Education Support Teresa Academy

Education is the movement from darkness to light. – Allan Bloom.

While education is the beacon of hope for many, especially for the deprived and the underprivileged, we live in a world where education itself is inaccessible. The high cost associated with education creates a big divide between the have and the have nots. Thus, Maiti Nepal established Teresa Academy in 1998 to remove one barrier from quality education for deprived, underprivileged, orphaned and semi-orphaned children who are not in the position to pay tuition fees and general expenses required for formal education.

The academy provides quality education to these children at almost no cost or a very nominal amount. The academy also focuses on providing education to girls and children who are vulnerable and at a high risk of being trafficked to brothels or other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. These children have the slightest chance of getting an education if they are not cared for, protected, and rehabilitated. The school is committed to graduating as many children as its resources allow, and currently, there are 257 students (85% girls, 15% boys).

The majority of the students at the academy are sheltered at Maiti Nepal’s Child Protection Center, while some of them come from the surrounding vicinities. These children often have a frightening past and an uncertain future. Trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, they can find a better chance at life through education.

Teresa Academy is committed to providing an intellectually stimulating learning environment. The school offers quality education through a qualified, trained, dedicated team of teachers striving to provide an enriching learning experience.

It is generally realized that proper nurturing yields anticipated outcomes, and childhood is the most creative and crucial phase of human life. Childhood is more than a period between birth and adulthood; it is the state and condition of a child’s life and the quality of those years. Thus, the school has various curricular and extracurricular activities to nurture and develop children in this crucial phase.

Objectives

• Impart comprehensive and primary education to children in extreme need who are not able to pay tuition fees and other expenses necessary for formal education.
• Teach children pure, sound, and moral knowledge to guide them.
• Make children courageous and noble citizens with healthy attitudes towards the development of society.
• Co-operate in bringing backward and underprivileged people of the society to the national mainstream.
• Explore hidden talents of the children and provide a positive and progressive educational environment for holistic personality development.

Extracurricular Activities

Teresa Academy has a wide range of extracurricular and co-curricular activities to help students explore their talents and develop skills. Each child finds a sport or activity that interests them, and the teachers provide them with the necessary guidance and skills. Such activities develop knowledge, skills, and capacity to produce skilled and competent individuals. These activities also help to foster quality of life, build up self-confidence, and develop the ability to think, analyze, and judge in different situations.

Some of the internal activities include –

• Spelling contests
• Dance and songs competition
• Inter-house volleyball competition
• Mini sports
• Inter-house basketball competition
• Artwork, handwork, needlework
• Quiz competition
• Elocution and debate
• Play competition
• Rhymes recitation
• Handwriting competition
• Education edition/excursion
• Participation in World Children’s Prize organized by Queen of Sweden

Higher-Level Educational Opportunities

Education Scholarship programs assist the students in undertaking their tertiary education programs at suitable institutions in Nepal and India. More than 100 students have received opportunities to pursue bachelor’s degree programs in different fields such as Hotel Management, Computer Science, Journalism, Information Technology, Business Administration, Social Work, Chartered Accountancy, Nursing, Medicine, and Engineering from different institutions. Currently, 35 beneficiaries are pursuing their bachelor’s degrees from different colleges in Nepal.

Child Protection Center Kathmandu

Child Protection Center of Maiti Nepal stands as one of the preventative strategy of Maiti Nepal. Children belonging to underprivileged communities and precarious trafficking circumstances are provided comprehensive services at the Child Protection Center so that they remain safe and they get every opportunity for their holistic development. Service provided by Child Protection Center ensures rights of children in all dimensions including survival, protection, development and participation.

Since 1993, Maiti Nepal has been conducting a Child Protection Centre (CPC), which is a residence for 250children.CPC has been offering shelter to children from different backgrounds. Most of the children residing at CPC have a history of being trafficked or are the children of mothers who were forced to work as sex workers in India. There are also extremely vulnerable children, who were intercepted at border crossings by MaitiNepal,or had been raped, subjected to domestic violence,child labour, or are orphans or destitute and living on the street. Some of them belong to economically backward communities, marginalised and disadvantaged groups or broken families. The children are sometimes ostracised by their families and communities or are simply abandoned because they are HIV positive. CPC also cares for children whose parents have died as a result of AIDS. Under CPC’s roof, all these children have been living a safe and a secure life. Apart from taking care of their basic needs, CPC has been providing these children a holistic care and support service which empowers them to overcome their grief-stricken past and provides them with training and skills to enable them to lead a full and happy life. The children residing at CPC attend Teresa Academy and other schools/colleges. Teresa Academy is operated by Maiti Nepal.

Not only does CPC provide a formal education for the children under its care, but it also provides a secure sheltered living facility, legal support and medical support as well as exposing them to the realities of life outside the shelter with opportunities to participate in sport and other recreational activities. CPC also provides a wide range of cultural and psycho-social counselling including career counselling. CPC performs wide range of activities in all areas of child rights including survival, protection, development and participation.