Through EQUIP many farming parents are learning how to better support their children as they are educated.
Dil’s experience in Lamjung
Nepal is predominantly an agricultural country, and around August in Lamjung, people are busy planting their millet crops. Most of the parents come to our workshop seminars straight from their fields. Sometimes they are exhausted and being in the school is a sort of break before they return to their work.
“Many parents sacrifice a day’s wage to attend our workshops.”
Women planting millet in Nepal
Many parents sacrifice a day’s wage to attend our workshops. When they are called to school, they often ask the principal, ‘what do we get?’ They are expecting something tangible or monetary support.
In August, Dil conducted parent seminars in five of our Lamjung partner schools. The focus was ‘the role of parents in the holistic development of their children’. Most of attendees at the seminars were mothers.
This highlights another key feature of contemporary life in Nepal, where many fathers are absent from the family home for long periods as they work as migrant workers in Gulf countries and other parts of South East Asia. This can bring a much-needed financial boost for low-income families, but there are consequences. Families feel negative impacts when a father is missing for years. It can lead to a breakdown in family social cohesion.
Teacher trainer Dil delivers a parent seminar in Lamjung.
Even in this context, a total of 113 parents attended the seminars. Dil challenged the parents to be good role models through games, videos and stories. Parents realised that they were focusing on one aspect of their child’s development. They learned what the holistic development of a child means and their role in it. In spite of the challenges they face on a daily basis to even spend time with their children, they appreciate the opportunity to learn new approaches.
Through this significant training that EQUIP provides, we look to bring good family values, as part of our Christian beliefs, into the communities of our partner schools.