Education Support

Education is life itself

Happy Kids Center is full of bright, motivated children, but an overwhelming number of our Happy Kids do not have access to conventional education. At Happy Kids Center our mission is to break the cycle of poverty among the most vulnerable children in Bhaktapur and we believe education is essential in making this mission a reality.

The HKC Community supports children from the lowest caste of Bhaktapur society and children from families who have migrated from rural regions of Nepal and Northern India. This population is deemed “untouchable” by much of society and are therefore viewed as outcasts. Jobs are few and far between in this community and it is therefore common for families to rely on their children to work, meaning there is simply no time for education, and many believe there is no need, especially for girls.

Many of our children spent their childhood working in the street, begging and collecting plastic and cardboard recyclables to sell. These students have severe education gaps after being out of school during some of the most important developmental years. In 2016 we launched EducateHKC to get these children off the street and into the classroom. Prior to the launch of EducateHKC, only 42% of our Happy Kids regularly attended school, today 89% of children are in school and child labor rates have dropped to less than 10% of children engaging in child labor, with no new children joining the workforce since 2016.

After intensive work at the hands of teachers from The Dyola School, the “gaps” in education are slowly being “closed” and the first of our former child laborers are rejoining their peers to attend The Adarsha School! The Adarsha School is a highly ranked, government-run secondary school in Bhaktapur.

Schooling in Nepal

While the schooling is “free” through Nepal government institutions, there are still major financial burdens associated with affording all of the additional costs of sending a child to school. These costs include textbooks, stationery, uniform, extra tutoring, and exam fees… not to mention the opportunity costs associated with losing a major source of income or caretaker for younger siblings.

It is with this in mind that we designed the Happy Kids Center sponsorship program, EducateHKC, where we treat a child’s education as their full-time job.

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EducateHKC Sponser

By becoming a sponsor with EducateHKC you not only provide the funds to send a child to a reputable school, but you will also free them from a childhood of labor by rewarding the children for regular attendance and participation with a small sum of money for each day they attend school. While working in the streets a child can earn, on average, between 35 and 50 Rupee per day, or $.35- $.50 USD. Through the Incentives Program, the child has the opportunity to earn more consistently for their family while receiving the education they deserve.

At Happy Kids Center we believe educating our children is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty that our community has been living within for generations. We hope you will join us on our mission by becoming an EducateHKC sponsor!

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Incentives

Why Provide Incentives?

We believe the incentives portion of this program is paramount to ensuring children remain in school through graduation. EducateHKC not only allows families to sustain themselves without relying on child labor, but it also places a monetary value on education that will motivate parents to send their children to school regularly. This is essential in a community that has never witnessed the benefits of education first hand and therefore places little value on education, especially for girls. By removing vulnerable children from child labor they become less likely to hold hazardous, low paying jobs as adults (2015 World Report on Child Labor) and an extra year of primary education for girls boosts future earnings by 15-25%, making them 6 times less likely to be married as children (Girls Not Brides.)

Children who combine child labor with education, as these children would likely have to do if we did not provide incentives are more likely to drop out, complete fewer years in school and achieve lower test scores, according to Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education. “The evidence that is available suggests that child laborers may suffer a 17%t achievement gap with other children in language and maths. And because children who face restricted opportunities for education will receive lower wages as adults, child labor is one of the most powerful motors transmitting poverty across generations.”

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