For the past three months, a general strike has brought life in Sunsari to a grinding halt, and that’s true for schools as well. Thirty-five NCEF students are currently enrolled in eight different schools in the Sunsari area. The schools are among many others which have been shut down for different periods of time. Furthermore, strikes have caused the many students who use public transportation to miss classes.

Sunsari Region, Nepal 

Still, the strike has not been waging uninterrupted. Even schools which closed for portions of the strike were reopened at times, often operating in the mornings. For roughly 10-15 days, however, these schools ceased altogether. According to our volunteers in Nepal, now that the strike has begun to wane, schools are returning to normal.

To make up for lost time, schools are also operating on Saturdays and have made the usually shortened Friday schedule into full-day classes. Some students, including NCEF’s student, Santosh, are doing private tutoring at home to help catch up on school work. On some days, the schools were also open earlier than usual in the morning so they could make up for the lost time. It also appears some schools will shorten their winter recess to accommodate the lost days.

The families of our students often have other challenges, including financial challenges, at home. These problems are magnified when other economic activities are shut down for months at a time. This, in turn, impacts the education of our children.

This holiday season, we would like to congratulate our students and thank our volunteers for their tireless commitment to their work, even in the face of adversity. The resilience of the education sector and the creative problem solving used to ensure students receive the best education available are tremendous assets in the NCEF mission.