What is United World Schools? How do they teach the unreached?
Since 2015, Churcher’s College have been supporting UWS Mude. This has been an amazing partnership that has seen our community raise nearly £20,000 to build and maintain a school in rural Nepal. Our fundraising efforts over the years have enabled a remote community to have access to education despite earthquakes and Covid. At the last count, 343 pupils are enrolled in UWS Mude.
There is little doubt the role education can play in breaking the cycle of poverty experienced by marginalised communities. The benefits are far reaching, especially for young girls who will have new opportunities beyond the trappings of an agricultural society.
Over the years, the Charities Committee, Miss Evans and Mrs Yugin Power have organised a plethora of events to raise money to provide training for teachers, books for lessons, bags for pupils and meals at lunchtime. These events have ranged from activity days, curriculum weeks, art exhibitions, non-uniform days and so much more.
These events have allowed UWS Mude to survive during Covid 19 when UWS trained teachers became pivotal in the community led responses to Covid in Nepal. Equally, teachers were trained to deliver lessons via radio so that pupils could continue to learn.
On Founders Day, it was with great pleasure that I was able to tell the Senior School that UWS Mude has successfully been transitioned to government control, as part of the lifecycle of a UWS school. This means that the school is now sustainable and will continue to provide an education to the children of Mude, without our support. It seemed fitting that when celebrating the 300th Year of Churcher's, we could celebrate the creation of a new school in Mude.
So, after 8 years, 14 assemblies, 26 letters and £20,000, thank you, to everyone who has been a part of this amazing story. We have truly made a difference.
Why do we support UWS?
The view from Mude School, Nepal
The early days of Mude School
The opening of Mude School, April 2016
DECEMBER 2016 NEWS
Students have now been given their own UWS schoolbags filled with stationery and resources. These are a great way to make children identify with the school, and they have seen an increase in attendance since handing these out. The most recent data sets show there are now more than 160 children attending daily, which is more than anticipated for the school's first year of opening!
Over the past few weeks, they have been holding teacher training. The focus has been on more interactive and child-centred lesson plans, including art, storytelling and group numeracy games.
These bags, teacher training, school committee are only possible with the continued efforts of Churcher's College. Well done.
MARCH 2017
Jack, who has spoken to the school several times, has just returned from Nepal. These are the most recent photos of Mude. Take some time to see the transition of Mude from the first video to these!
JUNE 2017
Mude continues to grow and develop although it has recently hit a few stumbling blocks. We had over a month's worth of rain in a week and the village was cut off for a fortnight as the only bridge into the community was washed away.
The other big thing that is happening at the moment is the upcoming elections. They had the first round and the second round has been postponed for over 9 days as the current party don't look like they will win again so they will delay as long as possible. This really disrupts the education in Mude as all teachers are considered 'government workers' and are thus expected to stop work and campaign for the government. In a tiny village like Mude we suggested they just spend one day a week on this to ensure that lessons could continue.
SEPTEMBER 2017
While the eye of the UK media is on Hurricane Irma and Florida, you may not have seen on the news that Nepal has been devastated by landslides and floods caused by an abnormal monsoon, with almost 16 million people thought to have been affected across Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Our Country Director, Surya Karki, told us of how he narrowly avoided being caught in a landslide after a disembarking from a flight on his way to the schools. With over a third of the country currently underwater the roads have mostly been overrun and our UWS team have had to conduct their visits by foot. Unfazed by a big walk, Surya confirmed that he had walked 12 hours to visit UWS Mude School last week.
Miraculously none of our UWS Nepal Schools have been damaged. Lessons have continued almost as usual. Here are some of the latest photos from UWS, Mude. You can see a staff meeting in action and the pupils wearing their school uniforms.
October 2017
Schools in Nepal have officially re-opened their doors after a busy period of religious festivals. Over the final weeks of October, our Nepali teachers and students celebrated one of the most important festivals in the Hindu calendar: Tihar Festival.
Tihar Festival in Nepal is, essentially, the equivalent of Deepavali in India and other Hindu lands. It known as the 'Festival of Lights' after the clay lanterns (“diyas”) that are lit and stacked around houses every night. People use pigmented rice, flour, sand, and flower petals to make “rangoli,” which are decorative patterns on the floors of homes and outdoor areas. They are meant to honour and welcome various Hindu gods and goddesses to the home. However, although this is a Hindu festival, Tihar is celebrated even in rural minority communities like Mude, and you will often see tika, a red paint, painted over the face of animals during this period.
January 2018
Over the last few months Mude's Education Officer Sapana has been working hard to help develop the quality of teaching and learning at UWS Mude School. Focusing on community engagement and improving the healthcare of children in the village, Sapana is changing the culture of the school for the better. This term students were taught about the importance of brushing their teeth and introduced spot-checks to make sure children were regularly washing their hands.
Art has also taken centre stage this term with more children experimenting with patterns and creating origami flowers that have been used to decorate the classroom. Encouraging students to be creative at school is incredibly important as subjects like Art help to develop a child's fine motor skills, mathematical ability, language skills, and cognitive development.
April 2018
Surya, who visited Churcher's College in May, told us that the
academic year has
come to a close at UWS Mude School with students receiving their results for
the end of year exams.
For many children, these exams have been the first formal test that they have
ever sat and the first set of results they have ever received. This is a
tremendous achievement for them.
UWS Mude School has also shut down for Nepali New Year celebrations. During this period families will gather to celebrate, often buying a new set of clothes for each child, welcoming the new year together.
October 2018
UWS Mude School is thriving. Lesson quality is high, and the community continue to be really engaged with the school. The UWS Nepal Country Director, Surya, who is from surrounding area, delivered a wonderful speech at their celebration event on Thursday. He reflected on how far they've come, thinking specifically about UWS Mude School:
'Back in 2015 standing at the edge of a hill 2000m above sea level in Mude, a remote village in the foothills of the Himalayas, I couldn't have dreamed of getting to where we are today, with 25 UWS schools and more than 2,700 children learning to read, write and count.
That hill that I was standing on is today home to our first UWS Nepal school. UWS Mude School took us 1 year to get built and running. During that year, we overcame the tragedies of the earthquake of 2015, the trade blockade, the destructive monsoon floods and intermittent supply of construction materials. But thanks to the people of Mude and the hard work of the UWS Nepal team, today we have a wonderful school that makes education a reality for over 160 children...
With your support, we are confident in delivering on our promise to create life opportunities through education. Thank you for being a part of this journey'.
Surya visited Churcher's College in 2017.
January 2019 - a special event as Mr Harris and Miss Gardner visit
Over the Christmas holiday, Miss Gardner and Mr Harris travelled to UWS Mude to meet the pupils and teachers. Here are some of the photos and videos from that visit.
Now 150 pupils are enrolled at UWS Mude and they have plans to create a garden to help the local community. The monsoon season will be coming soon and the pupils are working towards their exams - another year marches on!
October 2019 - Monsoons and Progress
Summary
At UWS Mude School, students have been working hard and recently finished their first exams of the term. The school is clean and tidy and, aside from their lessons, students have been keeping themselves very busy playing football and tending to the school gardens. Whilst the students have been busy learning and enjoying the school playground, the teachers have also been engaged, receiving important training from their Education Officer, Ashok, in order to keep lessons engaging and fun. We want to ensure that all our students feel safe and protected at school, and this month at UWS Mude teachers have also been conducting important fire drills.
Monsoons
Monsoon season
In August, UWS Mude School opened again following the monsoon
holidays. Floods and landslides are a regular phenomenon in Nepal
during this period, when the country receives more than 80% of its
annual rainfall. This year, the monsoon hit especially hard, entering
Nepal slightly later than usual but still resulting in the heaviest rainfall
in a decade. While the rains continued to be heavy into September,
they have now slowed, and Ashok and the team at UWS Mude school
are working incredibly hard to ensure that attendance levels stay high
despite the challenges presented by the monsoon.
UWS have produced this Autumn report
January 2020 - results and winter ... brrrrrrrrrr
After all of their hard work at the end of last year which
culminated in a period of exams, students at UWS Mude School have now received
their results. Teachers published test scores in the presence of parents and
Education Officer Ashok is pleased with the school’s progress, which is
testament to both the students’
willingness to learn and their teachers engaging lessons.
January is the coldest time of year in Nepal, and temperatures drop quite drastically in the evenings, staying cold throughout the night. As a result of this, students have been wrapping up warm in thick jumpers and hats. In spite of the cold, attendance remains high and students are working hard in what is the final term of the year.
Indeed, the cold weather has not put a stop to the hard work of the team at UWS Mude School, who continue to dedicate themselves to improving the school’s teaching capabilities. Ashok has been running teacher training courses, advancing from lower level guidance to training teachers up to Grade 5 - a good sign of continuous school improvement.
January 2020 - letters from Nepal
Churcher's College Junior School and UWS Mude have been exchanging letters. Here are some examples from Nepal.
February 2020 - Living on a Prayer
Mr Lofthouse organised the Senior School to sing a song to UWS Mude - Living on a Prayer via a live weblink
Thursday 13th February saw Churcher’s rise in one voice to sing to UWS Mude. In a campaign spearheaded by Mr Lofthouse Churcher’s College have sung to protest against climate change. We have sung to make us smile and to raise our moods. We have sung to come together as a cohesive College. But on this day we sung to reach out to a community over 5000 miles away in the foothills of the Himalayas. It was on this day that we Skyped UWS Mude to deepen our connection with this remote corner of Nepal.
March 2020 - Global Pandemic
A message from UWS
During this uncertain time, we are actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation in all of our countries. Our priority is ensuring the health and wellbeing of our students, teachers, staff and partners around the world. Due to poor access to healthcare, our communities are particularly vulnerable. We will continue to provide necessary and safe support, following respective government advice.
During school closures we will continue to look after our schools, including paying all of our community teachers and support staff. We will continue to develop school improvement plans, improve our curriculum delivery and conduct staff training while schools are closed. We are also ensuring our staff and offices, where still operational, have enough soap and hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of infection and are kept up to date on the latest advice and guidance.
Our response is focused across three key areas:
WATER AND HANDWASHING
All of our schools have access to clean water, and over the coming weeks, our priority is to ensure that WASH stations in schools meet the WHO international standards, including soap. These will be open to the entire community so that all within the village will have the tools they need to protect themselves and prevent the virus from spreading.
AWARENESS
The communities we partner with are beyond the reach of government and other NGOs. We are a vital source of information for community leaders about coronavirus and how they can help limit the spread of the virus. We are in the process of delivering remote training for all community members to raise awareness of social distancing and preventative measures.
EDUCATION
As our schools close, we also need to make sure the learning doesn’t stop. We are working to provide learning resources that children can use at home, in their own languages.
April 2020 - Covid Up-date
May 2020 - Hamro Kakshya
In order to continue providing education, UWS launched a daily educational radio broadcast in May called “Hamro Kakshya”. Due to its early success, it has been increased from 45 minutes daily to 2 hours daily, and is reaching an estimated 10,000 students a day! UWS Fellows design and record the lessons, which also includes information on Covid to help prevent the spread of misinformation. Once lockdown permits, the community teachers will distribute a takeaway programme aiming to reach every UWS student!
The Junior School have their own episode of Hamro Kakshya recorded especially for them so that they can learn Nepali!
September 2020 - School Closures in Nepal
A message from UWS Nepal:
An update on our Covid-19 response
Thanks to the generosity of UWS supporters, their water and hygiene programme has been fully funded, and thus far, working around lockdown regulations, they have been able to successfully, open and upgrade 26 out of 34 handwashing facilities which are available for the communities to use in Mude to use. Our teams are working hard to continue to upgrade more facilities.December 2020 - A BIG THANK YOU
A letter from the CEO
April 2021 - Back to a new normal?
At Mude School, they've had 51 new enrolments this year in the school and across Nepal they are celebrating 5,221 students enrolled since UWS first begun! The attendance rates of students have also gone up, in January they were recording a 79% attendance rate however in February due to their monitoring and intervention this number has risen to 84%, they continue to improve this number and run out a risk intervention programme that identifies students most at risk of dropping out and not continuing their schooling.