Pokhara School for deaf children - Nepal

Summary of the project

“A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instil a love of learning.” Brad Henry
The majority of deaf children living in Nepal receive no education. Help deaf children in Nepal achieve their dreams by paying the excellent teachers who will educate and inspire them

Full Project details

Background

The majority of deaf children living in Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries, receive no education. They are born into hearing families and, as there is no specialist support, they develop no language beyond the most basic of gestures. Can you imagine a life with no language? How would you feel if your child was unable to tell you about their fears, hopes and dreams? With no language and no education, their futures’ are bleak. We have been working in Nepal since 2000 in order to change this and to give deaf children the same chances, opportunities and hope for the future that hearing children enjoy.

How do we do this?

The Gandaki Association of the Deaf (GAD) in the town of Pokhara was one of the first deaf associations we worked with. In Pokhara there was a small (12 pupil) deaf school operating in the back room of a youth club— but this was always full. Our partnership with GAD enabled them to build a brand new school and hostel building. Since then with help from generous donations we have been able to build a second floor to both the school and hostel. The Shreejana School has gone from strength to strength and with 203 pupils is now the second largest school for deaf children in Nepal.

Case Studies:

Narayan was 12 when we met him, tired and confused in the dark in a field by a fast flowing river.  His brother and his brother’s friend had walked with him for miles to find us and to plead with us to find some way of getting Narayan into a school for deaf children. Narayan had been born deaf, had no language and no education.  He was teased every day in his village and his family were really worried about his future.

We promised to get him a place at the school for deaf children that we were building in Pokhara. Narayan has been at the school for a number of years now. He has friends, he’s getting an education and he is fluent in Nepali Sign Language.  He can now tell us all about the first time we met by that river.

Many of the children at the school have similar stories to Narayan. Deaf awareness is something that is in its infancy in Nepal, we’re also working to change that. In the local communities around the school and where the children come from we run mobile Nepali Sign Language Classes so that people have an awareness of deafness. More importantly the children are happy when they go home and have people they love who can communicate with them.

What’s next?

The Nepalese government can offer very little support for the education of deaf children. Whilst they do pay a percentage of the salaries for the teachers in the school they do not pay enough to cover the true wage of a qualified teacher. If we are unable to raise enough money the teaching at the school in Pokhara will either reduce dramatically or worse - stop completely. All the teachers in the school are themselves deaf, or if not they are taught sign language and have to become fluent quickly.

Having all teachers fluent in Sign Language offers the children in the school the best possible education. The only chance many deaf children have for a brighter future is the chance of a language and education which the school offers. Think of how much it costs to pay a qualified teacher in the UK; its makes the amount of money we need seem like peanuts! You can make a real difference to the lives of these children.

Can you help deaf children achieve their dreams by helping to pay the excellent teachers who educate and inspire them?