(For instructions how to donate to this project please see the DONATIONS page)

Deep Jyoti Primary School – Project Summary (by dZi)

The goal of this project is to construct a new safe school building for an already established primary schooling institution where the former building was destroyed in an Earthquake.  If we exceed the fundraising target, there are many other great projects that dZi have in their pipeline for this remote and underprivileged region of Nepal.

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Total Budget (external cash requirement): $27,100 USD
Local Contribution (in kind/labor): $6,300

The Deep Jyoti Primary School is a small school for 71 students in classes 1-6 in the extremely remote hamlet of Chhitre (pop. 381) in the Sotang area of the Mount Everest region of Nepal.  The Deep Jyoti school takes 3 days to reach from the nearest gravel airstrip in Phaplu, and the local residents are all subsistence farmers who supplement their incomes working as porters along the Everest trekking route, and many migrate abroad seeking jobs as menial laborers in the Persian gulf.  The community here has only recently gained access to electricity and sanitary toilets (the latter due to a dZi-funded project), and the nearest hospital takes 3 days on foot to reach.

The original Deep Jyoti Primary School was first constructed in the 1980’s out of local materials and the roof was made from rough bamboo mats. Classes were held here for over a decade, until the local government funded the construction of a two-story building with six classrooms. Unfortunately, this building was poorly constructed and the entire roof was blown off during a windstorm.  The community repaired the roof, but it was never watertight again, and classes were often cancelled during the monsoon season. The final blow was dealt to the original building during an earthquake in September 2011 and the local community determined the building was too unsafe to continue to use.

Due to these factors, and strong demand from the local community, the dZi Foundation has agreed to support the construction of a new school building for the Deep Jyoti Primary School.  The newly constructed building will include seven rooms, and will incorporate strict engineering standards to ensure durability and seismic resistance.   We believe that the new school building will last for at least fifty years.

The new school building will make a dramatic impact upon the learning environment for all the students in Chhitre. For the first time, these students will have the opportunity to learn in a clean, light, and safe environment. Parents will also be more compelled to send their children to school and participate in school management and the local Parent Teacher Association. This, in turn, will lead to increased performance, student attendance, and future opportunities for local students.

The entire community of Chhitre is incredibly invested in the new school construction and has willingly pledged to contribute the equivalent of over $6,000 USD in local labor and materials to the cause. This number represents a whopping 640 days of labor digging the foundation, carrying wood and quarrying rock.

We have already broken ground on this project in an attempt to get as much of the construction completed before the monsoon rains set in.  The community has already begun to collect materials and prepare the foundation.

The student population of Chhitre may be relatively small, but this school represents a unique opportunity to help one of the most deserving and remote communities in Nepal.  And if we EXCEED the fundraising target, we can implement a multitude of other projects in the community and wider region.

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–  For instructions how to donate to this project please see the DONATIONS page
–  You can read more general information about the dZi Foundation at www.dzifoundation.org
–  You can follow my progress on Twitter (in addition to this blog):  @TS_2013_Everest