Kalika School Rebuild Project

Kalika Primary School is located in Ranitar VDC ward no. 1, Nanglapa in Panchthar. The school is positioned at the center of the village and almost 80 percent of the students come from families of members and workers of Kanchanjangha Tea Estate’s (KTE), the first certified organic tea garden in Nepal, co-operative. Although there are 187 students attending the school, the premises and infrastructure was not strong enough to cater to them. The school building itself was very old. The buildings trembled and shake even under the mere effects of walking through it. The limited numbers of rooms were barely sufficient for housing all the classrooms and due to the insufficient space, the school had no staff/ teacher’s room, administrative room and a library was out of question. There was no proper electric facility, and as the rooms were not properly lit and often submerged in darkness, the students had to study in candle lights. Even the furniture was very old and had worn out over time but due to lack of funding, had never been repaired. To make matters worse, the school was situated at the top of the hill and there was no provision of drinking water. Adding to all the problems, the lack of playground made it impossible for the children from playing games during recess.

In spite of inadequate facilities, degrading infrastructure and unhealthy conditions, the students were still bound to attend the school as there are no other schools nearby. Being the only affordable school in the district, KalikaPrimary School is the one and only option for the deprived families to educate their children. With extremely low literacy rate among the villagers, the existence of the school is even more vital in order to increase the literacy rate of the area. The need of rebuilding the school for the betterment of the underprivileged and needy people who are unable to pay high school fees became an essential priority.

The local community and KTE firmly believe that better education is one of the keys to social development. Realizing this fact, the community through KTE requested the support of Beautiful store to construct the school building so that the students can be educated in a healthy and fully equipped environment. Hence, a MOU was signed on 21st Nov, 2009 between Beautiful store, KTE and Kalika School Management Committee represented by Mr. Shin Choong Seop, Ms. Tara Baskota nad Mr. Ram Bahadur Nembang respectively.

With a generous funding amounting to Rs. 3,031,841.20 (USD 40,956.80) from the Beautiful store, the school was rebuilt with all the facilities that lacked before. The 9 month project resulted was fruitful owing to the new and highly renovated pillar system building, a new library with wide range of reading materials along with a computers, improved furniture, solar installation for lightning and so on. For the provision of electricity, a feasibility study of a mini- hydro power plant reveals that it can generate NRs 9000 to 11,000 per month if around Rs 9,60,000 is invested. Around 100 families and the whole village is bound to benefit from the project.

 Farmers Co-op Shop

KTE is managing a food subsidy program for the farmers in the field and the processing units. Major foods - rice, cooking oil, salt and washing soap - are the major items. Over time, clothes and other necessary items will also be arranged for at subsidized rate. It is so arranged that the co-op shop is run by the staffs/workers themselves and KTE just avails them with the necessary resources. The future plans in this field include the establishment and management of a processing unit at Panchthar. The organic rice farms are to provide their finest crops and the production would take place at our very own processing unit. It actually benefits KTE too, since the waste products would then be utilized by KTE in its tea garden as organic manure.

Road Building

KTE is actively involved in the building and maintenance of an 8kms motorable road between Phidim-Ranitar / Lungrupa. The road has since been the best way of transportation and travelling in the district for daily use. It was involved in bridge-building activities at the NamduRiver. The premium received from Transfair International, Germany and a donation coordinated by Dr. Martin Kunz (Transfair) was used for this purpose. Sinass Tea Handels, Germany provided support to maintain the ‘green road’ that links the highway to the factory.

Other Programs

KTE has been organizing awareness programs related to health and sanitation. Girl’s toilet has been made in different schools of remote villages in Panchthar district with the support from Nepali Bazaro. Beside the medical facilities to the farmers, special economic support is also provided to the women farmers during the maternity period. Financial support is also provided for ritual functions - births and deaths in a farmer’s family and for other local functions which have great social significance.