Collaborative Schools Network

We have just achieved our best ever Secondary Education Exam results at Jana Uddhar (the equivalent of GCSEs in the UK). Over a third of students achieved an average grade of A+ or A. No one got less than a B. That student is Arun, and outstanding young man, whose results put him in the … Continue reading Best ever results!

Why do we give primary students pencils, not pens? Think about it. Pens don’t need to be sharpened (so no time is lost in endless sharpening, or simply trying to find a sharpener). Pens do not need erasers (so no time is lost in endless erasing, or simply trying to find an eraser). And since … Continue reading Why do we give students pencils?

Here is an article we wrote about the number one problem facing public schools in Nepal. In the week it was published, the article became real life. Due to the huge increase in students in one of our schools, Bhanodaya, the authorities decided to give us an extra quota – that means a new teacher. … Continue reading More freedom, more accountability

You’ll often hear policy-makers, commentators and journalists point to absent teachers as one of the reasons for the poor quality of public education in Nepal. Certainly there are teachers who simply never attend school or disappear for months at a time, but this misses the real problem. It is not that teachers are bunking, it … Continue reading Teacher absenteeism is NOT the problem

Recently the government announced a public holiday, the day after another public holiday, the week after schools had been closed for a month for more holidays. So we decided to stay open, much to the concern of one of our (government) school principals who was afraid he would get in trouble with the local education … Continue reading The obvious solution is not always obvious

Here’s what you have to do to organise catch-up classes for students who are struggling: mark the exams enter the data in a spreadsheet analyse the data identify the students who are struggling visit the after school classes some of the students already attend and diplomatically inform the organisers that the classes are not working … Continue reading Even simple things are complex in schools