in the initial days. But, the students were really helpful and helped me catch up with their study. The classes were very interesting because I got an environment where I had to create a space to help students learn. Though it was a short span of time I spent there, I taught and learnt a lot of things.

And, I was quite obsessed with the way of life I had there. To help students believe in themselves and help them explore their potential was in a way my primary aim over there and I tried my best to do so. Adjusting under these circumstances helped me learn many things for myself. I now think that these all have enhanced my confidence level and even developed leadership qualities in me. At the same time, contributing a little from my part for better education and helping students increase their caliber makes me feel proud. At the end of the month, I think that that month was a fruitful one because my students and I got to learn a lot of things together.

For organizing such an wonderful and descent opportunities to learners like me, I express my gratitude to Shanti School Initiative, Nepal and program director Mr. Bijaya Babu Shiwakoti. I also wish SEI Nepal all the best for future endevours. And indeed, a better life starts at school!

Teacher Training Sessions Completed for 2012-13

bijaya — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:24:12 +0000

We have completed teacher training sessions for 2012-13, that started with a training session at Nallu center, with the completion of the training at Chaughare center.

In total, we have trained more than 125 primary and pre primary level teachers this year from 45 schools covering 11 village development committees of Lalitpur district at six centers.

The training session consisted of two components – early childhood education and teaching in English medium. There were seven facilitators helping us train the teachers. Rosy Lama conducted the early childhood education training at all six centers and other trainers facilitated the teaching in English medium training at two centers each. The training sessions also included teachers’ classroom implementation of the lessons taught in the training.

Literacy and Education in Action Program of the Better World Books supported the training at five centers and Austrian Youth Red Cross supported at one center.

Prior to the training sessions, interaction workshops were held with the principals of each school participating in the training along with the local level supervisors of the District Education Office, Lalitpur determining the need of the need of the training sessions and .

Some of the training sessions were observed by the officials from the District Education Office, Lalitpur and they provided feedback to trainers and trainees, and to our organization.

We also organized a workshop with the trainers to gather their feedback about the training on March 9, 2013.

We are planning to organize workshops with the participants and principals of the participating schools to gather their feedback on the effectiveness of the training and ways to improve it further. We will also award best three performers from each center at those workshops.

Teacher Training Completed at Chaughare Center

bijaya — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:08:01 +0000

The second phase of the teacher training, which focused on teaching in English medium, has completed at Banaspati Primary School, Chaughare, Lalitpur on March 4, 2013.

10 teachers from six different schools of Chaughare and Dalchoki village development committees have participated in the training. The training included classroom instruction sessions along with the observation of the implementation of the training in real classroom situations by the trainers.

Amrita Shrestha and Anju Dahal were the instructor for the training, which started on February 26, 2013.

A team from the District Education Office, led by Maheshwor Sharma, Under Secretary at the office, had observed one of the training sessions. They provided feedback to the trainers, trainees and the implementing agency.

With the completion of the second phase of this training, we have completed the training for this center and the whole package planned for 2012-13. Earlier, Rosy Lama had completed the first phase of the training, which focused on early childhood development education.

Agreement signed with Small Earth Australia

bijaya — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:11:55 +0000

We have signed an agreement with the Small Earth Australia (SEA) to complete the construction of a two room building of Guru Lower Secondary School, Bukhel, Lalitpur, Nepal.

SEA will provide NRs. 200,000, in words two hundred thousand only out of estimated cost of NRs. 400,000, for the completion of the said building. We will mobilize the remaining amount through our resources and the community’s contribution. We will implement the completion of the building through the school management committee.

The agreement was signed by Rabindra Maharjan, on behalf of the Shanti Education Initiative Nepal, and by Dr Neelam Pradhananga, on behalf of SEA.

The construction work is expected to start by April 2013.

Teacher Training Completes at Chandanpur Center

bijaya — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 10:23:58 +0000

The second phase of the teacher training, which focused on teaching in English medium, has completed at Kali Devi L0wer Secondary School, Chandanpur, Lalitpur on February 24, 2013.

15 teachers from ten different schools of Chandanpur and Kaleshwor village development committees have participated in the training. The training included classroom instruction sessions along with the observation of the implementation of the training in real classroom situations.

Amrita Shrestha and Anju Dahal were the instructor for the training, which started on February 12, 2013.

With the completion of the second phase of this training, we have completed the training for this center – fourth out of five centers. Earlier, Rosy Lama had completed the first phase of the training, which focused on early childhood development education.