Govinda Prasad Panthy and I met quite accidentally not long ago. Govinda lives in the small Nepalese village of Bageshwori. Like other villages in Nepal, Bageshwori is poor and agrarian. Children who are able to go to school have to walk miles to class in all types of weather and on roads that are often more mud than road.
Govinda persevered through the same conditions in pursuing his own education. Although most of his classmates dropped out, he completed his formal educational journey and is now trying to get as many children in his village as educated as possible.
In 1998, Govinda started the Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan (SAV School) with 13 children. This past school year, that number grew to 127. SAV is an English Medium School, which means that classes as taught in the English language, and goes from pre-K to grade 6.
Some of the teachers are volunteers and others work for less than $50 a month. Govinda actually erases and reuses student papers because there is no other way to keep a supply. Govinda also teaches part time at another school in another village to help pay the school’s expenses.
Like American kids dream of being the next American Idol, the kids of Bageshwori dream of their own school building. A simple building to keep out the elements and house books, paper, and pencils. Govinda dreams of computers, electricity, and internet access for the school. Seemingly simple wants evade them, even in 2011.
