The ABCs of reconstruction: How SOS Children’s Villages helps a new generation in Nepal

SOS Children’s Villages is also investing in the long term by helping to rebuild family homes and reconstruct damaged schools. We are supporting students who lost valuable classroom time during the first months of the earthquake through make-up classes and extra studies for those preparing for their graduation exams.
 
Over the past year, SOS Children’s Villages has provided more than 10,000 students with the resources to help them in school. These photos illustrate how we are helping – today and in the future. All photos by Martin Prihoda.
 

Bhalchandra and New Horizon Rayale secondary schools are among those who took classes provided by SOS Children’s Villages to help them prepare for the School Leaving Certificate Examinations. The help includes tuition, school supplies, and uniforms. Bhola Dhungana (foreground), headmaster of the Bhalchandra Secondary School, says the students who attended the supplemental studies became more active in the class and helped their friends with their studies.

Students at Bhimeshwari Higher Secondary School Bhimtar-2 in Sindhupalchok take a break between classes. Since the earthquake, SOS Children’s Villages has provided supplies and make-up classes for students here and at other schools in Nepal.

SOS 'school kits' include notebooks and other basic classroom supplies.

SOS Children’s Villages has provided thousands of Nepalese children with school uniforms and rucksacks to help them carry on with their education. They have also have received combs, soap, towels and other hygiene goods for home use.

SOS Children’s Villages has helped address immediate needs of children and families since the earthquake. But its commitment has a long-term vision to help the children of today and future generations through the repair and reconstruction of at least ten schools that were damaged or destroyed. Students stand in front of the rebuilt Paropakar Lower Secondary School Bhimtar–1 in Sindhupalchok. More than 100 students in grades one to eight attend classes here.

Krishna Prasad Shresthra, the principal of Bhimeshwari Higher Secondary School Bhimtar-2 in Sindhupalchok, is concerned about the slow pace of reconstruction at his quake-damaged school. SOS Children’s Villages has stepped in to provide temporary classrooms until permanent facilities are completed.

Students at Bhimeshwari Higher Secondary School Bhimtar-2 in Sindhupalchok participate in an assembly – an important part of daily student life. SOS Children’s Villages has provided supplies for students and temporary classroom space for the school, which was damaged in the April 2015 earthquake.