British couple builds school in poor Nepali village

Neil Edward and Den Edward, from ordinary economic backgrounds in England, come to Nepal every year to help and contribute in educating children of Bishe

Nagarchi village in western Nepal, The Kathmandu Post reported on Sunday.

Neil is a primary school teacher. She came to the village eight years ago to gather experience in educating.

"At that time, children of this village were not going to school. They were not taken care of well and were seen playing with dirt. That touched my heart," she said playing with children.

"We are not rich. But these children inspired us to open a school here. We collected donations for this. Doing that is not a problem in our country," she was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

There are very few literate people in the village, some 100 km west of Kathmandu. There are only six people who have completed School Leaving Certificate.

After the school was built, poor families in the village have been increasingly sending their children to the school, Neil said.

"The villagers are poor. They were not aware of the importance of education," said principal of the school Sarita Aryal.

"The awareness level has risen now," he said.

Neil roped in 2 million Nepali rupees (28,570 U.S. dollars) for the school building.

She is also bearing 500,000 rupees (7,142 dollars) annually for the salary of eight teachers, as well as for feeding the students, and providing them with school uniform and stationery.

Some 174 students of 100 families here are receiving education at the school. After the students complete class five, they are supported for further studies in other schools.

"I will support the school as long as others (government and organizations) do not help," Neil said.

Source: Xinhua