影／翻轉人生從教育開始！尼泊爾「一元學校」助貧童接受教育

全球教育資源日漸懸殊，在發展中國家，許多孩童甚至連基礎教育都難以完成。目前，政府資助的公立學校缺乏公平的優質教育，無法提供來自不同背景的孩童同等的教育資源。

The growing disparity in education has left many children in developing countries struggling to complete basic levels of education.

Government-funded institutions currently lack equitable quality education needed to make education accessible to children from diverse backgrounds.

而在教育光譜的另一端，私立學校則以其排他性著稱，只有極少數上流社會的人才能入學。為了改善這個問題，一名曾經夢想成為寶萊塢明星的男子 Uttam Sanjel 將目光轉向實踐「全民教育」的願景。

On the other end, private schools, notorious for their exclusivity, are only available to a handful from the higher echelon.

Uttam Sanjel, an educator who once dreamt of becoming a Bollywood actor, turned to his vision for an ‘education for all’.

Uttam Sanjel 在18年前創立了 Samata 學院，是尼泊爾知名的「一元學校」。只要不到一美元，學生就能在這裡接受英語授課教育，受惠者多為家庭較貧困之兒童。這所用竹子打造的學校志在改變尼泊爾的教育現況，並且已經在各地開設分校。

The Samata School, founded 18 years ago by Sanjel, is Nepal’s dollar school. It’s been providing English-medium education for less than a dollar a month, many to children from less-privileged families.

Built from bamboo and a steadfast commitment to transforming the Nepali education landscape, the school has expanded to all the districts of Nepal.

創辦人 Sanjel 分享道：「我剛成立這所學校時，一共有 830 個學生，現在已經成長到 6 萬 5 千個」。Sanjel 表示，這所學校帶來的影響已經開始在基層改變尼泊爾。他說：「已經有近一萬個學生從這所學校畢業，他們進入醫學、工程、媒體和會計等各領域繼續深造探索」。

“When I started the Samata School, I had 830 children,” Sanjel said, “ now there are 65,000 in total”.

The impact of this feat is already transforming Nepal at the grassroots level, “nearly 10,000 students have already graduated from this school. Many are exploring avenues like medicine, engineering, media studies, and accounting”.

不過，Samata 學院的推行仍然困難重重。雖然有個人捐款支撐學校持續運作，但學校仍然很難有穩定的金流能按時支付教師工資，或籌到資金展開更具野心的計畫。

However, the expansion of the Samata School is not without challenges.

While individual donations have helped to keep the initiative afloat, the school has had many difficulties with paying teachers on time and locating extraneous funds for more ambitious projects.

儘管前景並不樂觀，但 Sanjel 仍然持續推廣這個的願景，他希望有一天能不只在尼泊爾，而在亞洲其他地區幫助孩童接受教育。

Even when the prospects of the future do not seem promising, Sanjel’s vision continues to grow bigger. He hopes to go beyond Nepal and help educate children all across Asia.

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