Our challenge: In Nepal the majority of the people did not have access to education before 1950. Even nowadays, not everybody is educated, and the literacy rate amongst women was measured 57 percent in 2009, against a 65 percent rate for men.
Our aim: With this project, Care For All – Nepal wants to uplift the level of education of women. We believe that by teaching the women at least to read and write, they will have a stronger position in the modern world. They will understand better what goes on around them, and in addition they will less easily be cheated, for instance in the market. Furthermore, they will recognize the importance of education for their own children.
Our method: The project consists of a daily two hour class given by a Nepali, female teacher. All the participants are provided with reading and writing materials, as well as a bag to carry these items. Besides that, CFA – Nepal provides them torches, because the lessons are held in the evening, and in Nepal there are frequent power cuts.
Their results: In the projects that we have already completed, afterwards all the women were able to read the single letter alphabet, and some women were able to read simple sentences. Most of the women were able to write the names of their family members.
We can see that the women do not only become literate; their overall attitude changes in a positive way. Usually when we start a project, the women are shy and do not communicate with us; they have a suspicious attitude. Later on however, we see that the women have become more confident, uplifted and that they interact easily with us and each other. The women told us, that now they are able to understand more what their children are doing at school. They can help their own children, learn from them, and stimulate them to continue their studies, because now the women experience how important, helpful and interesting it is to be able to read and write.