Background information about the creation of TOIT

Nepal is blessed with many of the most extraordinary natural beauty in the form of several Himalayas ranges, lakes, landscapes as well as ancient cities that reflect both the age and sophistication of the civilization. Behind the beauty, there is an immense lack of providing proper knowledge to children, where an individual themselves would freely explore their passion in life.

The country’s widespread poverty and social inequity forces children as young as 8 to 10 years old to work as laborers in brick factories, restaurants, or as servants in other people’s homes to add a small amount to their family’s income.  Despite of the government’s mission, ‘Education for all’, most of these children have never had any opportunity to go to school or even if they attend their classes, they are forced to drop-out from their schooling either due to their poor financial condition or due to unaware about the need of need to healthy education to their children.

Mission of the organization

To promote holistic development of children, women and their families by creating just and enabling environments through school education and awareness programmes.

Goals of the organization

• To empower children through skills and knowledge-based education.
• To respect the rights of children to live in functional families and enabling environment.
• To provide socio-economic support to women, especially marginalised women, including disabled women and low-income families through vocational programme.

TOIT: its length of existence and brief history

TOIT was established as a non-profit organization registered in 2000 in Nepal that serves to bridge the widening gap in Nepal between rich and poor, literate and illiterate children, women and their families and marginalised people including disabled people. Our primary mission is to provide high quality education for children regardless of their origin, cast, creed or gender. Since the foundation of TOIT, we have been able to provide educational opportunities for as many as 5000 children, thus giving them the chance for a better life. We want to promote holistic development of children by creating enabling environments.

TOIT works on regular base with local Newar women from Bhaktapur on educational programmes in producing traditional crafts (such as pottery, wood carving, and textile weaving) and boosting of local businesses and tourism; on reducing gender-based violence, early marriages, and discrimination among the local community; on equal opportunities for future generations of girls in Bhaktapur and beyond; teaching English and computer skills to help women engage in e-commerce, social media marketing, and online freelancing.

TOIT focuses on providing high-quality education to underprivileged children, promoting practical skills like recycling and agriculture, and supporting family self-sufficiency through community projects.

Two Tier Education

Poverty in Nepal has starved the government of the resources it needs to support a high quality education system. This lack of government resources has created a two-tier education system.  One tier of government schools that charge nominal school fees which put them beyond the reach of the poorest families, and another tier with expensive private schools which are beyond the reach of the masses.

Castes

Traditionally, people are part of a certain caste by birth.  Those castes, which are an important part of Hindu cultures, cannot be changed.  Someone coming from a low caste has limited opportunities for education, work and even marriage. The caste system, although not as influential today, still provides roadblocks to children getting an education. This is also considered as a social inception where each member of the community simply follows their traditional norms and values to regulate their everyday life.

Why are girls illiterate?

As many families do not have the resources to educate all of their children, they must choose whom to educate. Because men are the breadwinners and generally live with their parents throughout their entire life, families often choose to educate their sons and not their daughters. This lack of education continues the cycle of poverty.

In third world countries like Nepal, where the government is unable to manage quality education to children free of cost, most of the children prefer private schools to public schools for their education. But, the financial problem repels them from the private schools and they are compelled to choose government school or to leave school. This causes the increase of illiteracy rate in Nepal, along with the increment of child labor. The problem grows out of the country’s widespread poverty and social inequity, with prevailing gender discrimination along with limited health and education systems. In this condition, an organization like TOIT is considered as a boon to the children where they are able to carve their own future. TOIT is proud to be an NGO which is successful in reducing the rate of illiteracy to some extent.

Initially, TOIT focused its efforts on providing quality education to children so that they are able to carve their own future through their own life perspective. We are focused on developing their skill.

A Pedagogy for a cause

As the project grew, TOIT felt that the real needs of children were not being met by the existing schools where children are judged by the qualification of their certificates. So, TOIT decided to create its pedagogy with a difference that does more than to teach a child.

We found that we could better serve the community by helping a child to bloom on their own natural longing to explore. This pedagogy helps children to be a person of its own where their low economic status would not hinder their learning environment. Children will have a full curriculum with focuses on developing creative skills in a safe environment. The main philosophy of the teaching will be to provide educational support to children, by giving them a second chance to live a better life.

TOIT wants to plant a seed in our children’s minds, a seed that will lead them hopefully to have their own personality as human beings, to appear as an example to others. For these reasons, TOIT wants our teaching pedagogy to be accessible for the destitute children so as to expand the environment of multiple intelligence. Due to the growing success of our initiatives supported through education, there is increasing demand within our community for the implementation of such pedagogy at every level of teaching.