CAIRN Nursery Schools
Background
46% of children do not complete their first year of primary education.
(DFID)
A child growing up in Nepal faces some of the worst living conditions in the world. Out of every 100 children living in Nepal, 84 live in villages, 47 are malnourished & 40 belong to destitute families.
In rural Nepal, the youngest children accompany their parents, especially their mothers, as they work on the fields. Strapped to their mothers back, they often fall asleep waiting patiently, under the blazing sun.
Many young children grow up under the care of older siblings, who consequently miss out on an education. Often, making a silent transition into child labour as they are deemed too old to start attending school.
Many years of research has proven that investing in early child care & development can bring huge benefits to a child's academic performance as well as in the broader aspects of their life.
With 80% of the human brain
being formed in the first 18 months of a child's life,
the first few years are instrumental in determining a child's full potential.
However, in a developing country like Nepal, where many children suffer from malnutrition, poor child care and lack of psycho-social stimulation in early childhood, the damage caused can often be long lasting and not easily reversible. As education is such a luxurious commodity, most rural communities could never dream of starting their children's education journey so early. Of the children who enrol in grade 1, 16% drop-out, with a further 30% repeating the grade. This constitutes a 46% failure rate at just grade 1.
While there has been quite fast growth of kindergartens, nursery schools and pre-school centres in urban areas of Nepal, the quality of these centres leaves much to be desired. In rural areas such facilities are still a rarity and the ones that do exist are basic class rooms with little or limited resources.
What is the CAIRN Trust doing?
The CAIRN Trust believes that if lasting change is to occur, it must begin in the earliest years of a child's life.
As a result, The CAIRN Trust has extended its construction portfolio to include Nursery Schools so that children can be left in an environment conducive to them learning and developing from the earliest stage. CAIRN currently has implemented four Nursery Schools in the villages where it operates: Pelkachour, Bhujung, Midim Bhache and Ghanpokhara.
The classrooms are constructed to the highest professional standard, with strong roofs which withstand the heavy downpour of the monsoon season and
are well ventilated.
Inside, the rooms have brightly coloured and informative walls so that children's minds are stimulated. Their basic comforts are met by simple, but often overlooked, touches such as soft floors and mattresses for them to sleep on. Each room is fully equipped with a fantastic supply of toys, learning resources and musical instruments. Health and hygiene is taken into consideration through the installation of water filters and the provision of basic medicines and first aid kits.
Dependant on the room size, each nursery class has between 20-30 children learning together with a teacher and an assistant. The nursery schools have toilets and a kitchen so that the children receive a clean cooked meal every day.
Our aim is that the nursery schools will not only provide children with a safe area in which to play, but also the opportunities to develop emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills which enable them to engage with the basics of education and importantly become accustomed to a school environment. CAIRN is delivering its Nursery Schools Programme with its two implementation partners, SATHI Nepal and The Pahar Trust.
Future plans
We would like to continue expanding early child development by working with communities to install three additional nursery schools per year. Through these schools, we can relieve families of their childcare burden and also start more children on their educational journey earlier, preparing them for their transition into primary school and unlocking their potential to learn.
