Educational Infrastructure Support

Shanti Griha believes that basic insfrastructure facilities such as school buildings, libraries, road connections and bridges, and community houses play important parts in human development. Continuing the tradition of supporting community houses where local people can gather, spend quality time, and share their knowledge and experience, SG worked with the schools so that the buildings constructed can also be used as a community gathering place. In most villages the schools are built by the community and the government rarely funds the construction. These types of buildings are built in the old fashioned way; with packed clay and cow dung or with mud and stones and virtually no windows and sunlight and fresh air. And with age these buildings starts to collapse, with gaping holes in the walls and the roof, with no security for the little ones. Shanti Griha helps to bring back these buildings to a new life; renovation, repairs, and most of the time by building a good, spacious, modern building.

In 2005 Shanti Griha was able to support five primary schools in Syangja. In Purna Durga Bhawani Primary School, Syangja, a protection wall was built to safeguard the school ground from landslides and direct exposure to the road. Two rooms of the old school building was repaired and painted while three of the rooms were brought down and a two storey building was constructed. In Dhurba Deurali Primary School the school building was fully renovated with bigger windows and doors. An assembly place was also built which is serving as a stage also. Another building in the same school has also been fully repaired and renovated and a second floor was added. The ground has been leveled and new furniture and sporting goods have been provided. The community contributed for the fencing of the school.

A nursery school in Banskot received support for a two-room building. A substantial amount was contributed by the villagers while others contributed in the form of volunteer labor. The children are well looked after by a nanny. They are made familiar with alphabets and words; and most of the time they spend their time playing with other children and creating a friendly environment. On Saturdays, the school building is used by the villagers as a community meeting hall. Similarly in Phedikhola the Mahendra Jana Sahayog Primary School received support for a four-room building with a staircase going up to the second floor to be built later. Shanti Griha has helped this school with a library building and computers in the past. Shree Pradhumna Paneru Higher Secondary School received ten Pentium IV computers and five sets of UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply). Shanti Griha personnel were at the school to monitor and supervise the configuration of the local area network, software installation, and hardware and software troubleshooting. The community did a big effort to construct a new school building and the computer room was furnished. The school is servicing the entire region for computer education.

In Lahari, support was provided for a second floor to Lahari Primary School. The second floor serves as a meeting room for the school and for the villagers. Library books, furniture, and a teacher support were also provided. Shanti Griha linked the school with Room to Read for more library books, the principle also received a three-day training on proper library management.Similarly in Chitwan Rastriya Primary School also received support for stationery and one teacher. The school was rebuilt again because the walls were starting to crack because of landslides. This time the foundation has depth and trees have been planted around the school compound for counter measures against future landslides. Shanti Griha was able to help Shree Janajyoti Rastriya Primary School to fence the school compound and support a teacher for a year. Shree Dibya Jyoti School was provided with funds for a new three-room school building. Richardstraße School and Kinderhilfswerk für die Dritte Welt provided school bags, office furniture, stationery, and other much needed materials. At present, the school is one of the best in the area. Even the villagers want to bring their children from other schools as the school has a good program and they have a probability of getting work as the income generation program of Birendranagar is run by the school.

Similarly in Dhading Shanti Griha was able to support two village communities with two new school buildings, toilets, and clean water. The schools also serve as a community center and adult literacy school. In Pipalbhanjyang School Shanti recognized that a hostel was necessary especially keeping in mind that the Chepang students could not go back to their village everyday (at a walking distance of 7-8 hours) and they used to sleep in the classrooms. The hostel features four rooms. Blankets were provided by Shanti Griha and while, at present, the villagers of Pipal Bhanjyang chip in to feed the Chepangs.

Educational Workshops,Training and Support

Shanti Griha aims to provide young Nepalese with the skills and technical knowledge needed which they can transfer to the area of employment they go into, whether it be in the public, private, academic, or technical sector. In order to assure that Nepalese people with limited resources do not get left behind, Shanti Griha has been providing community based computer education from four places; Kathmandu, Pokhara, Chitwan and Dhading. In Kathmandu only, more than 3000 youths have been trained. More than 60% of the training participants have been from outside the Kathmandu Valley. Similar trainings are being provided from other stations. Shanti Griha has also been supporting schools with computers both for the students and office. The teachers are given special computer classes such that they can keep records of the school. All schools have the basic mandate of providing services to people with financial and educational restraints.

Shanti Griha provides training to teachers on subjects such as individual care of students, new teaching techniques, and discouragement of harsh punishment. Parent-Teacher meeting has been initiated in an efficient way in relation to matters such as the responsibilities of teachers and parents towards the children, progress of the children, health and hygiene and so on. Educational material like books, copies, and pencils were also distributed. Realizing that even one teacher can make a huge difference to the educational capacity of poor schools, Shanti Griha provided the salaries of five teachers in 2005 and gave scholarships to candidates who professed extreme need. At this time, Shanti Griha is paying for the education of 12 children in different cities and villages. Because some of these children do not have a place to live in, SG supports their hostel fees.

Early Childhood Development has also been initiated by Shanti Griha in different places. The children are made friendly to the school environment, alphabets and words. They are made to spend time with other children playing different games which are interesting to them and which enhances creativity. As many adults in Nepal cannot read or write, Shanti Griha arranged for adult literacy classes in Chitwan in the Terai, and assured that similar adult literacy classes that it initiated in the hills in Saichhaap, Mohoria, Kitini, and Lamidanda and in the plains of Kapilbastu continued. More than 200 older villagers are now able to read and write basic Nepali and the Nepali numerals.

Workshops and training sessions relating to book-keeping, proposal and report writing are organized frequently for the villagers. In order to assure that our education and awareness related activities are useful and practical, professionals from all fields are invited. Similarly, experts from abroad, volunteers and Shanti Griha staff are involved in youth training, conflict transformation, and capacity building seminars and other skill development training. Training on the repair of television, radio, phone sets, and other electronic items is being continued. Through this training, people from surrounding villages will be able to solve small problems related to electronics and do not have to carry their equipment from the villages (including solar power energy sets) to town centers for minor repairs.

Shanti Griha’s agriculture and livestock related training and workshops enhances the ability of farmers to identify specific diseases in their livestock and the vaccinations and medication necessary to treat potential and existing diseases. Observation tours for farmers has led to greater awareness on how agriculture and farming animal husbandry can be improved by integrating new approaches with indigenous practices. Using organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers are encouraged. Seeds and saplings are provided and farmers are taught how even a small piece of land can be used for productive Kitchen Gardening using the waste water from the house. Since the cost invested is less, the returns from it are high. In many places such as Saurathok, Pokhara and Dhading the cultivation of crops have been very successful both for self consumption and commercial purpose.

Mushroom farming workshops and training has been a big hit in the villages where hay (straw) and wood is in abundance. More than 30 village communities have benefited from Mushroom farming. In Birendranagar, Bhandara, Malekhu, and Kaskikot the village communities have commercially cultivated mushrooms; earning as much as 15,000 Rupees in a month. In other places, few kilos are sold while the rest is consumed. In Chitwan, Shanti Griha organized a seven-day apiculture training at a professional apiculture center. 12 people participated from seven villages of Chitwan and Kapilbastu; three Shanti Griha staffs also participated to better their knowledge. The participants were provided with hives and bees. Just in a few months they were able to double the number of hives and started selling honey in the market. Bee Keeping seminars and workshops are regularly held in the villages and special help is provided to the Chepang people who have a very old and traditional method of bee keeping. For places where lakes and ponds are nearby Shanti Griha provides fishery training. These training have helped the villagers in identifying the variety of fish that can be farmed in a particular environment, common diseases, and algae problems.

Dance, Aikido, Music, and Handicraft classes are regularly run in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Drawing and painting workshops are held regularly in Pokhara and in the village schools. German and English language courses are run regularly in Kathmandu. Regular awareness programs such as HIV/AIDS and health and sanitation are organized in Kathmandu, Pokhara and in the villages amongst the youths and some elders such that they can later organize such awareness programs in their locality. The youths in Pokhara and Malekhu have been given regular culinary training, table manners and proper arrangement of food and table utensils. Many youths have already started to work in some restaurants while some have opened their own local highway restaurants. Sewing training have been running as an Income generation activity and in this the individuals are taught how to use the remaining materials in a creative way to produce new items. Stitching of clothing which are in fashion are focused in addition to other regular clothings.