Home: Bhaktapur, Bhaktapur, Bagmati

Education: B.E. (Electrical Engineering), Khwopa Engineering College

I was born in Chisapani, Khotang, which is also my mother’s birthplace. I grew up in different parts of eastern Nepal. When I was 4, my family moved from Madheli to Bala VDC, in Sankhuwasabha. I received my primary education in a school in Khandbari. After 5 years my family moved to Inaruwa, Sunsari where I completed my schooling. I did my +2 from SOS HGS, Sanothimi and my Bachelor’s in Engineering from Khwopa Engineering College.

I was going through The Himalayan Times paper when I first saw the advertisement for Teach for Nepal. The numbers in the advertisement were intriguing. And I was excited about the idea. I don’t know exactly why I applied. I had just completed my Bachelor’s and I was searching for some kind of job experience before going on to do my Master’s. So I initially thought of this as another job -- but it was made clear that it was not going to be a regular job.

I had a general idea of what was going to happen. But I did not know it was going to be this big. My general understanding was that I had to go to villages to teach in public schools, but over the course of selection and training I came to better understand the intensity of training and urgency of the situation.

As promised the training has been intensive. The training is very specific about how our teaching is going to be.

Up to this point, I’ve been most proud of my academic accomplishments through school, and of having come first in my district for students appearing in the SLC from public schools. I like to learn new things. I love to explore and experiment. Since I am from an engineering background I have been thinking about getting a Master’s degree in engineering and starting my own firm. Before I applied to TFN, I myself needed to be convinced about the mission. Once that happened it was very easy to convince my family. My family was very supportive about my decision. My friends and a few family members were concerned about the place I was going to stay and the two years’ contract. But I was very happy to be accepted for the fellowship and I feel honored for the selection. I decided to join TFN because of my interest in teaching and because the aim of TFN was something I could relate to.

At first I was nervous about the two years of commitment. I thought, “Wow, two years, that’s a long time”. But after taking part in training and practice teaching, I’ve gotten to know more about the situation in public schools. Honestly, two years is not going to be enough. My job will be to optimize my knowledge and skills to start to get things changing in two years.

So my nervousness is still about time. It’s just that my nervousness has shifted from, “Wow, two years is a long time,” to “Wow, two years is very little time!” But the sense of possibility is there, as is my commitment to do whatever I have got to do to make a difference.

The next two years are going to determine what I will be doing in the future. It could be my turning point.