UK Teachers adopt “Tiger” as mascot!

  Across the past couple of weeks our team of five teachers from Haverigg Primary and Black Combe Primary schools have been working on turning The Big Curriculum into a 6 day programme of teacher training for next April. We will report in the next few days on the final schedule.
The team, led by Head teacher Helen Webber, comprises Mel, Jen, Chris and Pete and one of them recently decided to spice up their meetings a little by turning up dressed as something associated with Nepal! She could have chosen to come dressed as a mountaineer, a yak, or even the mythical yeti ……….. but in the end her choice was …….. a tiger, an endangered species in the Terai plains of southern Nepal. Very appropriate!

Cambridge students act the part!

Eight students from St Catherine's College, Cambridge University, work in a couple of our schools to introduce pupils and teachers to drama.

Yes Minister .... that will do nicely!

Who would have thought that when we began three years ago that today, Nepal's Ministry of Education would want to talk about a deal with us to be a special scheme for them in developing teaching skills. In fact the deal is wider than this in that they want to work with us on developing the "software aspects" of quality education in a number of schools which can be properly evaluated.
So, we drove up to this large white building which is the Ministry where we met with Dr Lava Deo Awasthi, Joint Secretary, Planning Division; Dr Lekha Nath Poudel, Under Secretary; Mukunda Mani Khanal, Section Head, Foreign Aid Division.   It's the closest we've ever felt to being in the presence of the British Raj!
The meeting began with the classic exchange of who does what in our respective organisations, the vision and strategy of NSA and specifically our capability programme. Without writing up the full minutes of the meeting the key points made by the Ministry were as follows:
1. "We want to find a mechanism to institutionalise your valued work, it's a treasure to us"
2. "We should work together on selecting schools to be in your programme so they can be the centre of our attention. We need a rationale which specifies which schools, where, why etc so we can make the case for your approach even stronger"
3. "You could help us to understand the greater needs if you are prepared to work outside the Kathmandu Valley in areas such as Humla, Karnali, Tarai so we include the extremely poor areas in the experiment"

The meeting concluded with four specific action points:
1. The Ministry will create a draft Memorandum of Understanding of how we will work together and in which areas.
2. The Ministry and ECCA will investigate any administrative hurdles we may have to negotiate especially registration with the Nepal Social Council.
3. The Ministry with ECCA input will specify needs for next year's training syllabus
4. The Ministry will investigate the teacher staffing needs of our current five schools to see if we can be relieved of funding extra teachers, thereby releasing funds for more effective use elsewhere.

Now, THIS is the type of post meeting action list I like, one where I have no actions personally!
Off to celebrate.

 

 

A "cunning plan" takes shape

For some time now we have begun to believe that part of our strategy involving the payment of teacher salaries is wrong. Certainly this helps a specific school, but only one. Pay the salaries of four teachers and that helps four schools.

But instead, imagine we pay the salaries of say, only two "tutors", skilled Nepali teachers who can absorb the training given by teachers from the UK and then repeat the training for more and more teachers in any number of schools.
Our immediate need then is to find a few young Nepali teachers who are keen to learn, flexible, will rise to the challenge and can speak reasonable English. So, initially we have selected Krishna from Bal Kalyan school and Bashu and Babita from Bal Bigyan school to take part in a small experiment. In this experiment we have asked them to prepare a ONE day workshop based on the recent two days training they have been given in Child Centred Techniques and to deliver it to 9 delegates on April 17th. We will observe, assess, then judge waht to do next.
All three have accepted the challenge!

First courses .......

 

First two courses now completed successfully, according to all the feedback we've received anyway. The real proof of the pudding though will be in the application of the management skills and the teaching skills. Another teaching skills course begins today for a different 16 delegates.
I think we have "suffered" on both courses as a result of the varied level of spoken English skill amongst the participants. This is a big problem and we are already thinking that we may have to take a step backwards to go forward again. Specifically, should we be arranging training in English at these early stages as opposed to teaching or management skills? Any advice out there?

Nostalgia & cheeseballs!

Our first day in Kathmandu this visit and already I'm "spaced out"!
I suppose it began well enough with the teacher's hotel booking at Kathmandu Guest House being re-confirmed and a breakfast meeting set up with Sujeev Shakya at the Summit Hotel for Wednesday morning.Since reading his book and an exchange of numerous emails over the last 6 months this is our first chance to get down to brass tacks with him regarding his opening of our programme next week. We also intend to discuss with him the vexing issue of our schools being dislocated from their communities and how to bring them together.

As far as the nostalgia bit is concerned we ventured for a light lunch into Freak Street to call into the Monumental Palace hotel with it's rooftop bar. For the non cognoscenti amongst you Freak Street was the original hippie tourist street with bars, restaurants and general drug dens from the 60's and 70's. Not that I ever went there (much) but I have a strong memory of getting my first fish & chips lunch in Freak Street over 30 years ago! Today we went to the rooftop bar to find the views completely blocked by high rise houses with water tanks and an order for a fanta and tuborg somehow getting translated into pancake and cheeseballs! Buddha help me but Champa and I still can't stop laughing 4 hours later ...... welcome to Nepal!
Now the photo. This is the inside of a brilliant tea shop close to Bishal Bazaar called Himalaya Tea Corner and run by Navin Maharjan and his wife.It is a brilliant tea shop for several reasons; firstly the variety of loose teas they sell from Nepal, India, Japan, China. Second the all round friendliness and helpfulness of the owners. Third ....... they will brew ANY tea for you to taste!! If you are interested in tea or this sort of experience this is a place well worth a visit, cheap too.

Regarding general progress this week, visiting the venue for our training programmes on Thursday morning, meeting with British Council on Friday afternoon, presentation to Chandagiri Rotary on Saturday morning and waiting for a date/time to meet people from the Nepal Economic Forum. Keep reading.

NSA Chairman blogs against corruption

The news from Nepal about corruption in the Ministry of Education and how it has adversely affected the country's School Sector Reform Plan, prompted Nepal Schools Aid chairman to pick up his blogging pen and write to the Nepal Economic Forum on the matter.

Self righteous anger doesn't get us anywhere, but at least his article cited other prominent Nepali writers who are starting to point the finger at Nepal's institutionalised corruption coupled with dereliction of duty on the part of some donors as well as offering this UK charity's prescription of values as a means to improve.

Read the article in full here at Nepal Economic Forum

School Sector Reform Plan 2009-2015

Just over a month to go now and we will be off to Kathmandu to deliver the teacher training programme we have developed jointly with Haverigg Primary School. For those of you not regular readers we have two courses, for teachers "Creating a learning environment" and for Head teachers "Managing change". You can see a detailed description on our main website at www.nepalschoolsaid.co.uk
Now, the Nepal Ministry of Education has recently published a far reaching document which is a reform plan of the entire education system 2009-2015. Specifically the plan covers Early Childhood Education, Basic & Secondary Education, Literacy & Lifelong Learning, Teacher Professional Development and a great deal more. From our viewpoint working with Primary Schools a great deal of the plan's focus is on the physical infrastructure of the school system, so it outlines standards on things like buildings, classrooms, toilets, furniture. It sets increasing standards for initial qualifications to become a teacher and the selection process for Head teachers. School management is focused on relationships with the School Management Committees, local communities, local councils, together with governance outlines, teacher contracts, mandatory school opening days, standards of teacher attendance and much more.
This document is most valuable to us in that it gives us a template for the development of our five supported schools as well as some idea of where we may best be able to assist the Ministry of Education in our future dealings with them.

Preparations in full swing!

Not long to go now before our next visit to Nepal at the end of March. This promises to our biggest and most influential yet as we prepare to run several teacher training programmes.

The first of these will be a Teaching Skills course over two days focusing on child centred techniques and this will run twice. The second is a two day management course and this is for Head teachers.

Each course will be attended by not only teachers from our own schools but also from the Ministry of Education who we are trying to influence to upgrade teacher training in Nepal.

Preparation is underway to create the courses and to find some corporate sponsorship in Kathmandu. If you can help we'd be delighted to hear from you.

Nepal continues to suffer

Image by izahorsky via Flickr

In the middle of all our scurrying around schools and offices it's easy to forget that Nepal is still in the throes of a political crisis. Without boring everyone to death with the full background our regular readers will remember that the country is ruled by a 21 party coalition which currently excludes the Maoists who are the largest party with 30% + of the vote. Last April the Maoists were in power but a constitutional crisis led to their resignation from government and our leaving the country quickly in the face of a possible military coup.
Since then the Maoists have been a thorn in the side of government with daily blockages of parliament. Now they have announced a 12 day programme of protests using their youth organisation the Young Communist League (YCL). Starting on November 1st through to November 12th they have organised a schedule involving a torchlight procession, blockage of parliament, street protests, rallies, blockage of municipal offices and a blockade of the airport on 10th November, one day before we travel home!
Marvellous!

Adopted by Shakespeare!

Well, Shakespeare House at Beechen Cliff School, Bath that is! This is their logo on the left, a boys school with a Maths teacher who was a friend of our son Mike and who played a major part in our fundraising group, Mike's Appeal.
Lee is the Head of the newly created Shakespeare House with around 180 boys from all years and part of their extra curricular activity includes some charitable work. They have decided to adopt ourselves together with Julian House, a local hospice for single men and women. Any funds raised will be shared between ourselves and Julian House (40% each) with 20% used for any needs arising within Shakespeare itself.
However, it's not just about the money, as I told these boys on my visit yesterday. There are learning opportunities and adventure opportunities by associating with ourselves and judging by some of the enthusiasm afterwards it wont be long before Nepal is a popular Google search topic along with the terms "himalaya, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, Buddhism ......"

Perfect Timing

Yesterday we began a weeks training for some of our teachers in Kathmandu to help them add "Water & Sanitation" education to the school curriculum. Perfect timing as a report today from the charityWater Aid shows. Once again charities are getting the WRONG priorities ......

"Millions of children's lives are being put at risk each year because aid agencies and governments make wrong choices about health care priorities.
This is the conclusion of a new report from the charity WaterAid.
It says that diarrhoea caused by poor sanitation is killing many more children than HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
The report says the global spending on HIV/Aids hugely outweighs the amounts spent on providing better sanitation. "

Full report on the BBC here

Water & Sanitation Programme Launched in Kathmandu

Today is a big day for us in Kathmandu, the launch of the five day training programme "Water & Sanitation in the School Curriculum" for 12 teachers from our 5 schools. The programme is being run by our partners in this venture, ECCA, a long standing and respected NGO in Nepal.

Across the week these 12 teachers will learn how to enable values based education for their pupils in the issues of clean water, hygiene, sanitation etc to be added to the general curriculum. This addition to the school curriculum was piloted in Kathmandu for 10 selected schools at the end of 2008 and we have been "agitating" to get this applied early across our own supported schools well ahead of it being nationally launched.
Now, thanks to two of our supporters, Dave Moss in the US and Mark Townsend in the UK, their generous donations have made this a reality and we are extremely grateful for their direct funding of the programme.
The programme naturally focuses on the specific content of "water, hygiene, sanitation" but just as important is the professional education our teachers will receive in the five teaching methodologies of "silent sitting; painting, art & craft; role play; music & singing; story telling." In addition there are inputs regarding the wider context including a session from a member of the Education Ministry on the national curriculum, and further sessions on the role of the community and integration into the existing curriculum.
Further updates as the week progresses.

The Wedding Party

Definitely the final set of images from "the wedding". The top two speak for themselves as Sharon and Michael in more traditional British dress wait to greet guests at the evening wedding party. Held at the Kathmandu Radisson, drinks and snacks were served in the main banqueting hall before the Nepali banquet was served in the outdoor Waterfall Garden. The bottom picture shows Sharon greeting her cousin Hisila Yami who is the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation in the Maoist Government. Her husband Dr Bhattarai, the Finance Minister, was unable to attend being involved in the meetings with the prime minister regarding the sacking of the army chief.

Nepal Erupts!

For those of you following our progress in Nepal this is the quickest way to advise everyone that we are all back home in the UK!
Just prior to the wedding political tension had increased due to a row between the prime minister and the head of the armed forces. The reason was that the army chief was refusing to integrate 19,000 Maoist "troops" into the regular army saying they did NOT meet entry standards and were politically indocrinated. The Maoist PM sacked him (unconstitutionally), the President reinstated him (unconstitutionally) and the PM resigned from the government as did all the Maoist ministers. Maoist supporters then began a campaign of intimidation, strikes, road blockades with a strong possibility of an army coup. Yesterday a video was leaked to the press showing the PM discussing with his senior advisors how he had fooled the UN into paying for 35,000 Maoist troops in holding compounds when in fact there were only 7000 and planning the next campaign of intimidation and violence.
By Monday morning our family were advising us to leave as quickly as possible, so we did!
If anyone wants to follow the news from Nepal the two best websites are at www.nepalnews.com.np and www.kantipuronline.com

Trustees Wedding-Ceremony Slideshow

As reported below the wedding took place of Sharon & Michael in Kathmandu last weekend and this is a link to a short slideshow and a short writeup on the ceremony:
The ceremony took about 2.5 hours and contained 5 stages. The first was "Purification" in which the Buddhist priest and Michael spent almost 45 mins in a ceremony to purify the temple space/area prior to the wedding ceremony itself. Next, the marriage lasting about 20 mins in which the couple came together in the centre of the temple for rituals and exchange of rings etc. Next a blessing by the Guruju/priest involving the couple taking about 15 mins. Then a lengthy "receiving" of the family and "respecting" the marriage as each attendee came forward to offer a token gift of respect. Finally a ceremonial departure down the temple steps with everyone following before circling the car three times for luck and transport to the lunch reception. The link to the web slideshow click Nepal Wedding-The Ceremony

Trustees Married In Kathmandu

Three photos from the millions that were taken during a very long day in Kathmandu when two of our young Trustees were married in a Buddhist ceremony at Swayambhu Temple. The ceremony itself took about 2.5 hours and was followed by a "small reception" at the Yak & Yeti Hotel for about 50 guests. Later that evening a larger family party was held at the Kathmandu Radisson for 150 family members and friends.
More pictures and news to follow once we've recovered! Keep watching and commenting.

News From Nepal

Been here for about a week now, flew out on Sunday after Sharon's first wedding on Saturday. Since then we have had a hectic mixture of second wedding arrangements, attempted school visits and partnership meetings. Tried to take 5 visitors today to BalBigyan and Sramik schools but a general strike/road blockage and a teacher strike conspired against us. Last minute change to Kesh Chandra where there was no strike instead.
Posting up photos at the moment is virtually impossible due to power cuts, slow internet and dodgy keyboards. This has taken 40 mins.
Will try more tomorrow.
Family party tonight. Thanks for recent comments Nancy & Trevor, keep posting.

Nepal Visits

Across most of May a number of Trustees will be visiting and working at our schools in Kathmandu and THIS is the place to keep up to date. Keep checking the NewsBlog as we will be posting up news every other day or so and "events" will include:

• Sharon's wedding
• Selecting a new teacher for Bal Kalyan school
• Opening and running the new "Water & Sanitation in the Curriculum" course for 12 of the teachers in our schools
• Meeting with the Heads and Governors of each school
• Conducting a detailed fact-find on two schools
  
• Observing some specific lessons in each school
• Distributing letters and cards from the children of Haverigg and St Jame's schools
• Allocating our budget for the production and purchase of 22,000 exercise books, 1000 textbooks, 100 school bags

We would really welcome visitors to the NewsBlog leavingtheir comments against/under each posting so, especially for our supporters, please click on "comments" and use the "anonymous" login but PLEASE remember to sign your name at the bottom of your message!

“Build A School Appeal” Launched

On Thursday our appeal to raise £25,000 towards the building of a new school for Sramik Primary in Patan, Kathmandu, was launched. The campaign began with a presentation by Brian, our Trustee Chairman at the Millom Rotary Club in Cumbria. The presentation was entitled “From Haverigg to the Himalaya” and told the story of Brian's journey from growing up in Cumbria through to creating Nepal Schools Aid with his Nepali wife Champa.
The appeal is attempting to raise money to provide Sramik Primary School (twinned with St Jame's school in Millom) with a new school in place of the current community building where their existence is constantly under threat. Even if this weren't the case, for 150 children to go to school with no electricity, no running water and no toilet just isn't acceptable and having discovered the extent of their plight we have decided to step outside our normal role in being a providor of materials support to helping with new premises. So, we need to find creative ways of getting grants or large donations, pronto! Millom kicked us off with some personal donations and a promise to look at the possibility of Foundation Grants for us.
The appeal continues at Carlisle Rotary Club on Wednesday evening.