Cunina Boarding School in Sekha

Why has Cunina started this project?

Children that live in and around Sekha did not have access to education. You had to walk for three hours to get to the nearest quality school. In 2009, Cunina started building the Cunina Boarding School.

The operating costs of the school, including the fees of the teachers, are paid by Cunina and all the children of school age are supported by a Cunina godparent. The children are taught in English, which is also the reason why a lot of children from the surrounding villages go to school in Sekha. In fact, a lot of families moved to Sekha to live closer to the school.

What has Cunina done in the past?

Cunina purchased the land for the Cunina Boarding School in 2008. At the time, there were only rice terraces here. Firstly, the land had to be leveled, which is quite a task! People from the neighborhood were very curious and came to look at the large excavators. While wearing slippers, the workers – women too – used pickaxes to cut the bricks for the school out of rocks. Some of the workers applied mortar. It was a very medieval situation.

This is how we built the kindergarten and primary school. Together they consist of fourteen classrooms, toilets, a recreation hall and a janitor’s office, which is used to guard the school.

What will Cunina do in the future?

At this moment, we are building a Music & Arts School in Sekha. It will be the first ever music school in Nepal. Teaching children to read, calculate and write is important, but they also have the right to develop their talents and creativity.  

Cunina will also build a secondary school on the same property. This way, our godchildren can finish kindergarten, primary education and secondary education in the same school.

We work together with the local community and use local materials to support the local economy and create jobs.

Fact sheet of Sekha

Start of the project: 2008

Money already spent: €242,269

Number of students: 300

Result at the end of 2016:

• Purchase of land
• Primary school with 9 furnished and decorated classrooms
• Kindergarten with 3 furnished and decorated classrooms
• Multipurpose room for the kindergarten
• Fencing around the school
• Janitor’s office
• 2 sanitary blocks
• Recreation hall
• Acquisition of five computers
• Reconstruction of the access road to the school
• 2.5 km of water pipes
• Water tank with a capacity of 2,000 liters

Plans for the future:

• Construction of the Music & Arts School
• Construction of a secondary school
• Acquisition of a school bus

Why does Cunina operate in Nepal?

30% of the Nepalese population does not know how to read or write, even though primary education is free and compulsory for children aged six to eleven. Only half of the children in Nepal go to school.

The quality of public schools is bad and private schools are too expensive for many families. This is one of the reasons why children that do go to school often drop out early.