NCEF provides financial assistance that enables many poor Nepalese children to attend school. Many children in Nepal-especially, those who live in rural areas-need financial assistance to continue their education. Due to limited resources, NCEF cannot support all students who apply for financial assistance. Every year, the task of the selection committee is to identify the neediest students who should be supported by NCEF.

The Team:

The student selection committee for the year 2011-2012 consisted of the following members.

• Abhishek Sharma (Chair)
• Bhusan Neupane
• Maheshwor Kafle
• Ritu Shreshtha

Procedure:

NCEF currently operates in nine areas in Nepal: Birgunj,Chitwan, Dolkha, Kathmandu, Kavre, Nepalgunj, Patan, Rasuwa, and Sunsari. We collected applications for renewal of financial assistance for students from these areas. In addition, this year, NCEF decided to expand its support by taking on additional students in Sunsari (ten students) and Chitwan (five students).

Our first task was to define the criteria for student selection. These criteria can be viewed at http:// www.nepalchildren.org/selection_criteria.html. Next, we designed the application forms for renewal as well as for new students (available for download at http://www.nepalchildren.org/about.html#apps). In the past, when evaluating new students' applications, several student selection committee members had found it difficult to assess the financial condition of an applicant's family based on their reported income. Starting in 2010 we added several questions designed to assess the material wealth in a household, such as ownership of cellphones, television, radio, as well as livestock. This provided us with a better picture of the resources available to an applicant's family.

We emailed the application forms to our field volunteers in Nepal. Field volunteers distributed the new applications to schools as well as to the parents. They also distributed the renewal applications to all students who received financial assistance during the previous year.

Field volunteers collected applications and academic reports from schools. They scanned all these documents and emailed them to NCEF selection committee. For each renewal applicant, the field volunteers also provided their recommendation on whether or not NCEF should continue to fund the student. After receiving all the applications from an area, they were distributed to all the selection committee members.

The Selection Process:

Renewal students: When deciding whether or not to renew a student's funding, our goal was to verify three things: (1) has the student been promoted to the next class? (2) has the student's financial condition improved to the point where they do not need NCEF support? (This happens on rare occasions) and (3) is the environment at a student's home and his/her health good enough to allow the student to focus on his/her education? If certain renewal applications require special consideration, we interact with the field volunteers for additional information and documenting any requirements that are waived.

New students: For each area, every selection committee member ranks all the applicants based on their application and the recommendations from field volunteers. The ranking from all selection committee members are averaged out to create a final ranking for that area. Top candidates from this list are selected for financial assistance. Ties were resolved through discussion and voting amongst the selection committee members. All the selections should satisfy the NCEF student selection criteria.

Results:

We selected 66 students in total. Some of the renewal applications were for students who had passed the SLC examination. These decisions could not be made until after the SLC examination results were declared, and hence, were made separately from the rest of the students. Figure 1 shows the distribution of students across the various areas.

Figure 1: NCEF students: Birgunj: 1, Chitwan: 8, Kathmandu: 2, Kavre: 3, Nepalgunj: 11, Patan: 10, Rasuwa: 4, Sunsari: 20

Challenges:

For renewal students, the main challenges that selection committee faced this year was the delay in receiving the mark sheets. Unfortunately, the volunteers in Nepal often do not receive the mark sheets until the start of the new session in April. This leads to a timeline where the selection committee receives these mark sheets in May-July. Promotion to the next grade is an important criterion in our renewal decisions. Additionally, the selection committee also keeps track of the final grade (passing marks) obtained by students. This helps us identify students who are getting a poor grade and alert the area coordinators to monitor the situation at their school and home more closely. Hence, delay in receiving the mark sheets leads to inevitable delay in making renewal decisions.

Recommendations:

Starting with this year, we will ask the volunteers to get a certified letter stating whether a student has passed or failed right after the school year ends. This letter can then be supplemented with the mark sheet when it becomes available.

Acknowledgments:

The selection committee would like to thank all NCEF volunteers for collecting and sending student applications.