Nine-year-old Asha (name changed) is one of the bright students studying in grade four of UWS Hedangnagadhi. She lives in Gadhi Bazar in Hedangnagadhi community with her parents, an elder sister, and a younger brother. Her sister and brother study in grade six and grade two of the same school, respectively.
The majority of inhabitants in the community she lives in belong to the Rai community, while a few people from mixed communities, including people from Chettri community, also live there.
Asha’s father is the breadwinner of the family. He is a construction labor, and her mother is a homemaker. Because of the poor financial situation, Asha, along with her siblings, had to quit boarding school as the family couldn’t afford the fees. “Sometimes we didn’t even have the money to buy stationeries for the children, there was no way we could afford the expensive fees of the boarding school,” shares Asha’s mother.
Because her parents wanted their children to continue their studies, they began looking for an alternative to boarding school. “After knowing that the UWS school had been providing quality education similar to that of the boarding school and would provide required facilities to families with poor economic background, we decided to enroll our children in the UWS school,” says her mother.
Asha loves going to school, learning new things, and playing with her friends. According to her parents, It was she who insisted on going to the UWS school. Apart from studying, she likes dancing, writing, and reading.
Her favorite subject is Nepali because she can understand the language and loves reading stories and essays in the Nepali language. She is also involved in the recently introduced STEAM Club in her school. The club is an initiative to create a learning space that connects ideas with reality and aims to enhance Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) education among the students. “I am very happy to join the club as I am learning new things together with my friends every day,” she says.
Asha is thankful to UWS Nepal for establishing a good school near her house as she got the opportunity to study. “I think I would be very sad if I didn’t get the chance to go to school and study. Seeing the other children, including my friends, going to school would further make me sad,” she shares.
Asha loves playing with her siblings while she is at home. She also likes to help her mother around the house. “My mother works a lot at home, so I try to help her as much as I can during my free time,” she says. Sometimes she does the dishes and cleans the house.
Asha is doing well in her studies according to her teachers. Her parents are very proud of her as she is enjoying her school life and doing really well in her studies. In the future, she dreams of becoming a doctor and providing health facilities to poor people in her community.
