We've put together this video showing the new classrooms that have been built in Nepal as a direct result of fundraising in the UK. Five classrooms at two schools in this video are directly funded by Manisha UK, with classrooms at three more schools on the way!

Library Project 2016

Twin Schools in the press

The pupils at Howard Junior School have been doing such a fantastic job of supporting their twin school, that they've been written about in their local paper.

They have been raising money to buy shoes for children at their twin school, Himalaya Primary School. The children there wear flip-flops to school, which are great during the summer but can leave their feet freezing during the harsh winters. The shoes that Howard Junior School send will make a huge difference, and allow children to concentrate on learning and playing, instead of their cold feet.

But raising money for shoes is not all Howard Junior have done! Shortly after the earthquake in April, the pupils responded by sending shoe boxes, full of treats and toys, which really help to raise the spirits of the terrified children. After that, they worked with Kings Lynn Academy to help raise money for rebuilding classrooms. The schools raised close to £5000 between them, which will mean four new classrooms at Himalaya Primary, and two at Kings Lynn Academy's twin school, Amrit Higher Secondary. 

The work of these pupils is making a huge difference to the education of hundreds of children in Nepal. A better education means a better future. In fact, a child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5! Thanks to Howard Junior, Kings Lynn Academy and all our twin schools, almost 2000 boys and girls will receive a better standard of education and look forward to a better future. 

 

Have you done something interesting to raise money for your twin school? Perhaps your school has been in the newspaper as well? If so, we'd love to hear about, and write about it on our website. You can email your stories to info@manisha-uk.org

Regular visitors to our website may have noticed some minor changes to school names. We've recently updated some of the school and village names, as the names we were using to refer to them weren't completely correct. Sometimes they referred  to a near by or neighboring village name, or the nearest point on the main road. The table below shows the correct school and village names for all our Nepali schools. VDC stands for Village Development Committee, and is the local administrative  area.

Sometimes known as	School Name	Village Name	VDC Name
Amrit / Anghakola	Shree Amrit Public Higher Secondary School	Agahakhola	Pipaldanda-3
Bastase / Gorkha	Shree Bhagawati Himalaya Higher Secondary School	Batase	Ghairung-2
Bhalebas	Shree Bhagawati Lower Secondary School	Chhap	Madanpokhara-4
Dumre	Shree Jandeep Secondary School	Bagainchabari	Masyam-7
Jheksang	Rakama Devi Lower Secondary School	Khokhla	Pipaldanda-5
Kolkal	Kalankee Primary School	Kolkal	Madanpokhara
Mahachap	Himalaya Primary School	Mahachhap	Khanichhap-8
Okhaldhunga	Gyanodaya Secondary School	Okhaldhunga	Kachal-2
Pipaldanda	Shree Nava Durga Primary School	Ramche	Pipaldanda-6
Bagnas	Shree Basanta Primary School	Bagnash	Chappani-1

Earthquake rebuilding program update

Over the last couple of weeks, Manisha UK have signed agreements with four of the schools we support in Palpa, to assist in rebuilding eleven classrooms that have been condemned following last years earthquakes. 

Agreement being signed at Jandeep, Dumre

At each of the schools we are assisting, we will provide approximately 70% of the estimated project cost. The community will make up the remaining 30% by either contributing labour or raising money to employ labourers. Working in this way not only makes our funds go further, but gives the community a real sense of ownership over the new buildings. It also means that we know the communities who we are supporting are highly motivated and will cherish the new buildings! 

We are providing support to the following schools:

Shree Amrit in Anghakoloa, 2 new classrooms.
Shree Himalaya in Mahachap, 4 new classrooms.
Jandeep School in Dumre, 4 new classrooms.
Gyanodaya School in Okhaldhunga, 1 new classroom. 

Other schools will also receive help with minor repairs, where required, or improvements to classrooms. We have already distributed new carpets to several schools for nursery and year 1 classes. 

Shree Amrit's headteacher signing the agreement letter

We also plan to help our school in Batase, Gorkha district, which has been completely condemned. Saran, our local coordinator, visited the school recently, and will announce what support we will be giving following agreements with other organisations supporting this school. 

We'd like to offer a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the pupils at all our schools to everyone who donated and raised money for Manisha UK, especially the children at the UK twin schools. Without your fantastic efforts, we would not be in a position to offer all this help.

Community members and school staff reading the agreement letter. 

Everest Challenge

Photos from today's Everest Challenge are now available via our Facebook page at facebook.com/manishauk

Fund raised today will make a huge difference to hundreds of children affected by the earthquake in April. Thank you so much for your support and congratulations on some fantastic rowing.

Fantastic fundraising at Whitehall Infants School

Some much deserved recognition for the pupils at Whitehall Infants School in Uxbridge, who raised over £1500 for our earthquake rebuilding fund!

A hand up, not a hand out

Shree Bhagwati Lower Secondary School in Bhalebas village is a wonderful example of a community who seek a hand up rather than a hand out.

Last year I arrived in Bhalebas with Barbara, another of our volunteers, for one of my first school visits in Nepal. I couldn't have been more surprised when we were shown into a freshly painted room with neat carpets, good furniture and four brand new computers! 

How had this happened? In this poor rural community who had given them all this? The answer: they helped themselves! The community wanted their children to grow up with the ICT skills they will need to thrive in an evolving economy, so came together to raise the money to buy the 4 PCs, with a small contribution from the government. A Japanese NGO helped to provide the building, but with significant contributions from the community. 
We were thrilled to see how much the community had done for themselves, and delighted to add three used laptops to their ICT suite as well as work with teachers on developing quality ICT lessons. It was so inspiring to see a community come together to make a better future for their children.

Manisha UK don't go to villages simply to give handouts, we work with well motivated communities who do as much as they can for themselves and just need that extra little help to get them over the line. The communities we work with recognise the value of education to make a better future for their children and are committed to making the most of the opportunities that we provide together. 

Grateful for what they've got!

A recent study by the University of York has found children in Nepal have much higher life satisfaction than children in the UK and much of the economically developed world. 

They may have less computers, toys and games than their British counterparts, as well as doing more housework, but 8-12 year olds reported higher levels of life satisfaction and optimism about the future of their country than children in the UK and South Korea. In Nepal 90% of children have not internet access and a third don't have a television, but those that have visited Nepal will know children their take great joy from whatever they do have, be it rubber bands made into a ball or bits of scrap wood turned into a cricket set. 

There were also very high level of agreement with the statement "I like going to school", ranking third out of fifteen countries, above UK, Norway, Germany and Spain. Manisha UK volunteers can vouch for the children's infectious enthusiasm!





It's humbling to see that children who often have so little can be so happy with the little they have. It is further proof that a little goes a long way in Nepal! 

Our mission is to make sure children not only enjoy going to school, but are able to stay there through secondary school and receive a high quality and valuable education. To continue to do this we rely on your support. You can donate here or get involved in our Everest Challenge here!

















Sources for this article are here with additional reporting from The Kathmandu Post

Education is a weapon for world change!

Celebrating Success!

We've now had SLC results from our 3 schools where year 10 students took SLC exams this year. 

Across the 3 schools 47% of students passed, which is exactly the same as the national average. 

This national average includes fee paying as well as government schools. At government maintained schools such as ours the national average pass rate was only 33%. We are delighted that our schools have been able to get so far ahead of this by adapting new teaching techniques and utilising resources we have provided. 

A special mention goes to Shree Bhagawati Himalaya Higher Secondary school in Gorkha that achieved an amazing 73% pass rate, despite their incredibly remote location and severely limited resources. 

Well done to all the students who took their exams this year, we're delighted for all of you and proud of your hard work. 

Manisha UK would like to congratulate all students in Nepal who received their SLC (school leaving certificate) results this week.

47.43% of students passed this year, the best result nationally for four years. Hopefully this reflects an improvement in the quality of education. We are waiting to hear the results from our twin schools but hope confidently that new teaching techniques will have helped them beat the national average!