One Child Sponsership Program

   

Immediate cause of vulnerability for Chepangs is their lack of education. The Nepal Chepang Association (NCA) reported that more than three quarters of all Chepangs are illiterate and that only one percent of Chepang women know how to read and write, compared to the national average of around 50 percent. The remoteness of Chepang settlements is regarded as one of the main reasons behind these low literacy rates. Most Chepang villages have only a primary school and students need to travel four to five hours every day, usually over sloped and difficult terrain, to attend secondary level schools. Due to a lack of financial means, few Chepang students can afford to stay in hostels closer to educational facilities. Even though secondary education is officially free in government schools, some School Management Committees are said to collect fees, making higher education unaffordable to most Chepang students.

A general lack of awareness of the importance of education among Chepang parents and the high prevalence of illiteracy also constitute a big obstacle for the education of their children. Faced with serious challenges in maintaining their livelihoods, many Chepang parents take their children out of school to help with household, agricultural and wage work. As a result, the dropout rate is very high among Chepang school children. One Chepang Child Sponsorship Program will help our Chepang Children to continue their education after grade 5 in nearby villages. This will help them to get educated and aware about the social, political and general rights that every citizens should get being Nepali in Nepal.

Let us all be a part of Self Sustaining Campaign to support Chepang Community and make them self reliant. Sponsoring one child from your side will be the biggest contribution to the Chepang community. It will change the whole dimension of that Chepang Family. If a child is educated it will obviously help them to get aware about their basic fundamental rights and educate the entire family. Same child can be a backbone for the family to earn and support the whole livelihood of that family.