I first visited Shree Bhagawati Basic School in 2008 whilst trekking in the Himalayan Foothills. I was inspired by the vision, hard work and dedication of the Chairman Prakash Gurung, who has strived to make this government funded school inclusive and forward thinking. My husband and I were so impressed by Prakash’s ideas and the enthusiasm of the children that we emptied our pockets and gave all the money we had at the time to the school, about $100. Since then, we have regularly supported the school financially.

Prakash insists the school caters for children from all castes and educates them equally. He has also moved away from the standard Nepalese state education model and has followed the structure of Nepalese private schools who teach the students in English. He is determined to employ specialist teachers of English, Mathematics and Science to give the students a STEM based experience.

The reason I am explaining all this is that the school has hit hard times, with the lack of tourism and donations to the school; there is no funding to pay for the 7 English speaking/specialist teachers and the government only pay for 5 teachers for the school. Currently students are only able to go to school one day a week in their year groups and they have no other teaching. The money to pay for the nursery area has been withdrawn, so the project cannot be completed.

If you would like to join me in supporting the Shree Bhagawati School, please consider signing up for the easyfundraising app. If you go through this app when you do your online shopping, the businesses you use donate to the school and will allow us to prove ongoing support for the teachers and students.