The hunger campaign was organized by Anuvuti International, social enterprise that provides experiential and outdoor learning services. Alina Karki (18), an A Level graduate from Brihaspati Vidyasadan High School, was one among the four hundred students who raised approximately Rs 650,000 which will be used to provide lunch to 250 students of Keta Keti Free School (KKFS) after deducting the cost of Rs 250,000 for organizing the event. [break]
“While taking my A Level exams, I realized that helping others gave me a broader level of satisfaction and happiness,” says Karki who before the hunger campaign had volunteered as a teacher at KKFS and participated in a carwash to raise funds to support Jyoti Daya School in Chapagaun.
“I like the idea of being engaged in social work and helping others,” adds Karki. Though social service is not a part of the curriculum in Karki´s school, the school´s A Level´s director Pravin Raj Joshi has always encouraged them to participate and organize such social activities. Karki plans to do her undergraduate in social work and is contemplating applying to American college in the coming year.
Cynara Manadhar, 22, a student of Wittenberg University in Ohio, USA, on the other hand, started volunteering at Forget Me Not, an orphanage for girls in Old Baneshwor with the intention of bettering her CV. “Since I have a lot of friends who were studying abroad and would tell me volunteer experience would be a plus point, I went to the orphanage to spend time with the girls there,” says Manadhar who along with her two other friends volunteered every weekend for two months at the orphanage.
“Initially, the orphanage was reluctant to let us volunteer but they relented and allow us to take care of the kids and help them with their studies eventually,” says Manadhar who in the course of volunteering got attached with the kids and enjoyed helping them.
Karki and Manandhar are examples of the rise in the number of urban youth getting involved in social service these days. “The rise in the number of young people getting involved in such causes could be because of the extra credit that will help them while applying for colleges abroad,” opines Swastika Shrestha of Anuvuti International. Sociologist Bal Ram Acharya agrees with Shrestha and adds, “The youth today are involved in the social sector mainly on the initiation of schools or colleges and the educational institutes integrate social service to diversity of the services that they provide.
” Saying that most of the social activities that are currently taking place in the Valley are mostly initiatedby teachers or non-governmental organizations that work with young people, Archarya says, “We cannot say the work that they do is heartfelt because the practice of evaluating involvement in the social sector for higher education and jobs is yet to come into our society.”
Shreatha adds, "It´s a win-win situation as it adds value to the services they provide and also adds to the character of their wards. Therefore, most A Level schools have made it mandatory for their students to be involved in social work while some schools like Ullens, which follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum have incorporated it in their teaching style,” informs Shrestha.
Similarly, Rato Bangala School (RBS) too encourages their A Level students to be involved in community services. “Those students who have been with us since grade one have it ingrained in them to help the society they come from while those who join us in high school are encouraged to do so,” says Rajni Upadhyaa, the A Level coordinator of the school. RBS students choose the kind of community service they want to do and fill a form explaining the nature of service which is then signed by the institution head and presented to the organization they want to volunteer at. “The reason for the students getting involved in social activities could be varied and the extra credits could act as an incentive but it would be wrong to generalize,” clarifies Upadhyaa.
Currently, there are three colleges that offer Bachelors in Social Work (BSW) in Kathmandu which are affiliated to Tribhuvan University, Purbanchal University, and Kathmandu University each with approximately 200 students in each college. “I wanted to study BSW because I was inspired by problems that surround us in our daily life and wanted to do something about it,” says Pratik Sharma Lamichhane, a 3rd year student of BSW at St Xavier´s College. He says the degree gives him theoretical and professional knowledge which will help him in the future to work professionally in the sector. Pratik has not been involved in any other social activity other than volunteering at different NGOs in the Valley [mandatory in his course] twice a week for the past three years. After graduation, he plans to restart an NGO his mother started long ago to focus on empowering women by providing them vocational training.
Though there has been no thorough study on the ongoing philanthropic trend of the young Kathmandu which might have its own personal reasons for choosing to help others. Archarya concludes, “These are positive activities and should be seen in a positive light regardless of the motive behind them.”
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