The Guild Currently has the one International Project
Prajwal Shiksha Sadan English School, Makwanpur, Nepal | ||
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![]() | In May 2016 Mr Purna Kumar Shrestha (Purna) came to show Guild members photographs of the damage to the Makawanpur area. The Guild then donated funds for Solar lights for the village as no electricity was available. | |
In March 2017 Purna attended the Guilds AGM and produced photographs of the second set of 68 Solar lights purchased by the Guild. | ![]() | |
![]() | Purna then gave a talk about the Prajwal Shiksha Sadan English School, Makwanpur, Nepal (Prajwal School) which he had established as a private school in 1990 under the ‘Nepal Educational Support Trust’. He had then later converted the school to a charitable public education trust, registering it under the Nepalese Government’s Education Act in 2002. | |
The Prajwal School currently has 79 Boys and 52 Girls with 12 Teachers, 1 Accountant, 1 Driver and 2 Caretaker/Helpers, the Principal is Mr Ganesh Kumar Shrestha. | ![]() | |
![]() | It is a ‘not-for-profit’ school and is committed to providing quality education for all, particularly the most marginalised and vulnerable children. With the help of other organisations such as Everest of Apples, Aomori, Akita in Japan, and other individual donors, the school was able to buy land and move to its own building in 2006. | |
The school’s mission is to provide a comprehensive progressive education for children’s holistic development and help them to meet their innate potentials. Apart from providing textbooks, they create learning opportunities for children to have a better understanding and appreciation for their diverse cultures, communities and eventually to be critical, creative and responsible global citizens. | ||
It is a ‘not-for-profit’ school and is committed to providing quality education for all, particularly the most marginalised and vulnerable children. With the help of other organisations such as Everest of Apples, Aomori, Akita in Japan, and other individual donors, the school was able to buy land and move to its own building in 2006. | ||
He had recently expanded the original project to include a Sure Start Centre where mothers and toddlers could attend for parent craft and play sessions. After listening to the presentation with interest, and after a brief discussion, Guild members present at the meeting decided to raise funds to purchase equipment for the Prajwal School and especially to support the Sure Start project. | ![]() | |
In the Spring of 2018 this first of what has since become an annual donation, having been raised by Guild members during the previous year, was presented to Purna, for equipment needed in the ‘Sure Start’ centre. | ||
In September 2020 a further donation of was made by the Guild to purchase more equipment for the Prajwal School. The cheque was presented to Purna by Guild member Thomas Verdin. | ||
![]() | In early 2021 when some of the children were able to return to school post Covid 19, part of the previous year’s donation was used to purchase materials for artwork, something which was much needed to develop resilience and social and emotional skills following the pandemic. | |
In July 2021 the B-P Guild provided a donation towards the purchase of several laptops, so that pupils who could not attend school due to ongoing Covid 19 issues, could continue their education at home. | ![]() | |
![]() | In September 2021 Guild members started a project in conjunction with the Prajwal School to make audio recordings of a list of about 2000 English words to help with the children’s English studies. These audio recordings were then uploaded into a Google Sharing Folder which the school was able to access in order to be able download the recordings. | |
A Thanks Certificate was presented to Girl Guide Amy Jones for making the recordings, as part of her work towards her Queens Guide Award. The presentation was made by Adele Cooney, Northamptonshire County Commissioner for Girlguiding. | ![]() | |
Although the Prajwal School is a charitable trust it is not a ‘free’ school and the children’s schooling still has to be paid for by their families. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, some of their parents lost their jobs and were finding it difficult to pay for their children’s education. In 2021 Purna had agreed to raise £3000 for the school and he also set up a Scholarship system to help pay the school fees for some of the most disadvantaged children. Each Scholarship costs £200 and that pays for a year’s education, including uniform, books and transport to school. | ||
![]() | With the return to the classroom, following the pandemic, the Guild were delighted to institute Scholarships for the education of three children, (L to R) Shomila Ghalan* in the Kindergarten Class and Samyog Rai* & Anubhav Pudasaini* from the Nursery Class. They were awarded certificates upon finishing their first year in school in May 2022, in Nepal the school year starts May/June. The Guild continued to support the Scholarship for the same three children at the Prajwal School for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 school years. | |
In 2024 the Guild committed itself to providing three scholarships for the Prajwal School for the foreseeable future, with each Scholarship being for the same child throughout their time at the school. The Guild also committed to continue with the word recording project in which we will once again be involving Scouts and Guides who are working towards the Kings Scout/Guide or Duke of Edinburgh Award. | ||
It should be noted that all the money used to support the Prajwal School has come from individual donations by members of the Guild, to date this amounts to more than £7000. | ||
A big Thank you to our members for your generosity. | ||
Allan Page, National Secretary Baden-Powell Guild UK | ||
* Please Note: We have obtained the written permission of the Parents of all three of our sponsored children to include their names and photographs in our publications. |