Nepal Jesuit Social Institute (NJSI) has launched the Rural Education Improvement Nepal (REIN) program in Nepal (Eventually Fe Y Alegria Nepal). The program started with the installation of the “Smart Hub” in Shree Robang School, Rorang Rural Municipality in Dhading District. Robang School gives primary education to the children from Chepang Community, a highly marginalized and basically poor ethnic group mostly found on the southernmost high hills of central and western regions of Nepal.
The school was affected by the 2015 earthquake and NJSI rebuilt the school and gave furniture with support of Xavier Network fund. Looking at the poverty and lack of education of the community along with the geographical remoteness of the place, Robang School became one of the 20 Xavier Network funded school NJSI chose for the pilot project of REIN. The program starts with the installation of smart hub in the selected schools. The smart hub includes a 55inch smart TV, an Android Tablet, WIFI modem and basic network connections, hard disks, pen drives, all safely placed into a lockable cupboard.
The Schools will provide a lockable regular class room and a male and female staff for the safe keeping of the equipment. NJSI will give Teachers Training to help them use the smart hub for creative and better education of all the subjects. The second phase of REIN will be to record regular subjects especially English, Mathematics and Science with special focus on difficult areas where the rural teachers require help.
The prepared materials will be given to the schools in hard disks or by online means like YouTube or drop box which the teachers of the rural schools can download and use as resource materials. The supplementary soft components will also include teacher’s aid and training programs for improving teaching skills in rural sector. The resource person for the preparation of the education materials will be the experts from our Jesuit and other prominent Religious educational institutions as well as Volunteers from our University colleges.