28th March2022. ASC is an umbrella organization which includes Open school, Farmers School, Shikharapur Campus, School, Montessori, CLC, women and youth groups, entrepreneurs group and women school etc. This organization is located at Dakshinkali, Pharping. This organization also includes kindergarten to bachelors level college, it also consists of community library which is supported by UNESCO. Shikharapur was the first private boarding school of Pharping established in 2039 BS for giving quality education to the people of Pharping. Shikharapur Community Learning Center is working on varieties of educational sub sectors and non-sub sectors.
During our learning visit, first, we went to Shikharapur Community Learning Centre, where Mr. Shyam Bahadur sir gave us the brief introduction about the learning center. It was established on 2064 BS. The learning Center had classes for grade 8-10 open school, where morning and evening classes were held. The library consisted of Grade 10-11 books and had 9 computers for the students which had also been used by other students during the Pandemic. We then headed to Agriculture Resource Learning Center (ARLC) which was still under construction and which was supported by ONGD-FNEL, Luxembourg. We headed towards Shikharapur Community Campus where campus has been running BBS, B.Ed., RD, BA program. After few minutes of walking we reached the bottle house, which was awarded with ESD Global award 2018 in Japan where the Nepal’s flag was kept in first position for winning the award, which was a proud moment for Social Work students. The bottle house was made up of glass bottles, red mud, straw, human hair etc. Then, we headed to agriculture farm which used drip irrigation method and many other technology. The milk products of cows were sold to the villagers which also gave them a good income. Then a presentation was given by Mr. Niroj Shrestha, Program Manager. He gave us the brief introduction about Model Education Village. He focused on open education, women education, agriculture learning and entrepreneur development. The students study as well as gets to have vocational training and lifelong learning skills. The students supported the center by buying the masks made by the women’s who are studying in the center.
Things we learnt,
As a social worker we can utilize the resources and work for the welfare of the community as well as the nation. We learnt about drip irrigation and its advantages for the farmers which helps to save time. We learnt to make ecofriendly house. We could differentiate between personal and professional life.
The students got inspired by the great contribution of Mr. Niroj Shrestha sir. We had a great and fruitful experience which will definitely help for our future as a social worker.
-Ayushme Pradhan, Kritika Poudel
Department of Major Arts
St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar, Kathmandu.