Kidspace News • Schools • Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan (SAV School) • The Story of the SAV School

The Story of the SAV School

I, the founder of the SAV School, was brought up in a poor farming family but my parents never stopped me going to school. I started going to school when I was eight, and I was always the first of my class until Grade 10. Having passed Grade 10, I had to leave my village for higher studies. So I moved to the Kathmandu Valley with my brother. I had to find a job to support myself since my parents were not able to support me further financially. I got an opportunity to teach in an English-medium private school in Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu. I enrolled for I.A. (Intermediate in Arts) at evening classes, and continued teaching as a primary math teacher. Having finished my I.A. studies, I took a B.Ed. degree in order to become a qualified teacher. I couldn’t attend classes regularly, as I had to continue with my teaching job in order to make ends meet.

When I was in the final year, one of my friends from Bageshwori (a village near Bhaktapur) requested me to start an English-medium school in his village. I checked the circumstances in the village and decided to help the villagers as I knew the painful situation of village children. People who were really illiterate and poor were willing to help me to start up an English-medium school, but those who could send their children to the town were not very positive. I visited the villagers, talked with them and resolved to establish a school, largely because the children had to walk about an hour to reach an English-medium school in Bhaktapur. The paths are muddy in the rainy season and dusty in the winter and summer. There was not a frequent bus service due to the poor and narrow roads. For these reasons, in 1998 I started Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan (SAV School) with 13 children from the village.



As I was brought up in a remote rural area of Nepal, I’ve experienced the situation of a rural student. For example, regarding financial problems I used to re-use writing paper, first writing on it in ink, and then washing it with soapy water and drying it in the sun before using it again. I used to make and sell materials made of bamboo so that I could buy pens, books and paper, and pay the exam fees. We never had lunch at school. Though I was the best student at school, I was once kicked out of the exam hall as my parents couldn’t pay the nominal exam fee on time. These are only some of the difficulties I had to cope with. These bitter events of my childhood experiences and the educational status and the willingness of the villagers at Bageshwori to educate their children/grandchildren in an English-medium school encouraged me to decide to start a school. I hired one of my colleagues to teach the first 13 students in my absence and I also started working in a public school nearby as a part-time English teacher. The following year, the number of students increased. More villagers sent their children to school as they heard about our hard work. Gradually the number of students increased.



I’m not only the founder of SAV School, but also the Chairperson of the School Management Committee (SMC), teacher, handy man and director. Running a school in a rural area is not a joke; it’s really a challenging job. I find teaching both fun and challenging. Fun because every student is curious to learn English and other subjects. They often seek new things to learn from their teacher and try their best to follow in class. They are very obedient. They are so curious and hardworking. They are so creative and active, sometimes more than we teachers are. And challenging, because they have limited resources. They even can’t buy enough learning materials like notepads, pens, pencils or school books. They do not even have a comfortable classroom and furniture. They do not have even hygienic food. Some of the children even have to get through the school day without any food. They have breakfast before they arrive at school at 9am and the next meal is about 5pm. The only thing they have to fill their stomach with is water. Unfortunately, the school does not have the financial resources to provide them with food.

But, although the circumstances are not easy, I’m still very motivated to run this school, to make it better, to try to give the children a better future than they would have without an education. I am focusing now on a bigger plot of land to build a stable and clean building. If we achieve this, we will attract more students since the parents will have confidence in sending their children to a nice school. If we have more admissions, we can then perhaps save some money and make the children’s stay at school even more comfortable by buying better furniture, getting internet access, purchasing laptops, and hope fully providing meals.

If all of that happens, my dream will have come true.

I already attained more than I could imagine, thanks to the support – financially, through gifts, and also logistically – of people who believe in my project. Now I hope my story will attract more attention than ever, so that I can achieve something important, not only to me, but also to the children of the area, providing them with a brighter future.
Contributor: a-GovindaPa (Nepal)