CLCR’s Vision - A Violence-free Nepali Classroom
The following concepts are some of what we are looking at trying to achieve within Nepal in the future. Whilst our school and education based projects are our major priority we do have plans for further development within the country.
We have now established a CLCR branch in Nepal as a further NGO body (CLCR Nepal) to extend our reach and further our opportunity for positive intervention into the lives of underprivileged children. We will also utilise this body as an opportunity to extend the school project and focus upon the following in an effort t o bring long term social change to Nepal.
Stage: 1. The Network of Child Rights Protectors
Create a network of in country and global organisations to work with the Nepalese Government and the Ministry of Education’s legal sector in an effort to eradicate corporal punishment within all schooling sectors. The current law that states that it is illegal to use violence against children when disciplining them, this has not stopped the long ingrained practice of physical beatings in classrooms. Basically we want this situation changed in an effort to make schools a safe place for kids to learn, have fun and not live in fear.
Stage: 2.The Heartland Teacher Training Centre
Coordinately, stage two of this plan is to link this action to providing the skills training to teachers so that they can manage children’s needs without the use of violence. We are already doing this on a small scale within our own school to demonstrate to the parents, local community and other schools surrounding that you don’t have to use violence against children to manage their in-class needs.
Thus we are looking to partner with the education agencies in Nepal (universities, training colleges) that provide teacher training and qualifications to implement compulsory subjects within their overall courses that focus upon child psychology, development of violence-free student management techniques, and relevant teaching skills that don’t simply involve lecturing straight from the text books.
On our current school and operational site we also are planning to construct an accredited teachers training facility so that we can be more effective at directly training the teachers of Nepal in teaching methods of non-violence on a much larger, more effective scale. This is one part of our long term vision for the education sector and society of Nepal. We truly believe that education is the key to creating a better Nepal to educate those that can make a difference and who are the next generation of the country. That’s our vision for a safer country.