In Nepal, people from the lower levels of society have hardly any access to education. In particular, Dalit – members of the lowest caste – and ethnic minorities are excluded.
In the Dang district of southwest Nepal, four in five Dalit have not completed primary education. Poverty pushes many people to keep the children at home. Without education, these young adults can’t find work, meaning they in turn will be unable to send their children to school.
2,700 children and young people got the opportunity to break the vicious cycle thanks to SA4D and the Dalit Welfare Organisation’s education programme.
Sport and play in lessons
SA4D and the Dalit Welfare Organisation supported children and young people at the preschool, primary school and vocational training level with ‘Move 4 New Horizons’. Sport and play were a fixed element of the lessons for all age groups, because reduced mobility limits intellect. There is no better way for children and young people (and adults) to learn social skills than by playing.
SA4D used sport and play so successfully at the primary school level in Nepal that UNICEF awarded us the Sport for Education Award in 2011.
Supporting young children is worthwhile
SA4D and the DWO built 15 early years centres for children between the ages of three and five. At these centres, the children did things including developing their fine motor skills, practicing listening comprehension and looking at quantities in a playful way.
At the primary school level, SA4D worked with children who had either dropped out of school or never been to school. The children were prepared for the move to regular school in non-formal classes.
Marginalised young people up to the age of 22 developed new prospects with vocational training – for example training as motorbike mechanics or seamstresses, to name just two of the 21 possible subjects. In the academic part of the six-month course, the young people learnt the basics of business and developed their social skills.