Chapali, Kathmandu
DHRUBATARA SECONDARY SCHOOL

Reconstruction of the School in 3 Phases

Place

Chapali,
Ward-3,
Budhanilkantha Municipality,
District Kathmandu

Who

Implementation: Chay Ya Nepal,
Advisory Council: Budhanilkantha Municipality

Partners

Carnevali Foundation,
Chay Ya Austria

When

2019 - 2022

For

600 students

Status

Completed and in operation

Project

Dhrubatara Secondary School is located in Chapali, Kathmandu District, and is one of the schools affected by the 2015 earthquake. The buildings, in which the classrooms are located were built without steel or iron columns, so the ground floor consists only of clay and bricks. There were cracks all over the building plus the infrastructure was also totally inadequate, from the tiny and dark classrooms to far too few and very old and dirty toilets. Washbasins were almost non-existent, and the “drinking water” of the worst quality. In 2019, Guiseppe and Jaqueline Carnevali of the Carnevali Foundation decided, while visiting Nepal, to turn the completely dilapidated school into a pilot project with exceptional quality and access to the best education.

Currently, around 600 students from economically poor and socially disadvantaged backgrounds study here from preschool to tenth grade. 39 teachers, 24 women and 15 men, work at the school.

This school is very special because it is a purely community-funded institution and aims to provide quality education to children from underprivileged, low-income families. About 30% of the students receive free education at this school. The monthly fee ranges from a minimum of Rs. 800 (7 Euros) to a maximum of Rs. 1500 (13.5 Euros) for primary and secondary education. The school has no other source of income except the fees collected from the students. Therefore, it is hardly able to pay the salaries of the staff and other administrative expenses. This is also the reason why, four years after the earthquake, still nothing has been repaired or rebuilt.

In autumn 2019, the first four classrooms (Phase 1) were already inaugurated, two more followed in Phase 2, and since spring 2020, we have been struggling with the difficulties of the Corona crisis.

Since opening after the lockdown in late June, the remaining dilapidated building has been demolished to begin Phase 3: the construction of five floors, countless sanitary facilities, drinking water systems, and almost 30 classrooms! On July 9, 2020, the foundation ceremony took place!

Sustainability Claimer

Due to the special focus on sustainability, the teachers’ salaries as well as the teaching material at the schools we support are normally paid by the government.

Under special circumstances, such as in very remote schools or in the case of marginalised ethnic groups, these costs are covered by Chay Ya for one year.

Sustainability Claimer

Updates

Update August 2019
The foundation stone for the Dhrubatara School was laid with a puja, a Hindu ceremony. The excavation of the foundations has already begun.

Update February 2020
The construction of the school building with four classrooms started in September 2019. Two more rooms have been added on top of the existing two floors since November. The building structure has already been completed with final work such as plastering and painting of the walls. Plumbing work for the restrooms is still in progress.

Update March 2020
The classrooms were ceremoniously inaugurated and the students moved in with great enthusiasm. It is wonderful to learn and play in the new and bright classrooms!

Update July 2020
The remaining old building was completely demolished despite a two-month delay due to the Corona crisis, and the eagerly awaited laying of the foundation stone for Phase 3 was celebrated in a small but beautiful ceremony on July 9! Now nothing stands in the way of digging the foundations!

Update April 2021
In the meantime, three floors have already been built and the construction progresses a little further every day! On the ground floor, first and second floor even the walls have been plastered and the electrical wiring laid. Now the floors are being screeded and on the third floor the supporting columns are being concreted. In these difficult times, we celebrate every little progress!