United World Schools Nepal

In Nepal only 33.2% of girls and boys children make it beyond primary schooling. A combination of traditional book-based rote learning, outdated curriculum and high absenteeism among teachers are key factors responsible for high dropout rates among demotivated and under performing students. 

This proposal will introduce education technology by piloting computer classes at 10 out of 45 existing UWS schools. We believe that the introduction of digital learning in our schools will provide a more effective, creative and fun environment and result in improved enrollment and retention. This, in turn, will lead to increased motivation of students to attend school regularly and continue to stay in school beyond the primary years with family support and encouragement.

Enhanced student performance will lead to improved further education and employment prospects of student which, in turn, will contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty for poor, disadvantaged and isolated communities.

United World Schools work in some of the world’s poorest regions, operating in remote communities to provide previously out of school children with access to primary education. In Nepal, we work in areas where children have little or no access to a government education and where the local community is committed to sending their children to school.

The problem of high dropout affects approximately 7.2 million Nepali children of school age who attend community-based government schools located in isolated rural areas of the country. A combination of outdated teaching material and rote learning leads to poor attendance and dropout. School dropout and discontinued secondary education limit the future employment and career prospects of students.  

A 2014 report from the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) finds that technology - when implemented properly -can produce significant gains in student achievement and boost engagement, particularly among students most at risk of dropping out. The proof of concept and the need for utilization of technology in teaching and learning of students in far flung areas of the world is equally important as it is in city areas, if not more.

We will pilot education technology and innovation to 10 out of 45 UWS schools located in isolated rural communities through the introduction of lively hardware which will have the potential to transform teaching learning processes. Our typical lab will consist of 20 workstations that are able to run with RaspBerryPi sets; these will also be connected to an E-library server that has free and easy access to age-appropriate books to help improve children’s reading skills and develop a reading culture in schools. The E-library will also act as a teaching-aid for use by teachers in book-selection, various teaching resources and educational materials in core subjects. 

In short, all workstations use child-centric softwares like open learning exchange Nepal's E-paath connected to E-pustakalay, Kullabs curriculum software, offline wikipedia, books for asia offline library books. These softwares have been tested to enhance the learning achievements of our students.

Moreover, the e-library server will also be accessible by the students’ families and members of the wider neighbouring community from their laptops, tablets or mobile phones. The audio-visual content on health, livelihood and agriculture can be of great benefit to the community members.

The solution has the ability to serve about 7.2 million Nepal children of school going age in Nepal that enroll and sporadically attend community based government schools in far away rural areas of Nepal. Majority of the 7.2 mllion children, who are from low income background and minority groups attend sub-standard dysfunctional schools providing low quality rote learning education which has a knock-on effect on early drop-out and where  families prefer to keep children at home to help with agricultural activities. The effects of dropout and curtailed access to high quality education perpetuates the life cycle of poverty. In essence, only those families who are able to afford to send their children to fee-paying private schools benefit from higher quality education than those attending government schools. 

For the pilot phase, the Solution will benefit approximately1000 children and their families with the 10 computer labs that will be introduced in the target schools and communities.

The solution is to bring computer literacy as well as technological innovation to far away rural schools that are run by UWS Nepal. We will do this by piloting computer classes/courses at 10 of our 45 schools. By doing so, we will not only look at the impact of structured computer education at our schools but will also track the overall enthusiasm from the community members in sending their children to our schools. Furthermore, we believe that introducing tech factors into existing learning processes will aid in making existing learning more effective and enjoyable. It will in turn be reflected over policy changes, which will impact on the lives of the majority of school-age children attending government-run schools in Nepal. 

In UWS Nepal’s school communities, we have sought to address low attendance rates by integrating educational technology into our schools, specifically though the introduction of computer education in grade 5, as per the national curriculum of Nepal. In order to substantiate our thesis, UWS Nepal conducted focused group discussions in 8 of its 25 school communities where more than 80% of respondents cited the need for technology to encourage children to be enthusiastic about schooling and to discourage parents from keeping them at home. The concept for the offline as well as online computer lab has been trailed with Open Learning Exchange Nepal. The lab was used by random students from different schools in Mahalaxmi Municipality of Nepal. The results – high attendance and retention rates over a span of the 6 month experience, and a positive attitude towards education and future prospects through education.

We have designed a computer lab that can easily be transported, installed and used in the remotest parts of Nepal as well as any other country around the world. The first innovation is the elimination of big box CPU's, which when damaged have to be transported on donkeys or vehicles to the nearest cities for repair. The usage of Raspberry Pi allows for innovation in the labs, allowing for increased space on individual computers while also ensuring proper functioning of the computers to cater to the education of the children. The third innovation happens to be the functionality of the computer even without access to high speed internet or rather said offline. All programmes in the individual workstations are accessible without actual internet. We make this happen with our dedicated team of volunteers that travel to the labs to update the system while also providing training to teachers during the visits. The final innovation in the proposed solution is the child and teacher friendly education programs that includes coding classes for the first time for children of rural areas. We make these programmes in collaboration with tech and education experts from around the country.

UWS Nepal currently serves 6000 children across its 45 schools. For the pilot phase, the solution will benefit approximately 1000 children and their families with the introduction of 10 computer labs. Over a period of 5 years, we anticipate serving up to 15,000 students attending UWS schools.

UWS operates in communities who have historically been left behind, recognising that the hardest to reach children often face multiple layers of exclusion due to factors such as gender, disability, poverty, ethnicity, religion and language. Inclusion, therefore, is at the core of UWS’ mission to transform the lives of previously out of school children through education. 

Retention and enrollment rates, disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, disability and location, are two key measurable indicators which form an essential part of UWS comprehensive performance monitoring and end of project evaluation. Educational performance and attainment will be additional relevant measurable indicators to measure the impact of the proposed solution.

We currently have a team of 7 people supporting this solution, comprising: 

Surya Karki, Lead

Avinash Jha, Programme Head

Rishav Acharya, Tech Trainer Education Expert

Ashis Adhikary, Education Coordinator and Trainer for the Pilot Schools

Apsara Gurung, Teacher Lead

Oshin Bista, M&E Officer

Sumi Limbu, Communications Officer

The current team has experience, in line with the goals set by UN-SDG which has been endorsed by National Planning Commission (NPC), in delivering free primary schooling to children and young people in remote and marginalised communities, who would otherwise be excluded accessing any formal education. In our 45 schools, we have found the educational attainment of UWS student to be 14% above Nepal National Average in mathematics, demonstrating the value of investing in computing studies. The project lead currently serves as the member of Education Development Committee of the Government of State 1. Our in-house EdTech expert, Rishav Acharya, has experience working in technology projects across the country. Furthermore, the team has, to date, supported 7000 children and 500 teachers, providing training and capacity building resources.

In line with UWS's diversity, equity and inclusion policy, the recruitment process takes into consideration the current pool of workforce. The current Solution Implementation team has a good gender mix while also ensuring that the staff team are representative of local demographics i.e. inclusion of ethnic groups. Our primary aim is to ensure under-represented groups are provided with opportunities to excel as well as lead. The organization continues to work on its policy to encourage women leaders, both at managerial and directorial positions.

Lack of pilot funding has been the biggest constraint in launching our Solution, and we are hopeful that a successful application to MIT Solve will help UWS Nepal kickstart this exciting initiative. The proposed solution will be a new venture for UWS in the educational technology sector, and as such we are keen to explore potential new avenues of sector support, guidance and mentorship to make our solution impactful and sustainable for future scale up. We welcome the opportunity to become a part of a global network of impact-minded leaders in the digital sector to help expand UWS thinking and capacity to deliver quality and impactful programmes through technically appropriate monitoring and evaluation methodologies. We are also excited by the opportunity to access additional financial and in-kind support in the long term. 

As discussed above, education technology is a new area of operation for UWS globally, and in Nepal specifically. We are therefor keen to explore all possible areas of technical and programme support that will ensure a successful and impactful pilot.  The proposed solution will be a new venture for UWS in the educational technology sector, and as such we are keen to explore potential new avenues of sector support, guidance and mentorship to make our solution impactful and sustainable for future scale up. We welcome the opportunity to become a part of a global network of impact-minded leaders in the digital sector to help expand UWS thinking and capacity to deliver quality and impactful programmes through technically appropriate monitoring and evaluation methodologies. We are also excited by the opportunity to access additional financial and in-kind support in the long term.

We are hopeful of learning and working with organizations like the JPAL based out of MIT. We are hoping we can get going with the Khan Academy as well as technology companies like Raspberry Pi.

Equity and inclusion is at the core of UWS’ mission to transform the lives of children through education. We believe that all children, including the most marginalised, should have access to quality, inclusive education. To achieve this, we work in some of the world’s poorest regions, operating in remote communities to provide previously out of school children with access to primary education. We work in areas where children have little or no access to a government education and where the local community is committed to sending their children to school. We teach the unreached by including the excluded.

Our commitment to equity and inclusion is underpinned by international goals and treaties, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Our commitment also addresses the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 4, which calls for ‘inclusive and equitable quality education’. We also contribute to the wider development of communities through promoting gender equality (SDG 5) and reducing inequalities (SDG 10).