The 6th Form Dhading Project is a student-led project that facilitates
change and development in the Dhading district (5 hours drive from KTM, on the
way to PKR). The central focus of the project is to link learning to life and
to allow students to lead the way in creating positive change within their
community, while enhancing their own perception and understanding of the
world.
The project has been a part of 6th Form from 3 years now. In 2010, the
students visited Dhading to perform a ‘needs assessment” in various schools,
preparing the ground for the pilot project of 2011.
On the 7th Nov 2011, we headed off to Dhading for a week, keeping in
mind that our primary aim was to facilitate development. Nervous but focused,
we were split into 3 groups, each visiting a different school around Dhading
Besi.
On reaching the schools, we
realized what life outside the little bubble we live in was really like. No
direct water supply, no proper sanitation, broken benches, a lack of general
school equipments; all were problems faced by these schools. Blisters, sprained
arms and legs, clothes splattered with paint, body aches, were minor inconvenience
we had to go through whilst addressing these problems. But, at the end of the
week, a school was finally supplied with water after days of digging, all three
schools were painted new inside out with murals, clubs and classes were taken,
and manuals were made for both academic subjects and sports.
Grass-root experiential learning, such as Dhading, has made
students help not only the community but also helped them to take ownership of
where they want to go in their lives. Their organisational and communication
skills, both have been enhanced as they are now able to work as a single unit
and adapt to remote circumstances. All these skills are comprehensive and
applicable to real life, which have the potential to heighten their personal
strengths. We now appreciate the complexity involved in eradicating basic
social problems and have forced them to link their academic knowledge to
address rural development at a small scale, if not big.
The Dhading project is an ongoing effort to reach out to rural schools
around the district, which is why the 6th Form will be heading to Dhading again
on the 5th November 2012. This year however is different: We will be working
with 3 primary schools not just for one year, but for 3 years. This in itself
is to tie into our view of real positive development which is about a change in
mindset, which is of course takes time. Hence, this year our watchwords are
“self-sufficient” and “self-reliant”.
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