BACKGROUND
Primary education in rural Nepal is a challenge even today. Although education has been commercialized in the capital and schools can be found every two blocks in Kathmandu, villages in Nepal still operate in the monopoly market of public schools. Due to this, children continue to walk for hours to get to their school, waking up as early as 3 in the morning to overcrowded schools and r
eturning home to help their families in their farms or with household chores. Urbanization and hopes for a better life has thinned the population in our Nepali villages, leaving only the aged and young children behind. In the near future, this means worse economy for Nepal, due to extreme differences in status and centralization of resources in Kathmandu; affecting both the city and the villages. At such a time, few Nepali students pursuing their undergraduate degrees abroad have established Maya Universe Academy (MUA). MUA is “a youth movement to provide free education in rural Nepal”. This project aims to collaborate with MUA in teaching Performing Arts to students at MUA, Sagarmatha Campus. The direct beneficiaries will be the children currently enrolled in this school. The major reason for selecting MUA as the host organization is the shared long term goal for both the organization and this project; that is the self-sufficiency of young children in rural Nepal. The primary reasons of interest to conduct this at Maya Universe Academy (MUA) are the following:
• MUA provides free education to children in rural Nepal and exhibits stability as it has been running for three years now
• MUA is not dependent on any foreign aid or governmental organization which makes it self-reliant in case of an abrupt cancellation of funding or bureaucratic lag
• MUA sustains the cost of schooling by focusing on agriculture-- a remarkable beginning and example in Nepal for youngsters and the government alike
• MUA is an exemplary youth movement and this example in Nepal and needs encouragement and motivation from Nepalis all over the world
• Instead of establishing another founding committee and opening up another educational institution, strengthening the existent learning community is a more efficient and stronger approach and will benefit the children in the long term. Research1 suggests that learning performing arts speeds up the intelligence of children and developing a hobby from an early age helps youngsters deal with life crises better including friends/relationships/families/puberty/low self esteem/country's frustration, and many more. Some researches to support this idea can be found below.
1http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~lds/pdfs/DanaSpelke.pdf Learning, Arts and The Brain, The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition
http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts%20in%20Education/brewer.htm
Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom, John Hopkins School of Education
http://flmusiced.org/dnn/Advocacy/FactsandStatistics.aspx
II. OBJECTIVES
A. Immediate objectives
• To expose MUA to Performing Arts to aid the process of schooling and get the children ready to compete with fellow peers from all around the globe through theater exercises, music classes and instrument lessons
• To aid in building the intelligence of and encouraging the children to be original, more confident and innovative through workshops and creative lessons
• To motivate the students to share what they have learned at their homes through assignments involving research, questioning and sharing
• To redefine the educational syllabus in Nepal that only caters to knowledge in the books by added workshops and lessons focusing on creativity and artistic expression
B. Development Objectives
• To educate children in Nepal for the rapid development of the country in the future.
• To redefine the educational system in Nepal and reassess the outdated syllabus of the country; one step at a time
• To aid the self-sufficiency of Nepalis through education so that power is distributed in a more decentralized way in the country
• To assist in reducing the number of illiterate Nepalis emigrating to be forced to live under severe and inhumane conditions (example: the FIFA case with laborers from Nepal)
• To inspire Nepali youngsters to be involved in volunteering and sharing what they know in order to actually turn Maya into a peaceful national youngsters’ movement
• To engage Nepali youngsters in helping other Nepalis become self-sufficient while building up their own self esteem
This project is experimental and might be expanded to other locations of MUA under favorable circumstances. This project is also an experiment with a newer syllabus and if successful, might be used to redefine the educational syllabus of the school and the country. C.Future Plans
This proposed project term is for one month where the project coordinator will participate with a group of art enthusiasts to educate the children. In the long run, the project aims to bring in various artists and teachers from Kathmandu and colleges both inside and outside the nation to participate in the extensive volunteering program to teach performing arts. Likewise, this project also hopes to bring in artists from Kathmandu who can perform concerts for the students in the school. This project aims to sustain in the long run by bringing together various art enthusiasts and writers on campus who can share presentations, workshops and teach in the school to achieve long term goals. III. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
A. Expected project results
• The project expects to add to the syllabus at MUA and make studying more interesting and interactive for the kids.
• The project aims to introduce children to the larger part of the world through various forms of performing arts (musical instruments, workshops, storytelling, picture-books, story-writing, singing, writing rhymes, painting, sketching, acting, coloring, speaking and improvising)
B. Project activities and work plan
Activity Days* Duration
Singing MWF 1 hour
Storytelling MWF 1 hour
Theater TR 1 hour
Colors MWF 1 hour
Instrument TR 1 hour
Performance M/F 1 hour
Writing/Sharing T/R 1 hour
Workshops T/R 1 hour
Dancing MWF 1 hour
*M-Monday T-Tuesday W-Wednesday R-Thursday F-Friday
C. Project Planners
The professionals assisting in the development of the syllabus are Phiroj Shyangden (post 1974 AD), Debika Chamling Rai (Professor, United Academy), Shreeti Pradhan (Vocal Instructor, Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory), Ashesh Rai (Percussions, KJC), Kushal Karki (Musician, Nepal Music College), Pranav Manandhar (Independent Musician) and Bartika Rai (Project Coordinator). The resume of the project coordinator is attached to this proposal for any query or concern. The people involved in this project will be: Anurag Baral (Musician, Project 8771), Pranav Manandhar (Independent Musician/ Photographer), Yusha Pun (Photographer, Queenenigma), Irina Giri (Art Enthusiast) and Bartika Rai. IV. PROJECT MONITORING AND EVALUATION
A documentary of the project will be shared to the sponsors and the media. A detail account of the project will be given in the blog managed by the project coordinator throughout her stay. In case of an internet lag, the accounts will be shared as soon as the circumstances are favorable. To add, the financial statements of expenditures will be mailed out to the sponsors by the project coordinator with the approval of Maya Universe Academy. To support this initiative, Please visit http://missnepalus.com/initiative.php
