Teaching Nepal

[poiuy9]

i am teaching in thailand and want to know if anyone has taught in nepal and if you get paid also what is the visa situation. ive been to nepal many times and love it there. thank you, poiuy9

[ghengis]

poiuy9

Five years ago I set up a charity to help pay for a two of Nepalese teachers in a small village close to Kathmandu. Recently, there have been a lot of problems - strikes, Maoist killing policemen, people not being able to visit villages etc. Government funds are not getting through to pay many teachers.

There is obviously a great demand for teachers in Nepal. If you can get a NGO to sponsor you then you will be needed. But, be careful, the situation there is a little dangerous at the moment.

[andyinkat]

I'm heading in the opposite direction to you - I've just been in Nepal for 18 months where I set up a school for street children in Kathmandu. Now I'm off to teach in Isan, Thailand.

If you REALLY want to know and have a helluva lot of time on your hands you can read all about it in the detailed journal I kept as a weblog. The url is:

http://andyinkat1.blogspot.com and part 2 on andyinkat2.blogspot.com

But in a nutshell I'll say this:

Getting a visa is really difficult. You get 5 month's tourist visa (initial entry 2 months then 3 one-month extentions) in a western calander year. It's very difficult to stay longer but if you are attached to a prestigious enough institution they might have the right contacts. Few western volunteers manage to outstay the 5 months. This is the reason I've very sadly had to leave my school.

Secondly I'd like to say that by a wide wide margin, teaching Nepalese children has been the most rewarding, fantastic experience of my life. The country is EXTREMELY poor and has one of the worst education systems in the world. Apart from the privileged few in private education the educational experience most children get is appalling. As a result when you turn up you will be regarded by the children and their families as a god - you will get so much love and appreciation you'll never be the same again.

However - the country is gripped in a very serious political crisis, there is a civil war raging, and education is unfortunately used as a pawn in a deadly game. No foreigner has ever been harmed in the conflict but schools are routinely targetted. Private schools are targetted and sometimes bombed and burnt. Strikes shutting down all educational establishments are so frequent that they account for up to HALF the school year at the moment. If you are in Kathmandu there is security (but even there I wrote in the journal about a bomb going off by my school and being woken once with a rifle pointing at my head) but outside the capital you're in Maoist country. For me personally it was precisely because the situation was grim and the country so desperate that I went - I felt that the worse the situation the more I could do - and I was right. But if you are more concerned with your personal safety you might want to think carefully. To clarify - it is VERY unlikely you would come to any personal harm, but the frequency of strikes, disruption and the overall political climate does make life frustrating.

Yet for all that the people and especially the children are truly truly wonderful.

Pay: well if you are familiar with Nepal you must be familiar with the extent of real poverty there. We paid our teachers the equivalent of £30 per month. If you get a job in a fancy private school of course the pay would be higher but if you want to help the children who are neglected by the state you're more likely to get paid in accommodation, food and more gratitude than you can bank.

I could go on for ever; PM me if you want more specific insights - and read my journal!

[Martin]

I endorse all that andyinkat has said. My experiences of Nepal are very superficial compared to his, but if I was single that's where I would be now.

A good way to 'suss out' Nepal is to do the Everest trek (by 'teahouse' trekking, not with a group) from Jiri, and then to return to Khatmandu via the porter trails through Bung and Tumlingtar to Hille and the buses down to the terai.

That way you get to see a good sample of the various 'Nepals' (Kathmandu, the Middle Hills, the Lowlands, and the Himala).

And it is safe, because political unrest isn't allowed to interfere with the important thing of earning a few dollars.

Also the provision of lodges for Western trekkers lets you get used to 'roughing it' gradually.

It is quite cheap to hire a porter-guide, and s/he can answer your questions, or enquire of the answers from local people.

Good luck!