Home: Sabru, Khotang, Khotang, Sagarmatha

Education: Master of Arts in English, Padmkanya Multiple Campus

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 journey is about the untapped capacity of girls in classrooms, simply due to a lack of access. Teach for Nepal’s fellowship became a place to start her work in education. She looks forward to a classroom of her own, ready to be the kind of teacher she never had and work closely with students who face the same limitations, helping them see education as something within their reach.