Ncell supports over Rs 50 million to 41 schools

KATHMANDU, March 29-Owing to the lack of budget and proper infrastructure, many children in rural areas of Nepal remain deprived from basic rights of education. Considering this realty, Ncell has placed education at the top of its CSR priority list and has been supporting schools in rural areas in order to enable children get better education in an improved learning environment.

Under the CSR endeavors, Ncell, country’s leading telecom service provider, has decided to support additional 18 schools, one each in 18 districts, under ‘Adopt a School’ project. It has also decided to continue providing scholarships to 15 girl children to pursue higher secondary and Bachelor’s level education in 2013.
The 18 schools receiving Ncell’s support under Adopt a School are community-run schools. Under the support, Ncell would be building buildings/class-rooms, constructing toilets, drinking water and other basic facilities, fencing the school premises, furnishing the class rooms, and providing education materials along with indoor and outdoor sports materials.

Ncell will be investing more than Rs 25.53 million in those schools in 2013. “The support will do away with all existing infrastructural and material deficiencies in those schools, thereby creating better learning environment for students and also enabling the school to intake more students and retain them,” said Sanju Koirala, corporate communication director.
With the fresh support, agreements for which have already signed with Save the Children and other local partners, the number of schools receiving Ncell support has reached 41 (6 in 2011, 17 in 2012 and 18 in 2013). And Ncell’s support to them has totaled to about Rs 50 million.

“Our supports largely focus at building good sustainable infrastructures and learning environment. So, those will continue to serve students for years in the future,” Koirala added. Ncell has been implementing Adopt a School Project joining hands with Save the Children and other local NGOs.

Apart from Adopt a School, Ncell will also be providing Rs 900,000 in scholarship to 15 girl children under its Girl Scholarship Program this year. Under the Girl Scholarship Program, Ncell has been providing Rs 500,000 to each of the 15 girl children that passed out of SLC exams to complete education up to Bachelor level. “So, Rs 900,000 is the new tranche of installment that we will be releasing to them this year,” said Koirala.

Ncell started Girl Scholarship in 2011 with an aim to support SLC pass out girls from rural districts so that they do not remain deprived of education due to poor financial condition of the family and orthodox thinking that a girl child does not need education.

In the first year, the scholarship was provided to 5 qualifying girl students from 5 districts of Karnali Zone. In 2012, the scholarship was extended to 10 other students from other rural districts. Together, Ncell will be investing Rs 26 million to support schools and girl education in 2013.

Apart from Adopt a School and Girl Scholarships, Ncell has also supported establishment Digital Library in 13 schools in 12 districts of Nepal, benefitting 10,186 students. Under this project, Ncell provided computers and accessories to those schools during 2011 and 2012. Ncell’s project partner, Help Nepal Network, trained the teachers, orienting them to use the library and make use of emerging information technology tools. The teachers were also trained to pass on the library operating skills to the students.
These libraries have proven useful for students to acquire extra knowledge and computer literacy. Schools appreciated Ncell’s support, saying that it also helped them to control absenteeism and dropout rates to a large extent.