Reports from Kathmandu indicate a highly successful programme for all participants. Key points apart from the obvious content learning appear to have been the application methodologies learned and the motivation from a human values based approach. Teachers have now returned to their schools to begin implementation and we will report on this in a few weeks.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Good News From Nepal!
At last some good news from Nepal received via my nephew Anuj in Kathmandu; the power cuts, called load shedding in Kathmandu, have been reduced by 50%.
So, as of now the power cuts are ONLY 8 hours per day!!
So, as of now the power cuts are ONLY 8 hours per day!!
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
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
Monday, 11 May 2009
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.
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.