Our Theory of Change

Public not private: We believe public education matters because public schools (government-funded schools) educate the vast majority of children in Nepal, including the poorest and most marginalised. There is no successful education system in the world, that is not built on a successful public education system.

Existing schools, not new schools: We work with existing schools and existing teachers because you cannot fire thousands of failing teachers, nor wait 30 years in the hope that a new generation will be better. Our challenge is to improve the quality of the existing teachers.

With the government, not on our own: We partner with the government because the government has the resources and responsibility for public education. If you want to change the system, you need to work within it.

From the inside, not the outside: We take on the management of the whole school and make a long-term commitment to turn it around from the inside, because schools cannot be improved through short-term, piecemeal support from the outside.

Cost effective: We are cost effective because we leverage the existing funding our schools receive from the government to far greater effect, with a small amount of top-up funding. It costs CSN less than $10 per student per month, to provide a great education.