A School for Malagiri
Kevin Fossey from the School of Education is leading an effort to raise funds to support the construction of a new school for a community in Malagiri for children aged 3–8. This project is supported by Kevin’s colleague and friend, Pema Dorjee who is a Tibetan monk and educationalist.
Background
Young children in this remote rural area are in urgent need of schooling. Many children who are under the age of eight do not receive an education, because they are not able to manage the strenuous two hour walk to the local government school.
The community of Malagiri is about 3 hours drive from the centre of Kathmandu on ‘The Rajpath Road’, which previously served as the main gateway between Nepal and India. Since the construction of other highways, this road is no longer very busy and is rarely visited by tourists.
However, the views and the countryside here are magnificent – the steeply sloped hills are lush with vegetation and natural wooded areas. Scattered amongst the greenery are simple dwellings surrounded by beautifully terraced farmland.
The homes in Malagiri are extremely basic – constructed of rough hewn wood with no glazing in the windows and no electricity supply. The local people have excellent farming skills, grow a range of crops and keep a few animals. Any excess produce is sold to raise funds for essentials such as clothing, winter supplies and medicine.
How you can help
By making donations to support the construction of a building to allow the community to open a simple day school for children aged 3-8 with four teachers and a cook/caretaker. The initial cost of this project will be in the region of £20,000. A further £20,000 per year will be needed to maintain the school and to cover all running costs. Land for this project has been acquired, plans drawn up and the first stages of preparing the site have begun. The University of Brighton is seeking to generate funds from our staff, students, alumni, friends and partners as well as through sharing of our expertise and resources.
As an exempt charity, the University can accept charitable donations which can benefit from Gift Aid. The University of Brighton is currently also able to take advantage of a scheme whereby donations to the university are matched by additional funds from the UK government. For every £2 that is given, we can claim an additional £1 and this is after Gift Aid has been applied meaning each donation is worth even more. As an example, if you are able to give £100, this will be worth £125 after Gift Aid has been claimed. A further £62.50 will be added by the government giving a total value of £187.50 – an increase of nearly 90% at no further cost to you!
If you would like to make a donation, please print out, complete and return (freepost) our donation form and remember to indicate in section 4 that you wish for your contribution to be directed towards the ‘A School for Malagiri’ project. To make a regular donation by standing order, please contact us (details given below) for guidance. All donations of any size really will make a impact to this project and, more importantly, to the community of Malagiri.
- Download the donation form (141k pdf).
Please feel free to contact the Development & Alumni Office if you have any questions about making a donation.
email: development@brighton.ac.uk
tel: 01273 643591
