My Experience at CANSHIP-Seeta Sharma Dahal, School Administrator

Ms Seeta Sharma Dahal

I am Seeta Sharma Dahal, an English Teacher and the School Administrator for Canopy Nepal Scholarship Project (CANSHIP) at Kanti Ishwori Rajya Laxmi Secondary School. I have been involved with CANSHIP right from its kick-off at the school and have found it to be an important program for children’s overall development. My involvement was primarily because of the impact it would create on the lives of the poor children who are still capable of acquiring a lot despite them not being able to support their education due to a lot of financial reasons.

My initial perception of CANSHIP was similar to what other scholarship programs are really are. Like other scholarship programs, I expected it to be a scholarship merely emphasizing on the materialistic availability of children. Unlike what I had expected it to be, CANSHIP turned out to be a program that provides an opportunity for the all-round development of the children. Through different workshops and regular consultation activities organized for the children have not only made them more confident but have also made them smarter and have ignited their interest in learning. The children have now started volunteering to read in the classroom, pushing themselves from the comfort zone and have now been encouraged to work harder. It makes me proud when I hear a shy student volunteering to read aloud in the classroom after her engagement in CANSHIP. 

Ms. Dahal receiving certificate of recognition from CANSHIP Manager

CANSHIP has undoubtedly helped our students being self-sufficient in multiple ways. Hadn’t CANSHIP supported these children, getting these children to complete these schools or end up to high school would have been impossible. Undoubtedly, the materialistic aspect of CANSHIP in the form of school supplies, uniforms and meeting school fees have encouraged our students to be regular to school and study hard. The absenteeism has decreased to a larger extent among our students who are receiving the scholarship in comparison to the ones who are not getting it. Apart from that, the students are now encouraged to look at their creative sides and have been focused on thinking out of the box, being creative and more than that working collaboratively for helping each other. After the launch of the recent book clubs as a part of this program, the students are now seen reading the books out of their curricula and have been seen sharing their knowledge with their peers.  Something I really admire about CANSHIP is the regular meetup session which binds the students and parents together making the essence of the program more transparent and participatory. 

Of course, working with the children belonging to the underprivileged background is filled with challenges, but CANSHIP has worked in its best terms and more persistent towards overcome these challenges. One of the major challenge is the meeting up the parents as they are not seen to be concerned about their kids. However, from regular meetup sessions, the participation of the parents and the students towards the betterment of the program is observed, which has encouraged the parents to be more concerned about their children, which has, in return, encouraged our CANSHIP scholars to bring a most out of themselves.  

Canopy Nepal is a team of visionary youths working in the field of education, skill and leadership development, diversity and inclusion. Canopy Nepal works in collaboration with like-minded individuals and organizations to achieve the targets of empowering the organizations’ beneficiaries with skills they need to bring about positive change in the community. Canopy Nepal aims at creating an environment where individuals have a choice to equip themselves with skills and abilities of lifetime importance. The organization intends to promote intercultural understanding among diverse groups by means of various programs.

*Based on consented conversation with Seeta Sharma Dahal conducted by Pransu Khakurel, Canopy Nepal Team Member.

Application for Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero - India 2020 is now open !

Kathmandu, February 18, 2020: Glocal Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with Embassy of India launched the second edition of Glocal Teen Hero India 2020.

Glocal Pvt. Ltd and CYDA (the India Partner) are pleased to announce the opening of Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero – India, 2020 to search the fantastic teen form India.

Glocal Teen Hero is an initiation of Glocal Khabar (a concern of Glocal Pvt. Ltd.) to bring out the teenagers who are doing something beyond their academics and are active to create a positive effect in their society. It is a platform for teenagers to share their initiation, creativity, and enthusiasm which will then motivate them and more of the other teenagers in the nation to develop entrepreneurial thinking.

Glocal Teen Hero is the first-ever program that is designed to recognize dedicated, passionate, and innovative teenagers.  It also aims to take GTH to all the South Asian Countries by 2020. Likewise; India is the first country to host the Glocal Teen Hero franchise.

In 2019, Glocal Teen Hero – India was successful to recognize fantastic teenagers from India. The teenagers are Monishwaran Maheswaran (The first winner of GTH Hero from India) - a young innovator and a high school student who is interested in mathematics and computer science. Rupam Ghosh -a young entrepreneur and founder of GHOSH INVENTIVES. Lakshya Chhabra - Co-founder of “Jhutpat Logistics” which is a student-led start-up that provides logistics solutions to people and their business, Kunal Chandiramani - a young innovator, TEDx Speaker and the CEO of “Kstar” and “COMPACADEMY”. Kaushal Gohil – social activist and Garvita Gulhati - young Environmentalist and founder of “Why waste?”

Glocal Teen Hero India is a fully-funded program exclusively for Indian Teenagers which supports the teenager’s initiation and help in developing motivational factors to initiate more. The overall purpose of this program is to motivate and encourage teenagers to step out of their comfort zone, be creative and nurture entrepreneurial thinking. It also acts as a great platform for teenagers to network with delegates from various industries in India. It is an opportunity of a lifetime, not only to the winner, but all the applicants, finalists and other teenagers to develop themselves through networking, collaboration and pooling of opportunities.

In order to bring fantastic teenagers together; Glocal Pvt. Ltd  has partnered with Wai Wai as a title sponsor and CYDA as an Indian Partner and  Nepal Tourism Board as a promotional partner.

The Ambassador of Qatar, His Excellency was the part of the event. Other guests were Mr. GP Sah, Vice-Chairman of Chaudhary Group, Mr. Upaul Majumdar, General Manager of Soaltee Crown Plaza, Ms.Sinjini Mookherjee, Head-Youth Resource Centre, CYDA, Mr, K.P Singh.

The 2^nd Secretary, Commerce, and Commercial Representative; Embassy of India, Mr. K.P Singh expressed his happiness upon initiation of such event for launching India as a franchise for the event with the vision to connect youngsters which has a great objective.

“We have come across to South Asia to find the exceptional teenagers and provide them a platform to showcase their initiation, so that they can be empowered and motivated to be the change-maker” said Mr. Asish Thakur (Executive Director of Glocal Pvt. Ltd.)

At first, Glocal’s 20 under 20 shall be announced from total applications through interview and document review. After that, the top 6 finalists will be shortlisted for the final round of the Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero - India based on initiation and the impact of their work, and then the finalist will be interviewed individually to measure their personality, domain knowledge, and vision.

Award ceremony of the Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero – India will be held on June 4 at Pune in the presence of 250+ personalities of India from different walks of life, such as diplomats, politicians, film stars, entrepreneurs, youth leaders and many more.

Applications for Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero – India has already opened from January 07, 2020. The participants will be judged by a 3-members jury team comprising of Adv. Vandana Hemant Chavan, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Mathew Matham, Secretary, CYDA, Pune and Prof. Ujjwal K. Chowdhary, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Adamas University.

The application is free and can be filled online at https://india.glocalteenhero.com/. The deadline for the application is March 31^st, 2020.  

My Experience as a Lekhaun Facilitator- Sampada Uprety

Sampada Uprety facilitating in her class

To build a successful lever for myself, I have searched for experiences and opportunities all my life. During this search, I involved myself in the Junior Red Cross Circle of my school.  There I got several opportunities to visit various schools around Kathmandu Valley and conduct various activities with the children. While conducting the programs I started to develop my love for working with children. It made me realize that helping children by any means was what made my soul happy and that I can make a difference.

Right after I started pursuing my Bachelor’s degree, I came to know about Canopy Nepal through my classmate and I applied to volunteer as a facilitator. Soon I was called for an interview and a few weeks later I was getting trained to facilitate one of their programs ‘Lekhaun’.  Facilitating the students was a huge responsibility and as it was my first time working as a facilitator, it was quite challenging. Despite all the challenges, I enjoyed all aspects of the sessions. Working with the children and seeing them learn and grow was such a rewarding experience. The progress that the children made during the session brought a huge smile on the faces of our team members. The bond and the memories created during the 4 days long session will be something that I will always value.

Sampada Uprety  facilitating her classroom

I remember one particular incident where one student, Ipsha Baskota, cried during the last day of the session. This made me very emotional.  It caused me to acknowledge how innocent and pure these children are and the impact we can make on a child’s mind. Additionally, one of my students, Davis Maharjan posted my picture along with his own sisters on his social media expressing that I had guided and motivated him a great deal. I was so overwhelmed with all the love that I received from the students and I will cherish these moments for the rest of my life.

Our facilitator s after the session

While facilitating the Lekhaun session, I got a huge chance to grow as an individual and enhance my communication and leadership skills. I am very honored and grateful to have gotten such a great chance to work with children and help them achieve their full potential through the wonderfully designed programs. I look forward to exploring and learning new things with Canopy Nepal and help make a difference in children’s life through every endeavor possible.

Written By: Sampada Uprety (Canopy Nepal Facilitator)