Institutions in Kathmandu helping Chepang children

KATHMANDU, Jan 14: Help has been coming in from many places for the students from the Chepang Conservation Center in Jaya Mangala in Chitwan. These students come from financially weak families. Kathmandu’s Takshasila Academy donated stationery to the students while women from Baniyatar in Kathmandu have also helped these students by donating warm clothes for winter. [break]



These donations were made during a program at the Center last Saturday.



“We’re going to provide more help to these students,” said Jayant Acharya, Vice Principal of Takshasila Academy, during the handover program. Acharya has been helping the Chepang community for the past three years. He started doing so after reading an article about the poor conditions of these students in Nagarik Daily. “We’ve been collecting donations through our students at the Academy. We’ll be continuing with these donations in the years to come ,” he added.







Students from the Chepang Conservation Center in Chitwan along with the donors pose for a photo after the donation held at the Centre on Sunday. The students were given donatioons of stationery and warm clothes. (Photo: Republica)



The Chepangs are an indigenous group living in the lower and hilly regions of mid-Nepal, and are living in dire situations. They are deprived of even basic needs such as warm clothes to wear during winter.



To help and ensure the wellbeing of these children, journalist KP Kiran Sharma has established and is running the Center. Various Chepang children, from those who have dropped out of school to those who are differently able, stay in this Center. These 25 students study in a school in Jaya Mangala.

As the Center has been running without any permanent funding bodies, there is always a dearth of food and educational resources for the students. After news of the state of these Chepang students have come out in the media, help has been coming in.



Sharma has also been involved with the education of 25 other Chepang students who are currently studying at Bindeshwori Lower Secondary School in Pithuwa. These students have been lucky to have now found an organization that will entirely look after their basic needs of food and education.



There are talks of a construction of a hostel for these students, which will be done through the donation from a group of nonresident Nepalis. After seeing to it that the students from Bindeshwori are taken care of, Sharma has moved on to help other Chepang students in Jaya Mangala.

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