Education projects to benefit Lumbini villages

Butwal, June 21 (RSS): The Literacy and Non-Formal Education Project has been launched here with an objective of enhancing the living standard of the people residing the peripheral villages of Lumbini zone.

The project aims at providing skill development training to the illiterate and poverty-stricken people of different villages in Rupandehi and Kapilvastu districts.

Under the project, the village people will be included in groups at the community study centres established at Madhubani, Khudrabagar and Tenusawa of Rupandehi and Phulika, Patariya and Rajpur of Kapilvastu district.

It is believed that the project run by Non-Formal Education National Resources Centre Nepal in collaboration with International Buddist Society, Lumbini under the patronage of Torakaya committee Nepal, an umbrella organisation of seven different NGOs will be helpful in improving the living standard of local people.

In an inaugural speech, vice-chairman of Lumbini Development Trust Omkar Prasad Gauchan expressed happiness over the initiation of the community development programme in Lumbini zone.

On the occasion, advisor of National Federation of UNESCO in Japan Muja Kagawa said that the donations of Japanese people collected by UNESCO Federation of Japan will be handed over to the programme, and it will be the symbol of mutual cooperation between the people of Nepal and Japan.

Rupendehi DDC vice-chairman Ramchandra Dhakal presided over the programme.

True data on disabled persons demanded

Lalitpur, June 21 (RSS): The government and non-government organisations working for the disabled needs to pay their attention to the existing disparity in the statistics on disabled persons being collected.

This view was expressed by the participants of a one-day workshop on 'equal participation of information and communication is today's need-the role of communication media for generating awareness on disabled' organised by Nepal Disabled Human Rights Centre here today.

Despite the disparity in the statistics of disabled provided by different national and international organisations, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says that about 10 per cent of the population in Nepal are disabled.

The number of disabled in Nepal is 0.45 per cent according to census 2058 carried out by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and 1.63 per cent according to New Era's study done on behalf of the National Planning Commission (NPC).

Various factors such as the inability to include all the disabled from the remote villages while collecting data, reluctance of the family to provide actual information of disabled, carelessness of enumerators, government's lack of clear policy, etc., are responsible for this problem, the participants said.

The discrimination against disabled can be eliminated only when the facilities of education and health are made accessible to the disabled, president of National Federation of Disabled Nepal Muniswor Pande said on the occasion.

Presenting a working paper, journalist Govinda Adhikari suggested that His Majesty's Government provide seperate budget and launch central level programme for the disabled.

President of the centre Sudarsan Subedi, from the chair, stressed the need for the government, non-government and donor agencies working for the disabled to have a common voice.

There are 2.5 million disabled people in Nepal, according to statistics of UNICEF and non-governmental organisation provided in 1995.

NRCS briefs about its strategies

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, June 21:With a view to informing the Nepal-based foreign organisations and diplomatic communities about its current activities, Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) organised an interaction programme here today on ‘Red Cross in the Present Context’.

In the programme attended by 63 representatives of 30 agencies, NRCS President Ramesh Sharma highlighted its strategies, visions and priorities

"It is the policy of the Red Cross to make timely reforms in the structures and programmes of the organisation for continued extension of service-oriented and community based schemes," Sharma said.

Sharma also said the Red Cross was committed to transparency, fairness, accountability, respect for human dignity and democracy.

Robert Myakiro, regional chief of Red Cross International Federation, Delhi, said that the Red Cross had been improving and extending its service throughout the world.

Red Cross International Committee Representative Jean Jacque Bouve said that the organisation had been providing shelter to the victims of armed struggles as per international norms.

He stressed the need to offer relief packages effectively to the civilians affected by the violent activities in Nepal.

General Secretary of the Society Dev Ratna Dhakhwa said that the Red Cross, as per its capacity, had provided relief to the victims of violence in the country. He also expressed concern about the Maoist attacks on the Red Cross and its infrastructure in recent days.

Meanwhile, Society president Sharma released the World Natural Calamity Report-2002. He said that the world saw property worth $240 million destroyed and the death of 40,000 people by natural disaster in 2001. Earthquakes alone claimed the lives of over 20,000 persons and affected almost 20 million people, according to the report.

The report said that due to growing global warming, the level of the sea would rise above 0.9 metres in this century affecting 10 million people residing around the sea.

Schools open in Dolakha

By Our Correspondent

Charikot (Dolakha), June 21:The private and boarding schools, which had remained closed because of the Maoist threat, have begun to open as community schools at the request of the parents and the guardians.

Three of the five private and boarding schools in the district - that had remained closed for the last two years - have integrated their primary classes and are running them as community schools. They are: Cherdung Boarding School, Nainwork Boarding School and Saraswati Boarding School of Jiri Technical School. The Saraswati Boarding School used to cater to only the children of the staff of government and other offices. Another boarding school Arpad Boarding School has already been running its lower secondary and secondary classes under the community arrangement.

The guardians have taken the step positively, said the headmaster of Jiri Technical School and a member of the board of directors of the community school, Shivahari Khanal. "They say the community schools could actually be an alternative to the private schools."

Under an understanding, the Jiri Technical School will provide the community school Rs. 50,000 every year and that amount will be used to provide 25 to 50 per cent scholarship to the children of the government staff. Presently, parents pay Rs.1,000 as admission fee of each children.

RSS adds from Taplegunj, two months have passed after the new academic year began but public school students of standard six in Taplejung district are yet to receive their text books.

The students say they spent the money for the books while travelling repeatedly to the district headquarters for the text books and have now stopped going to school.

Only 20 per cent of the books for the 6,000 students in the district were received from Sajha Publications, while the remaining books are yet to arrive, says Dipak Kafle of Umesh stationery.

Text books for the state-run school in Taplejung are provided by the Sajha Publications unit in Paanchthar.

However, the District Education Officer Chaitanya Prasad Niroula denied having knowledge about the scarcity of books in the district.

Road constructed through local efforts

By Our Correspondent

Ilam, June 21: The construction of a 14-kilometre motorable road by the local people without any outside help has defied the concept that development projects cannot run without the funding of the government or the donor agencies.

The road links Domurbha of Satasidham of Jhapa district with Bajho VDC of Ilam through Mahamai Village. A 15-member road construction committee was formed last November with VDC chairman Bal Bahadur Angdambe as its chairman. All the people of the villages had left their household works and worked voluntarily hoping that the road would bring the basic infrastructure for the development of their villages.

Despite bordering Jhapa district, the Banjh and Mahamai villages are devoid of any motorable road and lacks electricity, drinking water, education and health facilities.

The government had estimated it would cost Rs. 13.3 million to construct the road. Twelve kilometres of the road have been dug up, the villagers are confident that the remaining two kilometres will be completed in the coming few weeks.

Maoists roam the area, but the construction of the road had begun when the emergency was imposed and will be completed during the emergency period without any disturbance from the Maoists. "This encouraged the locals further," said treasurer of the committee Buddhi Khanal.

Locals say the road will benefit not just their village but the whole of No. 2 constituency of Ilam and several villages of Panchthar district in the north.