Under an accessibility program to educate rural children in Gorkha, English classes have been launched in Gorkha. The program organized by Calls over Ridges, an INGO based in Taiwan, aims at enhancing interpersonal and intrapersonal skills of school students.

The inauguration of the program was held at Hotel Bisauni, Gorkha, on Tuesday. 

The program will cater to 50 students from grades 7-9 of Bal Mandir and Mahendra Jyoti Secondary schools. Students will be provided intensive classes on English, computer, counseling, personality development, and leadership.

The inauguration event was attended by the representative of District Education Office Shree Krishna Acharya, chairperson of Gorkha Municipality Ward 6 Narayan Aryal, Taiwanese visitors, principals and students of respective schools and their guardians. Students were handed over stationery items and dictionaries. Likewise, teachers were provided with laptops under the yearlong English program.

The students are divided in two groups with 25 students in each group. As per the memorandum of understanding signed by the parents, students, and the organizers, two-hour classes will be run three days a week for both the groups, and additional three-hour combined classes on Saturdays after school. The combined class comprises of extra-curricular activities, computer class, personality enhancement, menstrual hygiene, global warming etc. 

The syllabus comprises of different activities and interactive sessions to hone students’ communicative skills. The students will be provided with certificates after the completion of the program.

“When I visited Gorkha along with my friends three years ago, we thought of working in the field of education. Initially, we started funding 109 children of Bal Mandir, Prithvi Narayan, Gorakh Kali, Bindhyabasini and Naba Durga schools located in Gorkha Municipality for two years. However, as the program was unable to draw visible outcomes, we came up with progressive plans of running intensive classes with an aim to uplift children’s level of education,” said co-founder of Calls over Ridges, Tsai Wan-Ting (Emily Tsai). 

The program will take place at Bal Mandir School where the students will get free access to computer on Saturdays. “After having a closer observation of our attempts and approaches in the past, this time we have come up with the English program completely focusing on the students,” said Sang Doma Sherpa, member and local-team leader at Calls over Ridges Nepal. 

“This program will encourage students learn and interact on a regular basis, which will not only hone their interpersonal and communicative skills but also play significant role in helping them grow as a person,” said Manju Bhattarai, one of the teachers of Mahendra Jyoti Secondary school.