Background on the project

Introduction

While the Lower Langtang area not very far from the capital, Kathmandu, its indigenous Tamang population is lagging far behind in terms of educational and economic development. Nepalese government’s education policy is to conduct all teaching in the Nepali language, however just about every region of this country has a language of its own, and in relatively isolated areas like the Nuwakot District, many people speak only the local languages. The Tamang language is a Tibetan language, while Nepali is Indo-European. The language barrier and the poor infrastructure result in children leaving school without finishing their education. Even during the monsoon and winter seasons children are forced to study outside, under big trees.

Background

For many centuries, most of the Tamang people have occupied their the hilly region of Nepal, where the slopes are steep, the water is lacking and there are minimal irrigation facilities. Dependence on monsoon rainfall for agriculture often leads to famine in dry seasons. Without regular good crops the population often ends up living in extremely poor economic conditions. It becomes necessary therefore for Tamangs to get into simple physical trades like being porters or take up other daily -wage jobs – the illiteracy and insufficient education makes them unable to compete in the official work marketplace. To bring this community into the mainstream of national development an important starting point is to provide the minimal infrastructure of primary and secondary schools in villages. The money raised by this initiative will be used to purchase building materials that are not available locally in the region.