Free public education is the only option for the majority of these children who come from lower economic status. Without a quality education, children cannot access better life opportunities and are forced into low paid jobs, unsafe working conditions in foreign countries and get caught in the vicious cycle of poverty. Also, failure to access quality education limits their power and choices in making reproductive decisions, securing financial independence, ensuring personal safety and exercising their fundamental rights and voices.
Teach For Nepal works toward the day when every child in Nepal attains an excellent and equitable education. TFN annually finds and nurtures leaders who commit to expanding opportunity for under-resourced school students in rural Nepal, beginning with at least two years teaching Fellowship in a public school. Teach For Nepal Fellowship is an opportunity for brightest and most promising Nepali youths, who have graduated from best universities and workplace from Nepal and abroad, to serve as full-time teachers. Annually 100s of outstanding graduates apply for the Fellowship of which, only 7-10 percent of applicants are eligible to become a Fellow and enroll onto the program from a range of diverse academic backgrounds. Through two years of teaching and working with key education stakeholders, Teach For Nepal Fellows are exposed to the grassroots realities of Nepal’s education system and cultivate the knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to attain positions of leadership in and beyond education, working collectively to build a vibrant movement for educational equity across Nepal. As of today, Teach For Nepal has 68 Fellows directly serving 6000 public school students in six districts. Similarly, the TFN Alumni has a community of 375 members of which more than 60 percent continue to work in the education sector or the larger development sector post their Fellowship. Every year around 60-70 outstanding graduates join TFN with a mission to drive change through TFN which was founded in 2012, as a social enterprise that works to improve quality education in public schools of the country. Transforming the nation, one classroom at a time For many children, the Fellows are their first encounter with an engineer. It is the first they see a woman with a bachelor’s degree in sciences. And the first time they meet either somebody visually impaired, or a Dalit, with a bachelor’s degree. Living and working in the community as teachers in public schools, Fellows embark upon a leadership journey that roots them within the contextual reality. At the same time, through training, workshops, and conferences, Fellows deepen their understanding of the larger contexts that impact national and international policy and programs. In two years, Fellows make a significant impact in raising classroom achievement and influence the community towards positive change. Greater access to national and global opportunities for higher studies Fellows help students secure scholarship opportunities to pursue higher education in both local and global schools. To date, six female students have received prestigious scholarships for IB education at United World College, a network of international high schools, in Germany and India. Some are now pursuing fully subsidized university degrees, including in the United States. Over 30 other students are on scholarships studying in some of the best private colleges in Kathmandu.
