NEPAL: Children and youth in need receive education, support
Salesians serve region where few services are available
NEPAL
(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Center, located in Chhinchu, Nepal, has been providing education, pastoral care and social development since it opened in 2021. The center was started to provide support for people living in this sparsely populated region where few services are available.
At the center, Salesians offer classes for nearly 180 students from nursery school through technical and vocational training. Many youth who finish skills training leave the area for work or further education in India. The residents of the region have shown great enthusiasm for the Don Bosco school in this area.
A Salesian noted, “Our focus was to establish a center that excels in providing quality education and empowerment for those in the region with a particular focus on youth. The real pioneer of this mission was Father Thirumalachalil, who steered the center to its present state. It’s now currently under the stewardship of Fathers Augusty Pulickal and Anil George Kujur.”
Salesian missionaries arrived in Nepal in the 1890s and started a secondary school in Siddhipur, a village in the Lalitpur district. Today there are 20 secondary schools and nine Salesian centers in the central-eastern and far-western regions of the country. Salesians provide education and social development programs to aid poor youth and their families.
Nepal is among the least developed countries in the world, with about one-quarter of its population living below the poverty line. Salesian missionaries are still hard at work with long-term reconstruction efforts after a devastating 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, with a second striking on May 12, 2015.
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Sources:
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Salesian Missions – Nepal
