NEPAL: Students graduate from summer training program
Program reaches 140 students from 14 districts in the country
NEPAL
(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Institute (Don Bosco Thecho) in Kathmandu, Nepal, recently held a 50-day summer vocational program for 140 students from 14 districts in the country. The program, which started April 23, ended with the graduation ceremony where students received their certificate of skills training. This is the seventh time the Don Bosco Thecho has conducted the summer vocational training program.
Father Philip Xavier, director of Don Bosco Thecho, organized the training program with two directors of the local Salesian centers and other Salesian staff. The training program consisted of five training courses in basic computer science, graphics and media, electrician skills, tailoring, and beautician skills. Salesians also provided guidance about career choice and offered personality development sessions. In addition, there were extracurricular activities such as talent shows, sports and picnics.
“We commend these students for their hard work. They finished secondary education and went right into a skills training program to prepare for the workforce,” said Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian vocational training provides students with the ability to take courses in employment sectors that are hiring and where they can find good jobs, which helps students with their overall self-sufficiency and self-esteem.”
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.
More than 8,000 people died and close to 20,000 were injured as a result of the earthquakes and their aftermath. The United Nations reported that more than 1,300 schools were destroyed during the earthquakes.
The construction of schools that can withstand earthquakes and provide access to education for the youngest and most vulnerable children is the daily commitment of Salesian missionaries in the country. The goal is to help equip youth to have the education and skills necessary to change their lives and become agents of development.
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Sources:
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Salesian Missions – Nepal
