KATHMANDU: Children from a dozen highly motivated community schools in remote villages of the country, on Tuesday, gathered in the capital to prepare to participate in a three-day 'Teach For All Global Conference'.

The global conference will be held with 500 participants of 50 different countries starting from Wednesday. 

Unlike the privileged urban children who are lucky enough to join boarding schools with all the modern amenities and teaching services, these underprivileged children in rural areas have seen a dramatic change in their academics over the few years, despite poor teaching environments of community schools. 

Thanks to the dedicated top graduate students who have been volunteering through a non-profit organisation 'Teach For Nepal (TFN)', teaching children in remote areas for at least two years. The volunteering youths work for minimum wages teaching VI to IX graders three subjects — Math, Science and English — directly influencing their personal life, living among them in their villages. 

Apart from regular classes, these volunteer teachers also offer additional classes in the school or at their dwellings without charging any fee. 

Above 300 of such talented graduates and young professionals in 51 community schools in various parts of the country are volunteering to improve the education quality among such students. The TFN has claimed that the pass per cent of the students studying in community schools they have volunteered has surged up to 95 per cent from previous 10 per cent pass out in grade X. 

Nima Chaudhary, a 15-year old VIII grader girl from Hari Pauri village in Dang, who was preparing for the programme to be started from tomorrow, said that the teachers of TFN have changed her way of thinking over the last year. "Previously, I never thought of myself and my future. I used to go to school because I was told to. Now I have dreams of my own. Now I think I can become someone important and respected. Thanks to our new sir from TFN, with whose support I have a dream to become a nurse in future."  

TFN also claimed that they have saved some six community primary schools from being closed down by improving the pass per cent of students and eventually attracting more students in such schools.

Chief Executive Director of TFN Shisir Khanal said, "The Chandeshowri Secondary School at Lubu of Lalitpur district, for instance, was on a verge of collapse as only 25 students were studying in the school with a very low pass per cent. The school has become one of the top community schools in the area after our alumnae started teaching there and the number of students has reached up to 125 within a couple of years." 

Hom Bahadur Thapa, a volunteer teacher and an engineer by profession joined the TFN and went to Sindhupalchok in 2015. There he realised about the poor education system in rural villages. In the two years' time of teaching math and science at local Kundala Devi Secondary School, he felt that indifference of the school management and guardians of school children was a major reason of poor educational quality. "Lack of teachers' interest to teach such students were the second factor of poor results in community schools," Thapa added. 

Majority of volunteers shared that TFN's slogan, "What if your first job was to change the nation?' had inspired them to join the organisation and to go to remote places to teach unprivileged students. 

Established in 2013, TFN is one of 48 organisations of mother organisation 'Teach For All Global Conference' that organises global conference each year in various countries.