Presentation by Purna Kumar Shrestha at the European Education Practitioner's Network seminar "Live & Learn: Exploring Education in Fragile Contexts" on the 2nd June in Brussels

1. Promoting Quality and Inclusive Education for
Out of Reach Children in Nepal (2010-2014)
Purna Kumar Shrestha
Lead Adviser- Education
VSO International
@purnashrestha @vso_intl
European Education Practitioners’ Network
2 June 2015, Brussels

2. Kailali
Surkhet
Baglung
Rupendehi
Kathmandu (Central)
Kaski
Myadi
Where do we work in the project?
• 6 Districts
• 101 schools

3. Objective:
•To improve the quality and inclusion of education for out-of-
reach children from the most marginalised and disadvantaged
communities in Nepal.
Specific objectives:
• Access and retention for out-of-reach children from marginalised and
disadvantaged communities to basic education
• Provision of quality, inclusive and child centred learning in the focus schools
• Implementation of an inclusive education policy at all levels of the
community
• Sufficient capacity of Education Managers at all levels to be able to
implement the School Sector Reform Plan

4. Out-of-reach children from marginalised and
disadvantaged communities, particularly (girls, Dalits
and children with disabilities) are enrolled in school
Schools in target districts are providing quality,
inclusive and child centred learning
Education policy and its implementation are inclusive
of the community at all levels
Education managers at all levels have the capacity to
implement the School Sector Reform plan for basic
education
Focus areas of the project

5. Change dimensions in the project
DEO staff,
SSs, RPs, HTs,
SMCs/PTAs,
Teachers
Central level (MoE,
DoE, AIN & NCEN)
ALFs &
Community
members
Accelerated
learning classes
Advocacy and
influence
enrollment
campaigns
Bridge class
programs
Bridging policy &
practice gaps
Strengthening
management
(SIP)
Establishing child
friendly classrooms
Gender
awareness
Enrollment
Campaign

6. Creating Agents of Change : VSO’s Approach to
Mentoring and Coaching
20Primary education advisers
18Education management advisers
15ECD specialists
1
Livelihood adviser
1Gender Adviser

7. Implementation modality of the project
VSO Nepal programme staff
Ministry of education
Department of education
District education offices
School clusters
Implementation and
resource partners
Communities
VSO International
Volunteer experts
(IVE’s)
IVE’s are recruited as
per the needs of the
project
Skills sets:
• Education
management
• Teacher trainers
•Education policy
advisers
• Gender specialists
• Advocacy specialists
•Livelihood Linkage
Improving
the
learning
outcomes
of the
children
Networks, campaigns and advocacy initiatives
Management
of the
education
system is
strengthened
Teachers and
school
administrators
are better
equipped to
deliver
modern child
centred
education
services
Communities
and parents
are better able
to support
learners and
hold education
institutions
accountable

8. Agents of Change : VSO’s approach to
mentoring and coaching
296
training events
29,565Children reached
816
teachers were
mentored
15,000
parents and community
members mobilised
2059Education managers
and teachers trained

9. •Community awareness raised
via training for 491 SMC
members and 331 PTA members
regarding- disability, anti-
discrimination, girls’ right to
education
•School Improvement Planning
•Teaching and Learning
Monitoring
•Inclusive and safe school
environments
Empowering PTA and SMC members
•

10. •75 providers received development
alongside ECD specialist volunteers
•Colourful and child friendly methods
were introduced
•Marginalised children were brought
into education earlier
•The production of high quality
teacher guides and attractive low cost
but educationally effective resources
Improving learning environment and
empowering teachers

11. Impacts
• 12 out of 14 partners (85%) reported they scored 3 or above
in one or more area on the quality scale
•1,023 out of school children (506 males and 507 females) in
these schools, including 75 children who were admitted via
bridge classes
•37 separate ECD classes have been set up where they were
previously integrated with Grade 1
•Regular attendance of children from 60-70% at the start of
the programme in 2009 to 90% in 2014
•Good Practice guides Toolkits, manuals and handbooks ,
DVD on Good Practice and other lasting resources

12. •Chandraman is 5 years old. He attends a
government primary school in Naudanda, Kaski
district. He comes to school most days, more or
less on time. He is smiling, happy, and ready to try
his best. And although he finds learning difficult,
so far he is coping with Class 1.
•Chandraman manages despite some big barriers.
His family is Dalit. Like many Dalit families they
are amongst the poorest people in the village.
Chandraman's father has mental health problems,
and cannot work. He is often not at home – his
illness causes him to roam around the district,
shouting and behaving strangely. His mother
works when she can, paid as a daily labourer for
other families. Chandraman lives with his mother
and 3 older sisters in one room, which was the
animal shed for another house.
•A VSO Early Childhood volunteer began working
with the ECD teacher at the same time as
Chandraman started in the class. The active
learning methods she introduced, which the
teacher has followed, meant that Chandraman
was able to take a full part in the class, and to
learn letter sounds and numbers as the basis for
the Year 1 curriculum – reducing the risk that he
will drop out of school.
•VSO's implementing partner NNDSWO worked with
Chandraman's mother to encourage her to send all her
children to school regularly. And they helped her with
stationery and school uniforms – so that the children feel
included at school.
•Chandraman represents a large number of children in
Nepal that faces threats to their basic needs on a daily
base while attempting to retain in public education. He is
also the proof that the linkage between the education
program and the health- and livelihood program needs to
be strengthened in order to be able to support these
children and families in suitable ways.
A story of Chandraman

13. Learning and Reflections
 Support at all level of education
 Co-production of the project design with NGO partners and
involvement of government (all stakeholders own the process) –
sustainability
 Different types of volunteering with clear roles and responsibilities
 Use of NGOs/CSOs supporting community and VSO supporting
schools and DEOs help bridge the gaps between schools and
community
 Depth cluster model with clear need analysis, intervention logics
resulting expected outcomes

14. Learning and Reflections
 Strong M&E (having baseline help to attribute
VSO’s impact)
 Pilot on the focus districts to scaling up – in the
middle of the project time, rolled out
to additional districts
 Learning cycle – project adopted its approaches
throughout the project cycle – based on the feedback
 Field staff in the communities

15. Working together!
Thank you!