Rachna Sunar of Birendra Nagar in Surkhet is the principal of Balan Shiksha Academy. Currently 40 children are studying in his school for free. The school has opened the scholarship application for 20 more people in this academic session.
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Rachna Sunar of Birendranagar Municipality-1 in Surkhet grew up in a community rooted in child marriage. She is the eldest among 6 sisters and brothers. Born in a middle-class family, her parents were also preparing to marry her off in Kalilai. She was studying in class 10 and did not agree for marriage.
But his family was not happy about it. At that time, Rachna, who was studying on the scholarship of the Nepal National Dalit Social Welfare Association, started her career. Her family backed off after they said that the organization will demand back all the money received in the scholarship if there is a child marriage.
Due to having many daughters, Rachna's mother had to endure family and social discrimination. From a young age, Rachna had been listening to relatives and villagers saying harsh words to her mother saying that her daughters would bring the village into disrepute and that she did not have a son to lead the clan. Because of that, he had a strong desire to do something for his family and society. She was interested in the teaching profession from a young age and taught in Nepal National Basic School for five months after passing her class 10 exam. Since then, Rachna has been continuously active in the field of education, but now the role has changed. That is, the principal of Balan Shiksha Academy.
But Rachna has worked hard to reach this role. At first, she collected 6/7 children who were playing in the dusty soil and played in the square, cutting hair, cleaning, etc. . After a few days the parents came looking for Rachna after seeing the change in the children. "Tuition, children's club, charges or what?" the parents asked him at that time. She said that she tried to open the school not for money. "Everyone laughed at me after hearing that," she said, "some even suggested me to get a job."
But Rachna did not give up her dream of opening a school and providing free education as much as possible. In 2075, she said that in the first year of the school's operation, 6/7 parents believed and enrolled their children. "In the first year, I charged 5 to 600 rupees," she said, "from that I paid the teacher's salary and bought things for the children." After seeing the progress of the children in a short time, 60 children were enrolled in the school. But Rachna, who had the opportunity to study on a scholarship, planned to teach some students for free.
"I started teaching 10 students whose economic condition is very weak for free from that year," she said, "After that, they started teaching free of charge by opening advertisements." At present, 40 children are studying for free in her school. Rachna has opened applications for 20 people for this academic session. She said that after receiving the application, they look at the documents and select the students after interviews. If necessary, she even goes to the house to understand the situation of students and parents. According to
Rachna, Freedom Font has been supporting 15 children who are currently studying for free. The guardianship of five children has been taken over by local people. She bears the expenses of the other children herself. Some of the free school children are also street children. "We have enrolled children up to class 4," Rachna said. After that, she said, she will teach in other schools. The introduction of
composition is not limited to school principals. Before running the school, she belonged to a dialogue group. Under his leadership, Samvad Group stopped more than 80 child marriages. In addition, she was able to enroll many children in the village who had dropped out of school. She also admitted 10 mothers who dropped out of school at a young age in Amarjyoti Model Secondary School, Neware, Surkhet. From providing them with copy books, she made them take tuitions in English, Maths, Science and even paid the fees. 8 out of 10 people passed 8th class and two people are studying in 11th/12th after passing SEE. He plans to train those who are studying in Monteshwari to become teachers. The
composition is not only concerned with children, but also with their parents. Every month, she also conducts discussions on health, education and other issues between students and village women with influential people in the society. Similarly, she also joins income-generating programs for the parents of the community. Together with various organizations working in the district, she connects parents with skills. Some have learned parlor work and run a business while some work as seamstresses.
In addition to this, she has been running the 'Bal Bodig' program for a decade. In the program, every Saturday, she engages students from different schools in activities ranging from inspiring them to reading to listening to each other's problems and finding solutions. Children also come to the kindergarten to learn and practice extracurricular activities. Rachna also received the 'Hear My Voice' award in Norway in 2017 for her work in the field of children. She bought educational and sports materials for the students with the amount received from the award worth Nepali five lakhs. Rachna was awarded the National Youth Talent Award in 2020 by the Government of Nepal.
