Photo Courtesy: Fred Armitage
News Reproduced from: Karuna Shechen Newsletter | December 2008

Have you read about the remarkable work of Uttam Sanjel on our website? Uttam starting from scratch has built six schools in Nepal, reducing construction costs by using bamboo as the main material. The schools offer an education to over 10,000 pupils. He calls his schools Samata Shiksha Niketan, 'places of study and peace.' His newest projects are schools in Banepa and Pokhara.

School in Banepa

The seventh bamboo school is in Banepa, a town situated an hour's drive east of Kathmandu. Karuna-Shechen provided the necessary help for its construction. The first part of the project is now complete, and three hundred children have been attending the school, where they are taught by fifteen teachers, all women. The construction of the second part will start soon. In April, the beginning of the next school term, the number of pupils could reach a thousand, or even 1500, according to the demand.

School in Pokhara

Uttam, whose enthusiasm and determination seem to know no limits, is about to obtain land in Pokhara, where he will build another school. Many poor families come down from the mountains to find work in Pokhara and throughout the day their children often just wander alone in the streets. The new school will be able to accommodate one thousand children. It is crucial that they are offered an education before it is too late and they become street children. Construction will begin in February and will take only four to six weeks. The school will be up and running when the school year begins in April. The construction costs for the school will be about 25,000 euro.

--
I Am New,
Krish Murali Eswar.