Ruby grew up as the first grandchild of both sides of her family, raised in a close-knit neighbourhood where everyone knew everyone and she was loved by all of them. As a child, she came home from school and taught her dolls on a blackboard her parents had bought her, marking magazines as assignments, calling the class to order; it was entirely sincere: she had always wanted to be a teacher. She went on to study Biotechnology, drawn by a fascination with how living systems work and what biology can do in the real world, then completed an MBA in International Business. As her life moved through science, business, and responsibilities, the small voice to be in a classroom filled with students who feel safe and curious never left her. Ruby thinks the Fellowship is the bridge between who she has always been and who she is still becoming and her purpose in life. She hopes to impact students in a way a single caring adult can change the direction of a child’s life. She finds the opportunity…

Krishna grew up in a small hilltop village in Arghakhanchi, shaped by a disciplined household, a government-employee father who believed deeply in education, and a mother whose quiet lessons in kindness and integrity became the compass he has navigated by ever since. Teachers, however, were autocratic, authoritative figures who punished students. He was a top student at his village government school, winning essay competitions, radio program recognitions, and poetry contests. He chose Science after his SLC, then followed a growing global awareness toward Environmental Science at Tri-Chandra College in Kathmandu, and eventually pursued a PhD in Italy, where he generated new knowledge about how conifer species in the Himalayas adapt to climatic variability — completing his research through the full disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, collecting samples between lockdowns, and finishing within his planned timeline. That experience of adapting, persisting, and producing results under con…

Sushila grew up in Baraghare, Bharatpur. She was the eldest child in her family, which meant responsibility arrived early, and she wore it naturally, the kind of child who was mischievous but still scored great marks and was loved by every teacher she ever had. From childhood, she wanted to be a social worker, inspired by her father. Her school shaped her in ways that went well beyond the classroom: an institution whose congregation also runs schools in rural areas providing free education to children who would otherwise go without, a fact that deepened in Sushila a sense of what education can mean when it is offered to those with the least access to it. She went on to complete her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, spending five years away from home — navigating a new city, a demanding scientific curriculum, and an active student life that eventually pulled her into organisational leadership. She rose to become in charge of the student union, raised her voice against decisions she b…

Kirtee grew up in Amling, a small village in Makwanpur, in a family whose roots run deep in the Pandit tradition — her grandfather a custodian of that knowledge at 82, her father a retired Sanskrit teacher turned priest, and her mother a health worker who quietly manages both roles at once. She was a curious and sensitive child who learned to read and write before she ever entered a classroom, watching her father write his diary and asking him how. School was a place she took seriously, and she was disciplined and diligent — but shy, and deeply uncomfortable in unfamiliar spaces. She later worked at an educational consultancy, where the transactional nature of education focused on paperwork, visas, and destination rather than genuine growth and learning. She saw firsthand how hundreds of young people left their loved ones, their family, and home for opportunity and growth that are absent here in Nepal. This made her question whether the gap lies in our inability to recognize opportuni…

Abhash was born in Sulichaur, one of the biggest bazaars of Rolpa, but it was in Kathmandu's classrooms and football fields where he found his footing. A naturally curious and quietly determined young man, finishing SEE with a 3.65 GPA that even surprised himself. Abhash completed his Bachelor's in Computer Applications, driven by a simple but firm goal: to study at least until bachelor's in Nepal. What truly stayed with him, though, was the idea of becoming a teacher in his own village in Rolpa. His inspiration to become a teacher came from his mother, who herself was a teacher but had to drop her career to take care of the family. Abhash grew up in a school where harsh corporal punishment was the norm. He had both - the kind of teacher he wanted to be, like his mother, and the kind of teacher he didn't want to be. He applied for the Teach For Nepal Fellowship because he has always wanted to stand in front of students and teach, not just subjects, but possibilities. He sees the Fell…

Junu grew up in Sabru, a village in Khotang where families depended on agriculture, children walked over an hour to school, access to education, healthcare and transportation was limited. Junu is the first-generation female graduate of her family - she and her sister were the first women who had the opportunity to get formal higher education. When she came from a rural public school to study in Kathmandu, the disparity between urban and rural education systems deeply affected her. Growing up, her classmates could not pursue higher education, and went overseas to earn a living for their families. Later, while working in Sindhupalchowk, she saw the patterns and disparity yet again: the same inequities, the same gaps, the same children being left behind. Being a first-generation woman graduate in her family has shaped how she understands both privilege and responsibility. She comes from a context where children, especially girls, rarely have the chance to pursue higher education, so her …

Pramila grew up in Sindhupalchok, a district known for its mountain landscapes and the deep resilience of the people who live there. She was a disciplined and determined student at Janajagriti Secondary School, topping her class and later earning Samaanta scholarship to pursue higher education in Kathmandu. The shift from Nepali-medium to English-medium education was its own kind of challenge — one she met by practising, engaging, and pushing forward until the language stopped being a wall and became a tool. But alongside her academic path, she was building something else: years of leadership through Women Lead Nepal, council membership at Nepal Teen Leader, volunteering and fundraising for Samaanta Foundation. It was TFN teachers who were teaching her in her classroom in Sindhupalchowk who shaped her own education. Her TFN teachers showed her the transformative power of education, and that experience of being supported and believed in is precisely what draws her back — not as a b…

Sanjit grew up in Haripur, Sarlahi, and remembers school as a scary place. Not occasionally — consistently. Teachers could beat students at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all: a multiplication table asked on a whim, a homework not completed, a mood that arrived in the classroom before the lesson did. Even as the class topper, Sanjit was not exempt from the fear. One teacher stood apart: his Nepali teacher, who simply did not punish, and yet the freedom that created made her one of his favourites. A science teacher got angry when Sanjit asked why gourds plant fruit before they flower, when most flowering plants do the opposite. The question was genuine, but his curiosity got suppressed. Sanjit has not forgotten either of those moments. He went on to complete a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering from Pulchowk. In Nepal, he observes, teaching is rarely anyone's first choice. Teachers themselves will tell you they did not plan to be there. And as long as a government job or a …

Ritika grew up in Lalitpur, a shy and introverted child who expressed herself mostly through observation and reflection. Growing up within the Kathmandu Valley, she was exposed early to both access and inequality. Her own experience with education was not always safe or encouraging. Subjects like mathematics frightened her not because of the subject itself, but because of how it was taught. Over the years, she built a professional life, heading editorial and marketing work at Smart Family Magazine, participating in the Communiversity Fellowship, immersing herself in communities across Nepal, but the decision that most defined her was the one to leave job security behind in search of something more purposeful. That was not a comfortable choice. Facing a personal loss and difficulty in her life, she understood what she values most: understanding people, listening to their raw stories, and creating spaces where others feel genuinely heard. Ritika joins Teach For Nepal not with a grand t…

Aastha grew up in the peaceful hills of Parbat, where community values and a close connection to nature shaped who she is. With her father working abroad and her mother managing the household, she saw firsthand the strength that family sacrifice demands, and it made her determined to make those sacrifices count. As a child, Aastha would help friends understand lessons after school, and when their faces lit up with understanding, she felt something click into place. Earning her Bachelor's degree in Psychology took dedication and emotional grit, but it gave her language for understanding people. In the future, she hopes to become a child psychologist giving space for stories of children. Through Teach for Nepal’s Fellowship, Aastha hopes to explore stories and experiences of children in communities, their lived realities and nuances of their stories and emotions.