Slum children living in one of Nepal’s fastest growing cities are receiving an education for the first time through a Tearfund-supported local church project.
The United Methodist Church in Itahari has opened a tuition centre to help youngsters whose parents cannot afford to send them to school.
Around 30 children are currently attending lessons, drawn from slum communities along the banks of the Budhi river, and the church is looking to grow its educational facilities.
Itahari is developing fast, with people migrating there in search of work. But this has brought a growth in social problems such as poverty, drug abuse and unemployment.
Burning issue
Tearfund partner, United Mission to Nepal (UMN), is working with local churches like the United Methodist, to help them address these issues.
Pastor Shambhu Chaudhary, from the United Methodist, set up the tuition centre after taking part in a church and community mobilisation workshop organised by UMN.
A UMN spokesman said, ‘Access to quality education by poor and marginalised children is one of the burning issues in the city.
‘The parents are very happy because the Pastor's offer is proving to be very helpful. They don't have to spend their hard-earned money paying expensive tuition fees.
‘Shambhu is prayerfully planning to grow that tuition centre in to a functional school, so that many poor children from these landless families can access quality education with minimum financial burden.’