Junkiri

Junkiri is a creative, alternative learning program started in August 2005. It currently consists of one classroom with four full-time and several part-time students from the PA Nepal home. Junkiri also provides off-site tutoring to 21 children at an orphanage. The staff consists of two paid teachers and one volunteer teaching assistant. Junkiri is the first program of its kind in Nepal. We aim to see it grow rapidly and serve as a model to address the unique educational needs of many children in Nepal, particularly those who have suffered from traumatic early years within the Nepali prison system.

Vision

Our vision for Junkiri is a learning environment in which children are encouraged to learn, be creative and reach their individual and unique potential using alternative teaching methods. Learning and teaching styles are based on the individual's current capacity and help them move in a direction which traditional teaching environments have not explored.

PA Nepal has learned through experience that different children have had different educational and learning opportunities. Many children also have suffered from histories of abuse, neglect and other experiences that may have affected them negatively mentally and emotionally. These children need an environment that educates them but also addresses their holistic health and helps them address issues which may be a barrier to their learning and reaching their potential.

Junkiri will help children be creative and healthy by providing creative and healthy learning environments for them. We believe these methods will empower children to create healthy and creative environments in their own lives and in the community around them.

Goals

• To use creative and flexible teaching methods for children in our home who are not successful in the available educational system.
• To provide alternative learning environments which address their holistic needs and embrace their unique backgrounds.
  
• To offer a creative and alternative educational system in Nepal, which may be used as a model to address the unique educational needs of different children.
• To empower children to be leaders in their communities, embracing diversity and offering creative solutions to the problems they face.
  

Junkiri is proudly sponsored by Global Alternative Learning Alliance (GALA). For further information on their quest to support alternative education programs please visit their website at http://www.gala-ed.org/