Where We Work
Our Project Area
First Steps Nepal provides teacher training services to schools either at our Teacher Training centre in Sangachok, Sindhupalchok or on site at the school.
We currently support schools in Sindhupalchok, Nuwakot and Syangja.
Head office, Sindhupalchok
Rather than paying for expensive offices in Kathmandu, we prefer to be rural based and close to our projects. Our office in Sangachok Nursery, Sindhupalchok is based in an earthbag built building which was built to be economical, eco friendly and earthquake resilient.
Sindhupalchok
Situated in the mid hills, our longest running projects in Sindhupalchok offer stunning views from villages dotted around, mountain tracks. Our headquarters are here.
Our first early childhood development centre ( ECD) started in the village of Sangachok Nursery in 2009. Within a few weeks of opening, headteachers from schools in nearby villages were arriving asking for our help. in 2010, we reached out to five more communities introducing play based learning.
Nuwakot
Working in Woda 13 of Bidur Municipality, our project area is right at the end of a river valley. Project villages are scattered in the valley floor and up on the surrounding hills. Once you leave the main track, there are only extremely rough tracks winding their way up and around the extremely steep slopes.
Syangje
Situated in the hills south of Pokhara, Syangja is a place of great beauty with orange groves and pretty villages. There are fine views of the Annapurna mountain range on a clear day too. However, schools here are similar to others across rural Nepal: dirty dilapidated classrooms with teachers lacking knowledge of child friendly teaching methods. Most of our project schools are located on steep mountain tracks that are only accessible by four wheel drive. The Syangja projects commenced in early 2019 and are already making great progress.
Project selection
Schools wishing to join our programme are assessed according to geographic location, attendance, and the school’s commitment to change. We also gauge the community's willingness to participate, as this is vital to the overall outcome, and to improving the standard of education for their children. Schools must be willing to take part in teacher training and leadership training.
A project pre-assessment is then carried out as well as a baseline survey. This provides us with a benchmark from which we can create change.
