The COVID-19 compelled the schools to close considering the pandemic situation. The school children who used to spend their almost all of their time in school were limited within their house. Since they had nothing to do, they spent most of their times watching televisions and videos in the mobiles. The COVID-19 situation was very challenging for their parents as many of them lost their job and many had to close their enterprises due to lockdown. They had to look for alternatives for hand to mouth. In such situation, parents could not give much time to their children as they had to go to find support and relief for food and basic needs. Since children were less attended by parents and the schools were closed, they had more time to whatever they liked so they were found playing all the time or spending much of their screen time.
LCWS was working with local Kiyobaha group in Domana since 2017. Considering the fact that school children were wasting their study time for not being able to go to school, in financial and technical support from LWF Nepal under its SABAL II project, LCWS operated a tuition center targeting those children applying all the safety measures. A total of 25 children, 11 boys and 14 girls joined the tuition center where they learned to read and write. The majority of children were from the poor families who could not afford their children to join online classes. The tuition class is taken by a teacher-Kamala Soren, local resident of Domana from 4pm to 5.30pm. The tuition class has continued to operate even after the lockdown was lifted.
With the operation of the tuition center, parents of those children are very happy because they had no time to spend with their children so children had free time to whatever they wanted to do. One of them shared, “Now children go to tuition center regularly. Earlier when the schools were closed, children forgot all the things they had learned but now they not only have been able to continue their study but also have developed the habit of being neat and clean.”
The parents of that community are very happy with the change that has taken place in the children. Parents said, “It was very sad to see the deteriorating condition of our children before. There was no awareness of education but now the tuition class has improved the children a lot and we parents have also understood the importance of education. No matter how busy we are, in the evenings we give the children some time to study. Our children love to go to the tuition center so want them continue going there and learn many good things.” They have expressed their commitment to join hands in the education campaign and create a bright future for the children. The parents and children are thankful for operating tuition center and they like to see the tuition center continue its operation.