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Before children went home for their holiday, they got some food for thought and vacation work. The youngsters were asked to write about their time at home and the elder where asked to think about what they want to do when they will leave Bright Horizon after class 10. We are all very curious to read what they will write, especially class 10 students who will do their School Leaving Certificate (SLC) in April 2010. All staff from BHCH wants to make sure they take the right decision for their future.

The children come from various ethnical and religious backgrounds. Most of them don‘t have parents or only one parent. Fathers often have been forced to seek work away from home, also abroad in India, Malaysia or the Gulf States. 85% of the 28 mio Nepalese live in rural areas. Thus, most BHCH children come from rural areas in the Kathmandu valley, the lower Himalaya regions or the subtropical flat lands of Terai (at the border to India). Almost 3/4 of the Nepali live in poverty, half of them „ultra-poor“. The average income in Nepal is around 20 $ a month. They can not afford to pay school fees – even not public/government school fees (for uniforms, books, etc.) which are around 1 $ a month. It is still common that rather boys than girls are sent to school – more than 70 % of adult women can neither read nor write and their labour is needed in the house and the fields.

Apart from a few private and christian school, there were almost no schools before the revolution in 1951 (where the Shah Kings regained the power they lost 100 years earlier to the Rana Kings). Today, there are around 33000 public/government schools and 8000 private ones. In addition, there are around 1200 trust schools, such as BHCH. In around 10000 colleges (so called +2) children are prepared to go for studies at the 5 universities in Nepal. 2 to 3000 of the colleges are situated in Kathmandu and district capitals. Pre-School starts at the age of 3, class 1 at the age of 5. As of next year, 3000 public pre-school/childcare will be opened. So far, only private childcare exists in the cities.

Jobs are scarce. When the 25 class 10 students leave BHCH with their SLC in hand, they need to take a fundamental decision: Will they go back to their villages and help their families to survive? Then, the question might come: will they find jobs out there where farming is still the main occupation? Or: will they be fit to “survive in the city jungle” of Kathmandu and will they have a chance to realize their dream of a well paid white collar job?

Although the cast system has been abolished, Nepali life very much happens in traditional structures reducing individualism very much to the level of cast, kinship and village. Only in 1990, political parties were introduced after they had been banned by King Mahendra in 1960. Life skills, such as critical and creative thinking or analyzing and adjusting to new situations, are broadly underdevelopped. Motivation to go the extra mile is low – incentives to do so are almost non existing and hope for change is small. Look at the many political changes over the last few generations which steered Nepal in a political vaccum and stalemate: 1768 – Nepal unified under the Shah Kings; 1814-16 – Anglo-Nepalese War; 1846 – Rana Kings took over after Kot Massacre; 1934 – massive earthquake in Kathmandu Valley; 1950 – Shah Kings took over; 1959 – Nepals first elections; 1962 – political parties were abolished (and the Panchayat (council) system introduced; 1979 – riots in Kathmandu due to corruption and rising cost of living; 1991 – introduction of democracy; 1996 – the Maoists declared „people‘s war“ starting in the poor regions of the far west promising a better life on the basis of Peru‘s Shining path (and not Chairman Mao); 2001 – Royal massacre where Crown Prince Dipenra first gunned down his father King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya and then himself ( some history books suggest as the reason his discontentment of his parents‘ disapprovement of the woman he wanted to marry); 2006 – King Gyanendra reinstalled parliamentary democracy; 2008 – formal abolition of monarchy and election victory of maoist party, though no political party has absolute majority. Prime Minister Kumar is Marxist-Leninist and committed to make democracy work in Nepal.

Both the political and educational system are in their infancy. The Nepalese economy is one of the five weakest worldwide. But Nepalese are patient and positive. Due to the century-long socialisation in tribes and extended families, there is a huge amount of responsibility and caretaking between the generations. More and more parents and families have their children educated, not only to gain knowledge, but also to succeed in their life as independent, disciplined and curious individuals. It seems that one of the fundamental tasks of education in Nepal is the creation of an entrepreneurial spirit to bridge the gap between the sophisticated Industry policy which is designed for skilled people (which are not yet available in a critical mass) and the current economic situation.

Next year the second batch of Class 10 students will leabe BHCH. Career councelling in the school is an elementary duty for the staff  to empower the young future generation to lead Nepal into a more stable and secure situation.