SCHOOL BACKGROUND

Established in 1949, Nawalpur Secondary School in Nawalpur VDC has the highest number of students in the region and female students outnumber the boys. 54 km away from Kathmandu and easily accessible by public bus, the school owns a hill and a forest of its own. The school was upgraded gradually and it became a Secondary School in 2009 AD.

The school enrollment rate among children is 96% and the literacy rate is 90%. Some students have to walk up to 4 hours to reach the school.

462 students (243 girls and 219 boys) are studying currently in ECD to Grade 10. TFN Fellows have been placed here since 2014 AD and 3 Fellows are teaching. A total of 15 teachers is providing their services at present. There is no proper facility for drinking water and toilets. Electricity is available from local hydro services. The school possesses a small playground for children to play outdoors. But there is no library, Science lab, and Computer Lab. The estimated annual budget of the school is Rs 40,00,000. The government, VDC and private organizations support the school financially.

The students are actively involved in Eco-Club and Junior Red Cross Circle. PTA and SMC also exist. The teachers and students use Nepali as the primary medium of communication and instruction.

EARTHQUAKE IMPACT

The Ministry of Education suggested a Red sticker for Earthquake Impact, which means the infrastructures have been severely damaged. All the 12 rooms of the building and around 60 benches were in bad condition. In the community too, almost all the houses collapsed. 43 people lost their lives and many were wounded. 2 students of the school also lost their lives.

With financial support from WWF, the school has built four big classrooms that can accommodate around 70 students. With financial support from BSF Korea (Christian Society) school had added another 4 classrooms. With the support from Ministry of Education, School had added 4 room, 2 story RCC Building but finishing is pending due to lack of budget.

THE NEED

Student Need

In order to develop 21st-century students who are scientifically skilled, academically trained and technologically savvy, the school wants to build a new, well-equipped science lab. Science isn’t about just the text in the books, the theories, and formulas. Science is about ‘learning by doing’. Students need to actually experiment to believe it and to comprehend the textbook content.

Most of the theories, facts mentioned in the book are hard to visualize and comprehend just by reading. Students need to see, do and then learn.

The well-equipped science lab will enhance student understanding and will act as a platform for student to explore more of science as a whole.

Teacher Need

This also gives teachers an opportunity to grow professionally. While the students need to learn, teachers need to learn too. In Nepal, back in those days, few schools in cities only had a Science Lab. We have teachers come from diverse areas, who might not have had the opportunity to do Science stuff either. The lab gives teachers an opportunity to do and understand better, which in turn helps them to teach students better.

The lack of resources and a lab prevents the teachers and students from practical works which in turn makes them illiterate towards the importance of ‘doing’.

The teachers at Nawalpur Secondary School have been trying to do small class demonstrations and experiments with the local resources and science lab equipment whenever possible. But due to the lack of proper equipment and training, it is very limited. And the students don't have much opportunity to gain practical knowledge making them uninterested in Science itself. Most of the students find Science to be 'a very difficult subject.

The Curriculum Design Centre, Nepal has separated 25% of total marks for practical marks. However, the 25% marks are obtained by filling up a ‘practical book’ without actually doing a practical experiment because of lack of resources. Students somehow get the knowledge of few instruments but miss the fun and practicality. Also, the 25% is to be given in every term exam but the School isn’t practicing the system. The School can’t be blamed, however. They don’t see the point in it because it hasn’t been practiced yet.

Setting up a science lab will provide teachers a newer perspective to teaching Science in class and thus creating a student who is scientifically aware and understands the fun behind everyday Science and applies to his/her everyday life.

REQUIREMENT

Science Lab Equipment

Although the school has some science lab equipment, it is not enough to give practical exposure to the student and perform all experiments as per curriculum. We need at least the following equipment to give practical exposure to students.

PARTICULARS FOR PHYSICS LABORATORY

Hydrometer -1 Pc

Lactometer – 1 Pc

Weighing Machine – 1 Unit

Measuring Tape 100 m – 1 Unit

Concave Lens and Convex Lens of different focal lengths – 3 Unit of each

Tuning fork of different frequencies – 1 Set

Glass Slab – 3, Concave and Convex mirror – 3 Unit of each

Plane Mirror (60 cm * 30 cm) – 1 Unit

Laser Light (Red and Green color) – 2 Unit

Simple pendulum – 6 Set

Beam balance – 1 Pc

Slotted weight of ½kg, 1 kg, 2 kg and 3 kg – 2 Pcs of each

Spherical steel balls of different size – 1 Set

Barometer – 1 Set

Paraffin wax – 1 Unit

Stirrer – 2 Unit

Screen – 1 Set

Sonometer – 1 Unit

Horseshoe magnet – 3 Pcs

Strong Bar Magnet – 6 Pcs

Magnetic Compass – 2 Set

Carbon Rod – 6 Pcs

Zn Plate – 6 Pcs

Cu Plate – 6 Pcs

Connecting wires – 2 Meters

DC Bulbs of various range of power (1 W, 3 W, 5 W, 10 W..) – 1 Unit of each

PARTICULARS FOR BIOLOGY LABORATORY

Charts: Life cycle of Frog, Solar System, Different stages of Meiosis and Mitosis, Embryoic Evidence, Human ear, human nose

Models: Human Brain, Human Lever, Human Digestion system, human respiration system, Human eye, Human Heart, Human Kidney)

Specimens (Moth, Leech, Starfish, Cockroach, Centepede, Sea Cucumber, Prown, Lizard, Crab) – 12 Jar

Permanent slides: Different types of bacterial cells, Scalariform and lateral conjugation, Different stages of mitosis and meiosis, Mucor –a sexual and sexual reproduction – 1 Set of each.

Dissection box / Dissecting box – 1 set, Dissection pin – 1 Set

Chloroform – 1 Bottle

PARTICULARS FOR CHEMISTRY LABORATORY

CHEMICALS

Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) – 1 Bottle

Washing Soda (Na2CO3) – 1 Unit

Litmus Paper (Red and blue) – 1/1 Box each

Limestone (CaCO3) – 1 Unit

Universal Indicator – 1 Unit

Calcium Hydroxide (CaOH) – 1 Unit

Quick Lime (CaO) – 1 Unit

Spirit – 1 Bottle

Conc. Nitric Acid (HNO3) – 1 Bottle

Conc. Sulphuric Acid (H2SO4) – 1 Bottle

Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) – 1 Unit

Magnesium Ribbon – 1 Unit

Borax Powder – 1 Unit

Mercury – 1 Unit

CHEMISTRY RELATED APPARATUSES

Test tubes of different sizes – 12 Unit

Test tube holders –6 Unit

Test tube Stand – 3 Unit

Porcelain Basin – 2 Units

Watch Glass – 2 Units

Burette – 1 Unit

Burette stand with clamps- 1 Set

Pipette (5ml, 10ml, 25ml and 50ml) – 1 Unit of each

Weighing bottle – 1 unit, Dropper made of glass – 2 Unit

Furniture

In order to perform an experiment by 25 students at once, two table of size 6ft*4ft is required.

Estimated budget

Science Lab Equipment and Chemicals Rs. 45,000

Two Tables of size 6ft*4ft Rs.10,000

Misc. (Transportation etc.) Rs.5,000

TOTAL Rs. 60,000/-