Teach Our Children
Two boys who have benefited from our School
ESA Memorial School
The most recent census (2002) reveals that 40% of the population of Kavre District is comprised of children under the age of 14. While the number of children is phenomenal, the lack of educational resources for these children is even more startling. The average teacher of a middle school has only a 12th standard education. The average English middle school teaches all the subjects in Nepali. The tuition of the average school is beyond the reach of the average family. Even local government schools charge a fee that is not always affordable.
While there is nothing wrong in gaining an education in one's mother tongue, it is considered prestigious when a high school graduate is competent in English. English is necessary if he/she desires to pursue quality education or a scholarship. Competing in the job market with graduates of private colleges in India and the upscale colleges in Nepal, the underprivileged students, without the basic mastery of English, find themselves disadvantaged and handicapped. The grasp of English would give these students the edge they deserve.
Realizing that a good-quality English education is a paramount need in the community, Scheer Memorial Hospital found an innovative, inexpensive way to provide this. Using a U.S.-based home-school curriculum that is recognized by the Maryland State Board of Education, Scheer began a Preschool class in September, 2002. Sponsors were secured to cover the $800 for the curriculum and a $75 monthly stipend for a volunteer teacher for the school year. The hospital provided a room and furniture. September, 2003, a Kindergarten class and a second teacher were added. The seventh school year, that began in 2008, has almost 60 students, with all the children from poor families completely sponsored ($200 a year covers tuition, books, two sets of uniforms, and a full meal with a glass of milk each school day). Construction of a new school building was also made possible through a grant from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Finland and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new building consists of a central gymnasium, the size of a basketball half court. On either side of the gymnasium are three classrooms. Along the third wall, facing the entrance are two offices and two sets of bathrooms.
The school has come a long way in seven years! Our primary focus is quality education to the poor in the community, and we are currently instituting the use of Nepali curriculum in order to facilitate the transition to other schools after the 5th grade. Secondly, our goal is to nurture each child, limiting the number in each class to enable teachers to spend one-on-one time with each student. Thirdly, we stress the need to build a strong foundation enrollment of new students at the preschool or kindergarten level to enable all the children in the class to learn English at the same pace without feeling incompetent or awkward. Finally, but most importantly, we develop creative, cognitive, and social skills. Children are first taught to be comfortable with one another, expressive in thought and play and coordinated in tactile abilities. We do not rely on rote memorization.
To best describe the benefits of this school is to tell you about Suraj. At age 7, Suraj stood shorter than a 4-year-old. Malnourished and weak, he came to school the first day in his only set of clothes. His faced was sallow yellow and terribly chapped; his hair was a light rust, from lack of vitamins; his nails were cracked all the way down to his skin; and he could not stay awake for more than an hour at a time. After six months at school, his face had a healthy glow, his hair was black and his nails were strong. The hospital provided him with a complete physical examination, and he was treated for worms and given vitamins. Today, as a 4th grader, he is alert and exhibits a great sense of humor.
Even more encouraging than his physical changes is the fact that his parents consented to enroll him in the school. Suraj's father cleaned bathrooms at the hospital. Being illiterate, he never considered school as an option for his son. When the hospital insisted on knowing why he wasn't sending his child to this "free school", he responded, "My son is a cleaner's child. He was not born with the brains to study." It took over a year of persuasion before he agreed to send Suraj to school.
ESA Memorial School is more than about bringing a quality education to the children of Nepal. It is about uplifting the many, who like Suraj's family, see no horizon of hope. Everyone has the right to change one's destiny! That is what we believe and that is what we want our community to believe, too.
To sponsor a child, to help with operating costs, or to volunteer as a teacher, please contact us.
