CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME
There
are more than 30,000 Bhutanese refugees living outside of the refugee
camps in Nepal and India, without any relief and assistance. Many late
comer refugees were denied a place in the refugee camps. They do not have
any regular sources of income. So, many poor and needy Bhutanese refugee
children living outside of the camps are finding it difficult to attend
the schools due to very bad financial conditions of their parents. Their
parents are not in a position to send them to schools due to their poor
financial conditions.
In
view of the above, Bhutan Women and Children Organisation (BWCO) started
a children's educational programme in 1998, to help a few poor needy refugee children to receive
education. Currently, ten refugee children are studying
in the schools in Kathmandu.
These children get socialisation in their own culture, tradition and community.
Socialisation in their own community will help them build their vision
for their society. In the long run the children as growing individuals
must learn to respect and appreciate other religions, cultures and people
of different ethnic background along with their own. This might sound
paradoxical to the racial hatreds and religious and social discrimination
these children vividly encountered while in Bhutan. But it is necessary
as a need for the development of cultured and civilised people and society.
This prepares the refugee children to live more harmoniously with their
fellow brethren when they return home
|