Tzu Chi's Aid in Nepal
Support for Education
Written By Ida Eva Zielinska
Published #77 | Summer 2025 Issue
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Formal education in Nepal only became widely accessible about 75 years ago. Until 1951, schooling was largely reserved for the ruling elite and higher castes. Early public education prioritized boys, with separate schools reinforcing traditional gender roles. After 1990, Nepal began adopting co-education, and girls’ education gradually became more of a national priority, aided in part by international development efforts.
Despite these gains, disparities persist, particularly between rural and urban areas. Children in remote or underprivileged communities face significant obstacles, such as long commutes, understaffed schools, and household obligations. Gender inequality remains especially stark: While girls’ enrollment is relatively high in the early grades, it drops sharply at the secondary level – from 76% in lower basic education to just 49% – due to poverty, early marriage, and entrenched cultural norms.
UNICEF affirms that “education is a fundamental human right” and is committed to ensuring all children can access quality education from early learning foundations to secondary schooling. It is within this context that Tzu Chi has stepped in to reduce barriers to education in Nepal and support students in underserved communities.
Creating Community Learning Hubs
In Lumbini Province, Tzu Chi is expanding early childhood and digital learning opportunities through a growing network of community learning centers, such as those in the villages of Madhubani and Adarsh. These centers support structured programs that nurture academic and personal growth, providing resource-rich environments where curiosity is encouraged and learning remains within reach for children who might otherwise fall behind.
Established in 2021, the Madhubani Community Learning Center is Tzu Chi’s first subsidized preschool in the region. It offers early education focused on hygiene, mindfulness, and moral development. When Tzu Chi volunteers visit, they also distribute essentials such as school bags, uniforms, water bottles, soap, toothpaste, and umbrellas.
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The Adarsh Community Learning Center introduces students to basic computer literacy – skills often unavailable in their local schools. The program began after a charitable organization donated seven computers to the center, but no instructors were available to teach. To fill the gap, Tzu Chi funded a year of instructor salaries and helped launch the computer class in August 2022.
In 2022, plans for additional learning centers also took shape. In Sonbaha, farmer Ram Manoj played a key role by donating land for Tzu Chi to construct classrooms. In Bhagwanpur, the village chief offered a plot next to the municipal office for a new preschool learning center. More learning centers are likely to emerge in the years ahead.
Fostering Humanistic Education
Tzu Chi promotes a humanistic culture worldwide, including in Nepal, and collaborates with local educators to bring this vision to life. As part of the effort, in December 2022, Tzu Chi volunteers held a teacher training program at Lumbini Buddhist University focused on integrating Master Cheng Yen’s Jing Si Aphorisms into school curricula. “The main goal is to change the attitude of children towards learning and life,” explained Huiyi Xu, a Tzu Chi volunteer from Malaysia.
Among the 59 participants from Lumbini and Kapilvastu, one reflected on the influence educators have on young minds: “As a teacher, I am a role model for my students. We are the model for society.” Recognizing the vital role teachers play in shaping communities, Tzu Chi officially launched the Tzu Chi Nepal Teachers Association on February 20, 2023, in Lumbini, bringing together school principals and educators to promote character and environmental education grounded in humanistic values.
Ram Bali Yadav, dean of Khudabarga Adarsh College, and Altaf Husen Khan, principal of Siddhartha School, were the first to join the association. At the founding ceremony, witnessed by 15 school principals from 11 schools, the two received the designated Tzu Chi uniform. Accepting it, Principal KhanF said, “This uniform is not just a piece of cloth. It also symbolizes the responsibility bestowed upon me.”
In July 2023, ten members of the association traveled to the Jing Si Abode in Hualien, Taiwan, where they took part in cultural, environmental, and educational activities. Upon returning to Nepal, they eagerly shared what they had learned, and soon all members were integrating environmental protection instruction and character education into their teaching, fostering eco-consciousness along with Tzu Chi’s core values of gratitude, respect, and love.
Supporting Student Success
Nepal provides ten years of free education, from Grades 1 to 10, followed by optional higher secondary education in Grades 11 and 12 and potential university study. Despite this, enrollment and retention remain challenging. According to Nepal’s 2020/21 Economic Survey, only 64.6% of students stay through Grade 10, and just 29.2% complete Grade 12.
Many teenagers leave school after Grade 10 to join the workforce, often taking low-paying jobs to support their families. To help reverse this trend, Tzu Chi offers scholarships to support students in pursuing higher education.
In January and March 2023, Tzu Chi hosted gatherings at Khudabagar Adarsh College in Lumbini to connect students receiving its financial aid. These events gave participants the opportunity to learn more about Tzu Chi’s missions and activities, as well as the origin of their funding: donations from kind-hearted people around the world. The organizers hoped this understanding would inspire students to continue striving for excellence in their studies and, one day, to pay that love forward by serving others.
At the gathering in March, a fitting ambassador for Tzu Chi’s mission was Kriti Gole of Kathmandu. A former scholarship recipient who grew up in a Tzu Chi Great Love Village, she went on to earn a degree in social work and now serves as a community volunteer.
Also offering inspiration was Khudabagar Adarsh College Dean Ram Bali Yadav, a member of the newly formed Tzu Chi Nepal Teachers Association. “Since joining the association, I have gained immeasurable strength and courage within my heart,” he shared. “Every day, I share a Jing Si Aphorism in class. Not only do I teach it in the college, but I also go to another high school to teach and share Jing Si Aphorisms,” he added, noting that student behavior had improved as a result.
Dean Yadav also played a key role in Tzu Chi’s Zero Dropout Plan, aligned with national efforts to reduce attrition rates. He provided a list of students who had left college and joined Tzu Chi volunteers on home visits to understand each case, translating as the team encouraged re-enrollment. Through this outreach and financial aid, 16 students returned to their studies, reopening opportunities for themselves and their families.
In August 2023, Siddhartha Primary School Principal Altaf Husen Khan, also a member of the Tzu Chi Nepal Teachers Association, joined volunteers on Zero Dropout Plan home visits to students who had left school. After learning the reasons behind each case – often financial hardship or the need for kids to help their family with farming – the team persuaded some parents to let their children return, provided tuition support, and distributed new uniforms, shoes, and backpacks.
Tzu Chi’s efforts to reduce dropout rates began earlier as well. In September 2022, the Foundation donated two school buses to Karuna Girls College in Lumbini Province to help students facing long commutes, a proactive step to support ongoing attendance.
Dropout is only one of the challenges facing education in Nepal: Enrollment remains a concern, particularly in rural areas and for girls, who often contend with poverty, household labor demands, and gender bias. Even with free public education, school staff must often visit villages to recruit students.
Tzu Chi is working to address these gaps. In March 2023, as part of the School for All initiative, Tzu Chi volunteers hosted a meeting with principals and teachers from over 20 schools in Lumbini Province, urging them to identify children at risk of not enrolling.
The following month, Tzu Chi volunteers joined pre-semester enrollment drives, going door-to-door with educators to encourage parents to register their children and inspire students to pursue their education. These efforts are already yielding results by lowering dropout rates and increasing student enrollment.
Transforming a Rural School
On November 5, 2024, Tzu Chi volunteers and local educators held a groundbreaking ceremony to begin reconstructing Siddhartha School in a rural area of Lumbini Province. This milestone marks the start of a new era in education for the community.
The existing school lacks even basic amenities like fans and proper ventilation in a region where, during the pre-monsoon summer months, temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, forcing students to endure extreme heat in cramped classrooms. Plans for the new campus, which will serve students from kindergarten to high school, encompass a library, computer room, and climate-adapted facilities. In the interim, Tzu Chi volunteers have installed ceiling fans, bringing a measure of relief to the students and teachers.
Education is widely seen as a bridge to a better future, making this new campus project especially meaningful for a community where most families rely on agriculture and face ongoing economic hardship. “Through education, we can pave a way out of poverty,” a school official shared, underscoring the significance of this achievement.
Piyu Lin, Vice President of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation in Taiwan, who presided over the groundbreaking ceremony, reflected, “We are providing more than a building; we are shaping a supportive and dignified space for learning.”
This school is more than bricks and mortar; it represents an investment in the minds and hearts of the children here. While infrastructure is important, it’s the nurturing and uplifting spirit we hope to leave behind that matters most.
For Siddhartha School’s principal, Altaf Husen Khan, that uplifting spirit is already at work. Embracing Tzu Chi’s philosophy of compassion and respect, the school has let go of traditional disciplinary methods. “We teach with love now,” Principal Khan shared. “That’s what Tzu Chi has taught us: to respect our students and nurture them with kindness.”
This humanistic approach has contributed to a steady rise in enrollment, with nearly 200 children now attending. And as the new campus nears completion, the future of Siddhartha School grows ever brighter.
