Nepal Govt. Regd. No. 1224/064, SWC Affiliation No. 22612
Helping the Public Schoolkids of the Mountain Communities by Providing Tracksuits, Schoolbags, Woolen Hats, Notebooks, White Shoes and Socks
The Tracksuit and School Bag Distribution Project was launched to cater to the needs of students in the public schools across various municipalities and rural municipalities of Gorkha District. A field survey identified a significant gap in adequate clothing for students during school hours. In response, the project was carefully designed to directly benefit the children in these rural areas who lack the basic essentials necessary for their schooling. Every student attending public schools in the Gorkha district stands to gain from this initiative.
The project aims to address several challenges faced by students in public schools, particularly those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. By providing free tracksuits, bags, diaries, hats, and shoes, it not only encourages attendance and reduces financial strain on families but also promotes gender equality and unity among students.
The uniform tracksuits and woolen hats help maintain warmth during the cold winters, especially in high-altitude areas with severe temperatures, ensuring that students can attend school regularly. Additionally, the provision of school diaries enhances educational tracking and performance measurement. Overall, this initiative fosters an environment of equality, encourages consistent school attendance, and supports effective learning.
Distribution Materials:We are giving tracksuits, schoolbags, woolen hats, notebooks and white shoes with socks to the students of public schools. Below is their list of materials with a short description explaining their uses and importance:
1. Tracksuits:
Tracksuit is a set of jacket for the upper body and trousers/joggers for the lower body. They are multipurpose. They can be worn as school uniform when the students’ main uniform is dirty.
They can be worn during sports activities. The tracksuits keep the students warm in winter. For higher-altitude villages with colder temperatures, we are providing tracksuits with fleece lining.
2. Schoolbags:
Many students don’t have a proper bag to carry their books and notebooks. So many of them actually carry their stuff on their hands openly or use plastic bags too.
This leads to damaged and lost books and notebooks. The schoolbags we are providing will solve this issue. Our strong and long-lasting bag will help them to easily carry and protect their stuff in school.
3. Woolen Hats:
Most students don’t have protective headgear or use dirty, torn and thin hats to protect themselves from cold temperatures.
The coldness in their bare heads can make it quite difficult to concentrate on their studies or worse can make them ill and force them to skip classes. Our hats will help them to prevent colds and focus on learning.
4. Notebooks:
In government schools, homework notebooks (aka school diaries) aren’t used. It’s difficult to manage and track homework for both students and teachers. To make things easier for both, we are distributing homework notebooks.
Nobody has implement notebook system in public schools of Gorkha and we will be the first to do it. The notebooks assist the teachers to check which students are doing their homework or which aren’t. The notebooks will aid tremendously in learning and improving.
5. White Shoes with Socks:
Shoes with socks are great to protect the feet from various natural elements while living in the hills and mountains of Nepal. They are better protective than flip-flops. The shoes will be white in color and made from clothes while the socks will be either in blue or green in color depending on what’s available in the market.
Plus the shoes are great for learning and practicing martial arts and various other sports. We are distributing shoes with socks from Phase II only as we identified the need for shoes during our Phase I distribution visits toGorkha.
After the completion of two different phases, the remaining municipalities/rural municipalities have also tried to reach to the organization for the same support to the students. So, in order to continue the project, we are seeking further funding to proceed with the next phase of this project, aiming to support the students of public schools in the Gorkha district who face challenges in their studies due to a lack of basic necessities.
According to our plan, if we get enough funding, the third phase will extend support to the remaining rural municipalities and municipalities, moving us closer to our goal of assisting 66,000 students in the Gorkha district. This effort not only addresses immediate educational needs but also contributes significantly to the broader objective of enhancing educational outcomes in the region.
The table below shows the number of students of the other municipalities/rural municipalities to be supported further in upcoming phases
| S. N | LOCATION | ESTIMATED No. OF STUDENTS | MATERIALS | REMARKS |
| 1. | Gorkha Municipality | 9,000 | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary | The number of students is only the estimated number which may slightly increase or decrease. And the further phases will only be possible if we have the donors to support. |
| 2. | Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality | 6,500 | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary | |
| 3. | Gandaki Rural Municipality | 6,500 | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary | |
| 4. | Ajirkot Rural Municipality |
25,000 | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary | |
| 5. | Siranchowk Rural Municipality | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary | ||
| 6. | Palungtar Municipality | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary | ||
| 7. | Sulikot Rural Municipality | Tracksuit, Schoolbag, Woolen Hat, White shoes and socks, Homework Diary |
We are extremely glad to announce the successful completion of the Second phase of this project. The distribution and handover of the project took place over three days, from December 12th to 14th, 2023. The events were held at several schools within Arughat Rural Municipality and attended by notable figures including the president and vice-president of Arughat Rural Municipality, the president and representatives of Sambhav Nepal, principals of various schools, locals, and other dignitaries. All students from 40 public schools in Arughat Rural Municipality were the beneficiaries of this initiative.
In the second phase of this project, we successfully supported 6,500 students by providing them with essential items that facilitate their daily learning and enhance their comfort at school. Unlike the first phase of this project, as per the need and requirement observed, a pair of white shoes and socks has been added in the list of distributing items. These items not only aid in their educational pursuits but also contribute to a more conducive learning environment.
This initiative has shown significant positive impacts, improving both the educational experience and daily lives of these students. We are committed to continuing our efforts to support educational development in rural Gorkha through such meaningful projects. The list of items supported under this second phase of Tracksuit and Schoolbag distribution project are:
Till the date, the Rural municipalities supported in different phases under this project are presented below in the table.
| S. N | RURAL MUNICIPALITIES | QUANTITY | PHASE | Items distributed |
| 1. | Arughat Rural Municipality | 1550 | Pilot Phase | A set of Tracksuits |
| 2. | Tsum Nubri Rural Municipality | 1412 | First Phase | Tracksuit, woolen hat, school bag and homework diary |
| 3. | Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality | 5450 | First Phase | Tracksuit, school bag and homework diary |
| 4. | Dharche Rural Municipality | 4200 | First Phase | Tracksuit, woolen hat, school bag and home work |
| 5. | Arughat Rural Municipality | 6500 | Second Phase | Tracksuit, woolen hat, school bag, homework diary and a pair of shoes and socks |
The beneficiaries are extremely happy to receive the support from us. At this moment, we would like to provide a very thankful gratitude to our donors who have always been a helping hand to support in our every attempt.
After the successful completion of phase I of Tracksuit and School Bag Distribution Project, we are ready to announce for its second phase. The initial paper work of the project has been completed. We have received the acceptance of the proposal from Social Welfare Council, Nepal and the commitment from our donor as well.
In this second phase of Tracksuit and School Bag Distribution project, we are going to address all the students of 40 schools in Arughat Rural Municipality. The total number of targeted students under this second phase are 6,500. The materials to be distributed under this second phase of Tracksuit and School Bag Distribution Project for each students are:
The further process of the project will be done in accordance with the prepared project outline. We are so glad for being able to address the need of the students in the wider range in this second phase of our project.
We are proud to announce that we have successfully completed Phase I of the project after distributing tracksuits, schoolbags, notebooks and woolen hats in all the wards (Ward No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7) of Dharche Rural Municipality.
The distribution benefited 4,200 students of Dharche Rural Municipality. We went to the schools in all the wards and handed the materials to the students. We distributed them the materials in the right time as the temperatures have sharply decreased in the last week of December. The tracksuits and woolen hats have been a great help for the students during this current winter season. They are very happy to receive our gifts.
We had already manufactured the necessary materials for Dharche many months ago but we had to store them in the factory in Kathmandu because of Covid-19 and monsoon. Dharche also lies in the northern part of Gorkha and doesn’t have road networks like in lower areas of Gorkha, so the distribution was difficult and time consuming. But, now it’s completed and all the students of public schools of Dharche have received our materials.
We hope to start Phase II soon. We have estimated 28,500 as the number of target students for Phase II, which will cover Arughat Rural Municipality, Gorkha Municipality, Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality and Gandaki Rural Municipality. But, if we don’t have sufficient funding, we need the commitment for at least 6,500 students to start Phase II.
We have made a huge progress in our project. This month, from Oct 31 to Nov 03, we completed the distribution of tracksuits, schoolbags and notebooks in all the remaining wards (Ward No 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8) of Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality. Bhimsen is one of the important areas of the project and we are proud to have provided the items to all the public school students of this rural municipality.
In total, 5,450 students of Bhimsen Thapa RM have benefitted from this project. In March this year, we had distributed the items to 1,078 students of Ward No 01. And, in November this time, 4,372 students of the remaining wards received the items, just at a time when the winter is about to start.
Soon after the first distribution in Bhimsen Thapa RM in March, Nepal had the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that caused nationwide lockdown. As a result, the schools were closed for a long time and they started the physical classes only before the Dashain festival. In addition, the Covid-19 lockdown also caused the delay in manufacturing of additional tracksuits, schoolbags and notebooks. When the lockdown was eased up, the monsoon rains prevented us from organizing the distribution. This year the monsoon season lasted longer and we had many stronger & continuous rains.
We found the right time for distribution, just before the Tihar festival started. The winter is also just about to start, so we had to hurry up our distribution too. So, from Oct 031 to Nov 03, the Sambhav Nepal team lead by our Founder/President Prem K Khatry visited Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality and handed out the items to 4,372 students of all the public schools in Wards 2 to 8. It took us four full days to complete the work in this rural municipality and now the students will be able to use, especially their tracksuits, in this winter season.
Our project will now move to Dharche Rural Municipality. We are preparing the logistics and will soon depart for Dharche to carry out the distribution.
In March, we completed the distribution of tracksuits, schoolbags and notebooks in Ward Number 01 of Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality (We didn’t distribute woolen hats because Bhimsen lies in lower altitude and the students don’t need hats). The items were jointly distributed by Melanie Kreuzer (President of Sambhav Nepal Switzerland), Prem K Khatry (Founder President of Sambhav Nepal) and Ishower Pandey (Chairman of Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality).
This distribution directly benefited 1,078 students of 6 schools. The names of the schools are:
We will continue our distribution project to the remaining wards and schools of Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality which has a total of 43 schools and 5,345 students. Once we have fully distributed here, we will move to Dharche Rural Municipality.
In February, we started the project after completing all the necessary paperwork and manufacturing the items required for one rural municipality. We inaugurated the project by distributing tracksuits, schoolbags, woolen hats and notebooks in Tsum Nubri Rural Municipality. This has directly benefited 1,412 students of 20 public schools. Each student received one set of all four items.
Prakash Man Singh, former Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal and who is also the son of late Ganesh Man Singh (Ganesh Man Singh is known as the Father of Nepali Democracy), attended the starting event and inaugurated the project.
We couldn’t visit all 20 public schools due to time limit. Plus not all schools are connected by roads. Tsum Nubri is the northernmost region of Gorkha district and lies in high altitude Himalayan region and shares its northern borders with Tibet. So, we called teachers from other schools so that they can come to pick up the items for their students.
Our project is moving forward smoothly. The following are the tasks we have completed:
In the future, we will complete the following tasks:
After we distribute tracksuits and bags to 10,300 students, we will move to other rural municipalities. It will be better if we can continue this project for next years which will be enough to distrbute tracksuits and bags to all the students of public schools in Gorkha. But that will depend on whether we get donors for next phase. If funding is available, we surely want to help all students.
Back in Janurary of this year, we conducted a pilot test for the project. At the time, we distributed 1,550 tracksuits to a few community schools of Arughat Rural Municipality. The response from the test was positive. We received requests from many schools and local government officials from all over Gorkha for tracksuits to be distributed to their students. That motivated us to take our idea further and start the full project. We also decided that it’s better to distribute tracksuits as well as bags in higher villages first and then move to lower areas.
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