Core Team
Swastika Shrestha
Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder and Director of Training and Support
“Imagine if the world were to suddenly collapse and the world as you know it no longer existed. Education needs you to prepare yourself for this.” - This wisdom from my father led me to spend much of my youth developing my life and leadership skills. Eventually, I had the opportunity to facilitate life and leadership development amongst youth in Nepal as well as in the US. After completing my masters from the US, I worked with UNMIN, and consulted for IUCN, WFP, and UNDP. But my passion for working with youth led me to Teach For Nepal where my current role is to nurture leaders to transform classrooms, communities, and the nation.
Krishna Kumar K.C.
Chief of Staff
Over 24 years, I’ve taught in primary and secondary schools in different parts of Lalitpur and spent 10 years as a Head Teacher in Ashrang, one of the furthest VDCs in Lalitpur. I was there for 10 years and learned a lot about the district, and public education. The challenges faced by community schools are tremendous. There are infrastructural problems, policy challenges, the huge distance between students’ schools and homes, and the mindsets, on the part of teachers, head teachers, politicians, parents, and students. But I believe if teachers have energy, and the right mindset, other challenges can be overcome. I’m so proud to be a part of this movement, as we set new trends and raise the leadership skills of a new generation. They are working to build a truly new Nepal.
Pravesh Bhandari
Director of School & Community Impact
As we are living in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, the degree of a shift from good to bad, and development and sufferings are all within. We can see the degree of diversity from poverty to abundance, suffering to rejoice, and inclusion to exclusion within the same sphere of life. My parents have always taught me how Education broadens our vision for life and how it can be detrimental to mitigate the cause of human suffering. With more than 10 years of experience working in the development and humanitarian sectors, I have always thrived to bring changes that are just and meaningful in society. And what beautiful it can be, than to work and contribute in the Education Sector. I choose Teach For Nepal to support and inspire people towards educational attainment and social equity.
Amir Joshi
Communications Manager
Seven years ago, when I saw a teacher attend 25 students belonging to five different classrooms at the same time, I wondered how I could change the scenario. After my Masters abroad, I packed my bags and came home looking to see how I could make a difference. Supporting Teach For Nepal to "end education inequity in Nepal" as the Communication Manager, I am finding the answers one Fellow at a time.
Anuja Koirala
Program Manager - Alumni Impact
In March 2017 I visited a couple of public schools in rural Nepal where two of my friends were teaching as Teach For Nepal Fellows. In my interaction with their students from grade 9 and 10, I asked the class who they want to be in life. “I want to be a driver,” said all the boys. “I want to be a nurse,'' said some girls. Their limited aspirations took me by surprise. That day I better understood the significant need of empowering such young minds and hearts so that they could see higher possibilities in life. Today, as an Program Manager (Alumni Impact), I am supporting Teach For Nepal in its mission to end education inequity in Nepal, particularly by supporting its Alumni in strengthening and scaling the impact of their continued journey of transforming classrooms, schools, communities and the nation.
Ava Parajuli
Human Resources and Organization Development Manager
When I saw I could direct my skills and experience to frame the dynamism of so many young minds, there was no second thought. As the HR and OD Manager I am determined to facilitate a more enabling atmosphere at Teach For Nepal. I bring in the required expertise mainly from my experiences in different international organizations and a master's degree specializing in Human Resources Management."
Jayanti Lama
Head of Training
Having taught children for seven years, I realized the change was only possible by working with the little hearts and minds which drove me to apply for Fellowship and work in the remote part of Lalitpur for two years. The Fellowship journey helped me to know about my own culture and traditions at a deeper level. Being there, I came to know the true essence of life and how each person can help another to aspire even more. The passion for working with kids led me to my current position where I am training and supporting Fellows and reaching out to hundreds of children by helping them dream big. I believe the greatest power we have is the power to choose. So, I chose to work on this movement to end education inequity in Nepal being even more responsible and committed.
Khika Prasad Nepal
Community Liaison Manager
I taught at different schools since 2004 and later changed my teaching profession to enter the development field. Subsequently, I’ve worked at various organizations working in the development field for more than 12 years. I completed my Masters of Sociology from Tribhuvan University. Teach For Nepal is the best platform for me to work in my community through the Municipal Leads and Fellows. As a Community Liason Manager, I work closely with Fellows, Municipal leads and the community. I feel accomplished when I see Fellows working so hard in the schools and community and bringing a real change.
Madhav Prasad Devkota
Leadership Development Manager, Dang (TFN Alumni)
As a TFN Fellow, I wasn't just teaching Science to my students; I wanted them to learn many other things like personal hygiene, community’s sanitation, and balanced diet, among others. And as a Leadership Development Manager, I have become a role model, a source of inspiration to the Fellows and help guide our Fellows which would help them face all the challenges in their Fellowship.
Pratik Ghimire
Trainer & Impact Manager - Maths (TFN Alumni)
I come from an average family of Janakpur. All of my childhood and school years pushed me to believe that education is the light of hope; the light that has the power to shape an entire generation, and that is why I applied for the Fellowship. The passion for working with kids led me to my current position where I am supporting Fellows and reaching out to hundreds of children by helping them dream big. I believe the greatest power we have is the power to choose. So, I chose to work on this movement to end education inequity in Nepal being even more responsible and committed.
Ruma Maharjan
Events Manager (TFN Alumni)
It was during the two years of my Fellowship that I realized the change we always talk about - the change that our country needs is possible. I was convinced that this can happen with equity in education. All forms of inequities and biases can be resolved only when every kid attains a quality education that enables them to reach their potential despite their backgrounds. I strongly believe in this and therefore I joined the TFN staff team soon after graduating as a Fellow. My previous experience as a recruiter and now as an Events Manager gives me sheer joy knowing that I play an important part in this movement of equity.
Sujina Shakya
Leadership Development Manager/ Selection Coordinator (TFN Alumni)
I started as an average student who often felt challenged in school. Today I am proud that I am the first in my family to complete the degree and turn as a Fellow who touched so many lives which helped them to turn their fate despite the harsh reality of living in the village! As a Leadership Development and Selection Coordinator, I want to continue this journey by reaching out to more classroom and children in the coming days collaborating with the new Fellows.
Alina Shrestha
Leadership Development Coordinator, Tanahun (TFN Alumni)
Born and raised in the rural part of Gorkha, I experienced struggles and hardships during my early childhood. My parents could hardly afford quality education for me and my two brothers. Also, government schools those days were not equipped to cater to our needs. Soon after completing schooling, I moved to Kathmandu in order to pursue my higher education. I completed my bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Amrit Science Campus. During my undergraduate studies, I worked as a teacher in a high school near my place in Kathmandu. Since teaching was already a passion to me, and when I heard about TFN, I immediately thought of joining as I was highly impressed with the vision and wanted to work towards ending education inequity in Nepal, I served as a Fellow in one of the public schools at Sindhupalchok from 2018-2020. During my Fellowship, I have learned about our education system and the reasons why our schools are mostly ill-equipped to serve the basic education needs of students. So, I believe, Fellowship has helped me grow personally and professionally. I thus want to use the resources and learning and my experience from the community to better the lives of people. During my period as a Leadership Development Coordinator, I would share all of my experience and learning to support Fellows in every way possible in their journey.
Anish Dhakal
Recruitment Coordinator (TFN Alumni)
Having to share two years of my life and shaping young minds was, in a word, awesome. After the Fellowship, I became more aware of the injustice in our community. I realized that I needed to do more and be more. The two years in Dang has trained me to be a leader and a problem solver. Despite having a dream to continue my education, I have halted my plans for a few years and decided to continue with this journey. As a recruiter today, I am looking for another me in the mass of thousands of enthusiastic individuals from the STEM field. With this journey, I will instill the idea of bringing change through a transformation in classrooms. So if there is an engineer, scientist, or innovator in you, remember, I am looking for you to replace my role as a Fellow.
Kritesh Bhatta
Leadership Development Coordinator/ Database Management Coordinator Alumni
I believe that empowered and motivated youths in the nation can give much more back to the community they serve. This being that one catalyst to empower young minds and support them to acquire the knowledge necessary for them to be driven by vision. As a Teach For Nepal Fellow, I served in Parsa district. I taught English to around 280 secondary level students. My leadership skills evolved as I established and help them sustain multiple student clubs in the school where I focused more on student leadership and also refined my leadership skills as well. My work in education should not only be confined to Fellowship thus I decided to continue with the alumni movement by joining TFN as a Leadership Development and Database Management Coordinator. I strongly believe that Fellows can bring transformative impact inside the four walls of the classroom and simultaneously as alumni grow as a life-long leader with constant support, passion, perseverance, and ambition. All of this is as well needed to create a systemic change in the education system of our country Nepal. I am with Teach For Nepal because I believe I am here to change the lives, to enlighten the darkness, and be the medium to fulfill the aspirations that are carried in the eyes of those little kids who also dream to be an agent of change and a leader of the action.
Bhumi Rana Magar
Leadership Development Coordinator, Dhanusa (TFN Alumni)
My journey in Teach For Nepal started from being an intern to a Fellow, and now I am a Leadership Development Coordinator of Dhanusa. The journey of four years in Teach For Nepal has helped me understand the urgency to solve the prevailing problem in our public education system. And, I believe education is the key to the change we want to see in ourselves and our community. During my Fellowship in Parsa, I worked directly with the students, school administration, and the community and worked for the 'ONE DAY' vision. It was only possible due to the support system of Teach For Nepal. It helped me to believe in myself and in various cases when I was stuck. As an LDC, my vision is to be that support system and guide, mentor, and help the fellows in their leadership journey toward solving education inequity.
Nimmi Basnet
Content Lead - English
I had never stepped into a public school before my Fellowship. In 2019, when I decided to do TFN Fellowship, little did I know about the urgency and the crisis of the public education system in Nepal. My experience as a Fellow in a rural village of Sindhupalchok opened my eyes to the ages-long educational inequity and injustice. When I entered the classroom, I was completely taken aback by the situation of the students. A 10th grader couldn’t write a simple sentence in English and a ninth grader was confused between the alphabet ‘b’ and ‘d’. This worried me and made me realize how we often talk about the BIG and trivial things in life and overlook something so basic and simple as providing quality education. The logic was pretty simple for me– I wanted to do my bit. I tried to focus on the little things, and I wanted to make a difference in my community. As an English Content Lead at TFN, I aspire to reach thousands of such students through outstanding Fellow teachers and help them learn English and thrive as leaders because I believe “The people who do little, good things can change the world.”
Rashmi Thapa
Recruitment Coordinator (TFN Alumni)
While serving as a Fellow in Bodgaun, Sindhupalchowk, I believed that ‘change in education inequity is possible and the existing problem in education is solvable,’ the only thing needed was more time and commitment towards work. I am a people person; I tend to leverage new networks into a learning platform. No matter their age or academic background, I am passionate about working in the field of education and with young leaders. With this mission in mind, I am here at Teach For Nepal to find youths who believe in working for a purpose. To escalate this movement, more individuals are needed in the community where I have served my last two years. I am also aware that finding those specific right-minded youths, who would work for change, will be the next big challenge. But I am up for it. As a recruitment coordinator, I will work on to finding outstanding university graduates and young professionals who could work as passionately as myself.
Sadhana Shrestha
Selection Coordinator
After completing my Master's Degree from Germany, I decided to move back with a dream of doing something purposeful in my own country. I joined Teach For Nepal knowing how impactfully it has been working towards ending the education inequity in Nepal. It gives me great satisfaction to know that the work I am doing and the energy that I have invested will make a difference. As a Selection Coordinator, I am determined to select those best-fit candidates who are passionate about making an impact in the classroom as well as in the community.
Samit Shakya
Content Lead, STEM (TFN Alumni)
I identify myself as an Artist. During my Fellowship days, I incorporated arts with Science; that's why my students felt connected with my teaching style. I believe my passion for science helped my students develop their academic and leadership skills. My passion helped me and my students to grow. This experience showed me the power of passion. As a STEM content lead at Teach For Nepal, I want to help youths incorporate their passion with teaching to contribute to Nepal's children.
Sandeep Kumar Dahal
Leadership Development Coordinator - Sindhupalchowk (TFN Alumni)
I believe that everyone in this world, irrespective of their caste, race, gender, and economic status, has some knowledge. If that knowledge remains confined to one person, it is useless. But if that knowledge gets translated to people in the simplest way possible, it would bring change. So, for me, Teach For Nepal is a movement where knowledge transfer occurs between people. I see Teach For Nepal as a platform for the amalgamation of contemporary knowledge possessed by the educated youth of Nepal with the possessor of rudimentary knowledge - the folks of rural Nepal. I firmly advocate that sustainable progress is only possible in our country if our future generation is geared up with contemporary knowledge and its roots. Teach For Nepal provides that platform, so I am here at Teach For Nepal.
Robin Chaudhary
Leadership Development Manager, Parsa (TFN Alumni)
I come from a family that preferred government jobs as a dream job one should pursue in life. While doing my Bachelor’s in medical laboratory technology, I got an opportunity to volunteer for the Urban Health Care and Training Center which helped me get hands-on experience in the grass-root level and that indeed brought big notable changes in me. After my graduation, I worked as a Teach For Nepal Fellow for two years which gave me a clear picture of what education inequity and social injustice looked like in real life. Now joining the TFN staff team as a Leadership Development Manager, I want to surpass all my energy and experiences to all the new Fellows and strengthen the belief that one day we are going to end the education inequity in Nepal.
Saurav Regmi
Recruitment Coordinator
I always dreamt of being a cricketer and play for Nepal. But given my MBA in Marketing & HR from Bangalore University in India, I gravitated towards business and networking and started my career on mintbook.com in India as a Business Development Manager. But I felt rather incomplete. I yearned to learn more and I wanted to do something different. I came back to Nepal and worked as an academician with Universal College and parallelly as an Adjunct faculty in Ace International Business School (AIBS), Nick Simons Institute (NSI), Padmakanya Campus, KMC Education Network, Thames International College. After working as an educator for more than 7 years I see education in Nepal as a two-part problem. First, we have limited resources for quality educators. And, for those who are qualified, we have limited processes set up for them to succeed in their mission. So, I joined Teach For Nepal as a recruiter to set up a network to get a steady flow of quality educators and then to mobilize them by instilling the values both I and Teach For Nepal strive for.
Sulochana K.C.
Recruitment Coordinator
I always look forward to working with inspiring people. Especially, I gravitate towards the people who try to make a difference in the realm of education and push me to enhance my capabilities. Having worked in the education sector as a teacher and in various other capacities, I have been able to understand that education should not be a privilege but the right of every human being. As a Recruitment Coordinator at Teach For Nepal, my role would be in finding the right person to do the right job.
Swechha Pokharel
Finance Coordinator
Having received continuous guidance and support from some of the most brilliant teachers and mentors, I have experienced that a teacher’s imprint on a student is not just limited to the precinct of a classroom or a few exam papers. My teachers have been my guiding light who have helped me navigate my personal and professional life with greater self-esteem and dignity. Many times, I simply emulated their qualities out of sheer admiration and in doing so, I know I have become a better person than I would have been without their presence. Their trust in my ability grounded me with the solid foundation of acceptance and perseverance. Joining TFN after becoming an ACCA Affiliate has further extended this feeling of gratitude as I witness many outstanding Fellows sacrifice their comfort while they venture into this challenging yet rewarding journey with a sense of urgency to remove education inequity. I feel overjoyed to be a part of the TFN family that believes in the possibility for every child to attain excellent education and for every teacher to demonstrate excellent leadership.
Amir Khokhali
Admin Assistant
When I was attending my last three years at school where TFN Fellows were teaching me, I never thought I would be working for the very organization then. Hadn’t it been the motivation from them, I wouldn’t have dreamed about living in Kathmandu or studying here itself. Once I am done with my studies, I would love to change the perspective of people in my community that even kids from villages, if given opportunity, can turn challenges into an opportunity. I was studious and active in both school clubs and other extracurricular activities. Because of this active engagement, I got a fellowship at Samanata Foundation for my high school where I got to study science as my major in Pentagon International College. I am currently pursuing computer application in Janamaitri Multiple College. While doing my undergraduate, I decided to join TFN to assist, learn and most importantly get involved with a community of people actively working towards the mission to make all children in Nepal get an excellent education.
Sirjana Dhital
Office Assistant
I was born in the village of Chatredeurali in Dhading. There are 12 members in my family - my parents, and my nine siblings. About 12-years ago, I moved to Kathmandu to be closer to my brothers, who were living here. I’ve been working at Teach For Nepal since it started. I don’t understand everything about this movement, but I think it’s really good to see young people going to teach in rural government schools. Only the boys in my own family got to attend school. I believe all children should get the opportunity to learn and have a bright future.
Mamata Pariyar
Executive Associate to CEO
Education has given a complete U-turn to my life in the most positive way. Had education not been a part of my life, I may have had an early marriage, been living a kind of dependent life or turned out to be a low paid labor worker. Having met the most supportive guardians who prioritized education to be the number one priority in my life, I have become a person with choices today. I am fortunate to be part of TFN whose vision is to end educational inequality. As an executive associate to CEO, my role is to assist Ms. Swastika Shrestha. Working closely with one of the authentic women leaders of the country, everyday has been a new learning and positive shift in my perspective towards leadership and beyond.
