It was only during my bachelor in social work that I was faced with the harsh reality of how some people in Nepal are suffering. Thinking back to my childhood days, I do not remember a single day without food on the table and a warm bed to sleep in. I now know that I was blessed to have loving and supporting parents who were able to provide this for me. My degree opened my eyes in many ways. Not only the classes I took and the internships I did, but also the experience of encountering other Nepalis from different backgrounds. I met students who were living alone in the valley while their families were still back in the villages. One classmate dropped out in second year because she could no longer afford the classes. I learned that life has not really been fair to everyone. My reason for joining TFN is the children. My mother always told me her life would have been much easier if she had been educated. If I can in anyway bring a positive change in a child’s life by helping them to be…

In the past, I have worked with several NGOs and INGOs that offered attractive salary and perks. I even got several opportunities to visit from east to western parts of Nepal. It was an amazing job but the job never helped in my personal and professional growth. I wanted a job where I was doing the real work and creating changes in the community rather than collecting data and writing reports. As a student, I went to a public school and have experienced, first hand, the traditional teacher-centred teaching which included memorization of words. I am well aware of challenges that a public school student faces inside and outside the classroom. Using my education and my experiences, I want to provide the students with a platform where they can excel and also help me enhance my capabilities and learning.

My parents both grew up very poor, struggling even for a proper meal. In such a situation access to education was beyond their luck and I have grown up listening to their stories of struggling to get a job, earn money, and sustain their lives because of that. Their stories always motivated and made me realise the importance of education in everyone’s life. Whenever I see poor people struggling to survive I remember the roots of my parents. Thus, from very young age, I was interested in social activities where I could add value to other’s life. Working as a facilitator for Women LEAD Nepal, I got to know how a single person can create a big impact in society through youth empowerment and education. While I was facilitating 200 adolescents from around Nepal at National Girl Power Conference-2015, I could see and feel an incompetency amongst youth from public schools. It made me feel that I could help so many children like them if I were a teacher. I also realised that I love children…

I come from a middle-class family who raised cattle to generate income. My parents are both uneducated and had to struggle a lot in life. Even though I came from a poor background, my parents made sure I went to a good private school so that I would be presented with all the opportunities that they never got. My father always taught us to live a simple life and as a Teach For Nepal Fellow, I want to teach my students them the same. I want to use my four years of teaching experience and transformational learning from Teach For Nepal to bring in social changes in the community and my students. Along with teaching, I want to fight the social evils like child marriages, gender discrimination and social taboos and develop leadership skills and global network necessary for my career growth.

After graduating with my Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from VTU, Bangalore, India, I decided to move back to Nepal even though I had a job offer from various companies. In Nepal, just like any other young graduates, I also jumped on the bandwagon of going to the US for higher education but my parents didn’t want me to leave the country. Like any other parents in Nepal, they asked me to prepare for “Lok Sewa” exam. A government job where I have to do the least but still make a handsome salary and all the benefits of working for Nepal government. Though I started to work in private industries as Engineer, I used to get bored there. I wanted to do something that was challenging, rewarding and yearning which machines don’t have. While looking for new opportunities, I came across a post shared by one of my friends on Facebook about Teach For Nepal Fellowship. I did some research to learn more about TFN and it instantly reminded me of the deep conversation I had with a retired Pr…

If it wasn’t for the Tribhuvan University’s National Development Service (NDS) in the 1970’s which is almost similar to Teach For Nepal Fellowship, my father would not have been able to get the education he has today. Growing up in Khotang district in the eastern development region of Nepal, my parents didn’t have access to drinking water, health care, transportation and education until two young graduates came and started teaching in open yard under a tree. They weren’t able to solve all the problems but they were able to provide access to quality education to my dad and his peers. My dad always taught me that education is the most important factor in our life. Today, so many children don’t have access to quality education and healthcare. With my nursing degree and the education I have received, I want to provide my students and the community with education as well as health service.

Even as a child I was very familiar with the demon that is inequality. The first form of this demon that I encountered was discrimination between rich and poor. The demon built walls between what I wanted to do and what my parents could afford. As I grew up the demon showed me other forms. The lower and higher casts, the girls and boys, the touchables and untouchables; the list goes on. One day I saw an advertisement titled “WHAT IF YOUR FIRST JOB WAS CHANGING THE NATION?” It was the most powerful statement I had ever heard. It made me stop right at that moment and choose a completely new path I had never considered before. TFN is an opportunity to learn about myself and what I am capable of, to serve my place of birth, and to fight against the demon that I have always been afraid of. I have seen in my parents the struggle that results from lack of education, and in myself the way that education changes lives. That is why I am at TFN.

In my life, I have seen many friends with sharp minds and high aspirations who ended up not even passing the SLC exams. I have also seen many friends who did pass the SLC, but ended up in the passport office for early foreign employment rather than higher education. With time, as we caught up, they started sharing with me about the extreme difficulties they put through as wage workers abroad. I even saw a young fellow villager return inside a coffin within months of leaving Nepal. Had he been educated better, he would have had access to better working conditions. He deserved better. Our youths and their families deserve better, and I know that only quality education can give them what they deserve. To address the problems I saw in education, I started and ran an organization to support rural children. However, I found that improving public schools is indispensable in this pursuit. I discovered that TFN allows that access as well as necessary skill support to become true change-maker…

Before joining Teach For Nepal, I worked professionally for five years and the fact that I chose to apply for Fellowship was an opportunity to develop skills for my career development. My education journey has been quite interesting. I was raised in an average middle-class family and it was our parents always put education as a priority in our lives, as a result, I and my sister were the first in our family to attend private school. My father only attended school until third grade, which meant that he had limited career opportunities in life. He knew the value of education and always emphasized that we received the kind of education that he never did. I face various problems during my school years, I was never able to attain grades that were more than 33 and even when I was studying on my own, I was reading English and Nepali out loud without even knowing what I was actually studying. If it wasn’t for my teachers, school and my family I wouldn’t have been able to get the grades I n…

I grew up in a loving Newar family and was instilled with Newari culture, traditions, lifestyle, norms and values at an early age. My father worked hard to provide for his family after my grandfather’s death. He made sure everyone in the family received the best things in life even though that meant discontinuing his education. My parents were always supportive of my decision and always created a positive learning environment for me. I never had to face any struggle because my parents always made sure I had everything I needed in life. As a kid, I enjoyed helping my mom with her household chores. This enjoyment led me towards the desire to help others and seeing my parents always helping people inspired me to be engaged in volunteer work leading me to pursue bachelor’s in social work. After completing my bachelors, I joined VSO-ICS program and worked as an Action Learner. The program helped me learn about government school and people in rural community. I learned about the reality …