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On August 20, 2023, a group of eager BA social work students from St. Xavier’s College, had come to NJSI to attend the session on Leadership, Critical thinking and Discovering Identity which were conducted under the guidance of Fr. Roy Sebastian,SJ and Mr. M.C. Pereira.
Fr. Roy navigated the participants through an exercise of discovering oneself in this immense universe and to become aware of one’s true purpose of being created as a human. Based on these fundamentals the students were oriented to understand individual’s role in designing and forming the future where everybody has a leadership role knowingly or unknowingly. The input on critical thinking was precisely to eliminate myths and superstitions along with misconceptions that is used by modern leaders to use citizens for their own benefits other than developing universal goodness.
Throughout the session the students learned that Leadership is a catalyst for change, a catalyst for growth, and a means to empower those in our circle. Engaging dialogues and real-world examples reinforced the idea that leadership is, above all, a responsibility to elevate our communities and better our world. Likewise he defined critical thinking as the ability to assess information, dissect problems, and make well-informed choices
Amidst these enlightening conversations, to broaden the horizons, Mr. M.C. Pereira took the example of Cambodia’s political history. Cambodia, a land steeped in cultural heritage, bore the weight of the Khmer Rouge regime’s horrors in the 1970s. This dark chapter serves as a poignant testament to the Cambodian people’s fortitude, as they’ve since rebuilt their nation and embraced optimism.
In a nutshell, the session ended with the hope of being a profound experience for the participants and help them become aspiring Social workers. Fr. Roy and MC Sir steered a transformative journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Meanwhile, the narratives of Cambodia and Afghanistan served as poignant reminders of human resilience and hope.

In a vibrant gathering of young minds, Personality Development Camp and Eco Club was conducted from 2nd August 2023 to 4th August 2023 at Kavre Regional Center bringing together 20 enthusiastic students from five different schools. This camp aimed at fostering holistic personal growth and not just academic development. Four students each from Shree Indrawati Secondary School, Shree Janata Secondary School, Shree Bhagawati Madhyamik Vidhyalaya, Shree Narayansthan Aadharbhut Vidhyalaya, and Shree Ram Madhyamik Vidhyalaya converged at the event engaging in various discussions, activities, and self- discovery sessions.
The heart of the event was the Personality Development camp (PDC), covering a wide range of essential topics. It empowered students with the tools of self-confidence, conflict resolution, and critical thinking. It also addressed the contemporary issues like social media use, the consequences of smoking and drinking, and the significance of discipline, teamwork and time management. Along with the sessions, the students were also made core members of ECO club for their respective schools.
The formation of eco club push the students, one step forward to preserve and be responsible towards the environment. Additionally, they were also involved in different activities relevant to the sessions, and arts for them to explore their creative side. This holistic approach to education and development left these students not just enlightened but also more confident and responsible, ready to contribute positively to their communities and the environment. The event demonstrated the transformative power of education in shaping the leaders of the future.

NJSI conducted 3 days Teachers Training Program for Nepal Police School, Samakoshi from 18th July to 20th July, 2023 at NJSI national office.
On first day of training program, a small official opening ceremony was conducted where AIGP, Shyam Lal Gyawali, from Nepal Police were present as a chief guest. Along with him we had other distinctive dignitaries, DIGP, Lalmoni Acharya, SSP, Siddhi Bikram Shah and DSP, Ishwor Thapa, Former SP, Sthaneshower Regmi, Regional Superior of Congregation of Jesus (C.J), Sr. Vinita, Principal of St. Mary’s School, Sr. Deepa, Superior of St. Xavier’s School, Jawalakhel, Fr. Daniel, Principal of St. Xavier’s School, Jawalakhel, Fr. Sammuel Simick, Director of St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar, Fr. Boby Joseph.
The training, program was divided into three sections, first session was from Director of NJSI, Fr. Roy. He took the session on “Identify of the teachers” which comprises the awareness of oneself and the responsibility as teachers another session was on the divinity within humans and relationship with others beings. The second session was on “The need of developing consciousness and Critical Thinking in Education and methodologies, Psychosocial development of a child becoming true human, true citizen, Self-affirmation and discovery of Social and moral values and lastly, Role of Social Media in Education and child formation (truth vs. False, how to monitor students, psycho social impact of social media. The resource person for this Teachers Training Program were Fr. Paul, Fr. David and Fr. Roy. In total, 35 teachers from Nepal Police School were present for the training.
On closing ceremony, 20th July, we had distinguished dignitaries, DIGP, from Nepal Police, Lalmani Acharya, DSP, Ishwar Thapa, DSP, Shivaraj Budhathoki, Inspector, Umesh Man Amatya, Principal of St. Xavier’s School, Godawari, Fr. George and Principal of Nepal School, Samakoshi, Ram Prasad Bhusal.
Nepal Police and Nepal Police School thanked NJSI for providing the opportunities for the teachers to widen their horizon. The teachers were also very thankful to NJSI for the new ideas and perspectives from training program. Nepal Police School is really looking forward for more collaboration with us in order to conduct more fruitful programs.

Arun Gaupalika (Rural Municipality) Bhojpur becomes a model and Marks a new Chapter in Local Development by Inviting NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal, for partnership for Rural Education Improvement Program. It was in 2022 September that NJSI first visited the Arun Rural Municipality and established the first Education Smart hub in Vishwa Premi High School in Yaku village.
Mr. Shivaji Rai, was the first person to approach NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal and accompanied the team to his birth place village Yaku. Being an employee at the British Embassy he always wanted to do something for his people in the village and then made the moves to bring NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal to his village. Soon he convinced the Local Government and the parents and teachers’ body of the schools along with management committee.

After the establishment of the REIN in Vishwa Premi School, NJSI was again invited to give teachers trainings for the ECD teachers from all the schools of the Arun Municipality where there is ECD classes. There where about 36 teachers participating in the program conducted by NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal.
It is remarkable that for the first time in NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal, that all the expenses the food and the accommodation of the trainees and the trainers including the NJSI team was taken care by the Arun Gaupalika. It is the first step of Private public partnership for an education program taken initiative by a Municipality intending to improve the education in their villages. Moreover, it is a grate booster to NJSI that we are now welcomed by the Local Government and our service is valued by the people of Nepal.

Not only inviting NJSI-Fe y Alegria to their village, but we have also noticed that the Arun Gaupalika has agreed to spent part of their budget to give furniture and other facilities to the school. This will become a model for educational development in the country a much-awaited change in the mindset of the Government of Nepal. With the new federal system, the local government is able to focus on important issues of their areas of development and education has become finally one of the priorities and Arun Gaupalika would be the fore runner of such a change. We must congratulate the local leadership, including, Lokmani Dakhal (Hon. Ex MP), Mr. Shivaji Rai, local representative.
NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal has now established two Education Smart Hubs two schools in the Gaupalika, supplied education and sport item to two primary schools, and 20 sets of Tables and benches to the high school. A library is also being set up in two schools by the Social Work Students of St. Xavier’s College.

There were three ECD trainings conducted at various places in 2022 and 2023. The first training was conducted at Kavre Regional Centre for 20 ECD teachers from different schools in Kavre and Sindhupalchowk district. The second one was done in Oda Village in Mahawai Rural Municipality, in Kalikot district. 20 teachers from different schools participated in that program which was done in collaboration with the Oda Foundation, a local organization running a clinic in Oda village. Oda Foundation has become a partner in Rural Education Program of NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal and currently working together in 10 government schools in Kalikot district. The third ECD training was done at Arun Rural Municipality in Bhojpur district for 36 ECD teachers form all the schools of the Municipality.

NJSI-Fe y Alegria Nepal national office has launched the Computer Animation and Graphics training for rural girls. The program is intended to give opportunity to learn computer, personality development, currier guidance and basic English to rural grils who have competed +2 and staying back home without going to University studies or waiting for admission in next three months. Food, Accommodation, and course are given free while they are also supported partially, if not fully for their travel.

The first batch form Kavre and Jhapa districts and one boy from Tipling started their training in September and completed in the first week of November 2022. Initially the one month is given training in English typing and getting familiar with computer. Then they were given advanced graphics and animation training.

The drawings and cartoon making programs like OpenToonz is highly useful in creating education content and making creative educational materials. These materials help the teachers to explain a topic in a short time since the visuals help the children to understand better. Moreover, digital content get the attention of the chidren very fast while the traditional teaching techniques literally bore the students.

As they are able to do drawings and animation, the text book based projects of science subjects are given to them from different classes. Each one has to do the animation for a particular chapter. The creation of the children are collected into a computer and given to the rural schools as teaching aid. Thus NJSI has the advantage of two birds in one shot, the girls get a livelihood training in computer while the rural students get digital study materials.

At the end of the three month training program, the students are give certificate which will be valuable for their job opportunities while the new computer knowledge gives them added advantage in higher studies. The students were grateful for the opportunities and they even highlighted the their confidence in self studies as they were trained to research and study by themselves and find solutions to the problems that could arise while dealing with computer graphics.