Shree Mangal Dvip Boarding School

Address:
Shree Mangal Dvip Boarding School
P.O. Box No. 1287
Boudha, Kathmandu NEPAL
Email: himalayanchildren@gmail.com
Phone: 977-1-4915407
Localization
Official website
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Director: Acharya Wangchuk Tenzin
Vice-director: Shirley Blair

Number of students: 500
Number of employees: 100
Age of students: 4-17 lat (depending on age at the beginning of the education)
Number of levels: 10 (full primary programme, finalized with SLC) + 2 special classes (for pupils who at the time of admission have too low level of knowledge in relation to their age; after equalizing the differences, they end up in normal classes) + kindergarden

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School’s history

The school was funded in 1987 by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche - a Buddhist monk, born in 1933 in the then state of Tibet. He is known in many Western countries as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and a personal teacher of the 17th Karmapa. In Nepal, he founded 11 institutions whose aim is to protect the cultural, linguistic and spiritual heritage of Tibetans. The Shree Mangal Dvip school was established primarily to provide access to free education for children from the mountain regions of the Himalayas - places where there is no prospect of getting any education.

Students

About 500 students are taught at school. All of them are Nepalese of Tibetan origin. Three hundred of these, born in the Himalayan villages, live in the school’s dormitories on a daily basis. However, the other 200 students commute daily from their homes in Kathmandu, or in the case of monks and nuns - from a monastery nearby. Those coming from mountain regions usually return home once a year - during the holidays. It happens that even less often they visit their home pages. Most of them, when asked how long it takes to travel home, answered: "1-2 days by bus and then a few days on foot through the mountains". Such a route is dangerous for children, so their parents must pick them up personally from school and bring them back after the holidays. It is often such a large undertaking that children stay at school also on holidays.

Admission to school

The Shree Mangal Dvip school has been strongly associated with the Buddhist worldview since its inception. For children from the Himalayan villages, this is an undoubted advantage, because it is thanks to the monastic structures, which are very extensive in Nepal (it is a good habit for each Buddhist family to allocate one son to the monastery), it is possible to select potential candidates for pupils. From the perspective of parents - illiterate or having only minimal education, living a few days' march from any civilization, the mere awareness of the possibility of sending your child to school is unique and unusual. It also happens that parents do not see the point of sending a child even to a free school, because it means losing young strong hands to work, which will be able to maintain the parents' field. In countries like Nepal, the number of descendants rather than an efficient retirement system ensures a decent life for people in their old age. These and many other problematic views can be measured only by the authority of the universally respected institution, which in the case of Nepal is the Buddhist religion represented by the monastery system.

Lectured subjects
English, Tibetan, Nepali, mathematics, nature, knowledge of society, geography, history, computer science, music and PE.
Facilities available for students

dormitory (8-10-person rooms), canteen, playground, library, computer room, 24-hour care and assistance with daily activities, nursing care, dental care (twice a year), meditation room. In addition, the school organizes many additional activities, trips and special events. One of the examples could be a trip to the football championship to Mumbai in 2016. Many of the extra-curricular activities are run by foreign volunteers that we used to be.

Further perspectives
The school has a unique seniors' program that allows graduates to continue their education in secondary schools in Nepal as well as abroad. At the end of the 10th grade, all students are required to pass the School Leaving Certificate (SLC). On the basis of its results and the general attitude of students, including primarily social involvement, a group of about 15 students is selected, which is offered participation in the program. For the next year, this group works as volunteers at school or related facilities (mainly monasteries belonging to the Kagyu line). Their duties include office work related to the administration of these units, their technical service (canteen, laundry, cleaning rooms) as well as work as the teachers of the youngest pupils. During this period, depending on their attitude, their own skills, preferences and availability of funds from sponsors or scholarships at foreign universities, these young people have the opportunity to follow one of two paths.
  • The first of these includes further education in a secondary / vocational school in Kathmandu. Tuition fees in such schools range from $ 800 to $ 2,000, and funds to cover it come from sponsors found thanks to Shree Mangal Dvip contacts. After such school, students become most often Health Assistant, teachers or social workers. To reduce costs, students still live in SMD or other related units, while continuing to support their activities with their own work.
  • The second path allows you to travel to high schools outside of Nepal. If you qualify for one of the scholarship programs offered by foreign schools, SMD helps in completing all formalities related to the trip. After completing such a school, the student is obliged to return to the SMD and work on that opportunity. If you qualify for the next scholarship program enabling continuation of education at a university, such a student returns to SMD after completing all education. This commitment is purely moral.

During the whole period of activity of the Shree Mangal Dvip school, over 60 students graduated or are currently continuing their education in high schools or universities in countries such as Japan, Canada, Switzerland, USA, Germany, Portugal and Norway.