Last time during our trip to Dolpa, someone informed us about a school with a very unique system and model working for the children of upper Dolpo. It sounded almost like a fantasy when he said “On the way to Phoksundo, You will find a school on a way which has a very unique system. The school is called Tapariza and It is the only school in the world that takes a certain amount of foods and grains from students as a school fee and intakes them to a hostel for study until their secondary level studies.”
Dolpa is a district in northwest Nepal. The district is far from infrastructural and societal development as it is from the capital Kathmandu but the district has a huge following and potential for tourism prosperity. Trek to Phoksundo is one of the many attractions that people mention on their bucket list in Dolpa.
In Dolpa, especially the upper part, you can hardly find any proper schools, hospitals, or infrastructures of Development. Well, many NGOs and INGOs like SnowYak Foundation, and Teach for Nepal are continuously working around to develop the quality of the educational process in Dolpa but still, there are many abandoned, teacher-less/student-less schools lying around. Even the proper schools are only operated for six months in a year due to extreme snowfall and cold weather.
As a student of a private school, School fees have always been one of the main concerns of my family handling economics. Still, there is this trend among schools that says “higher the school fee, better the school facilities and level of education provided”. In such an era of schooling and complex fee structure, will you believe me if I say that a school exists in some northwest part of Nepal which does not take any fees from students and also provides one of the best teaching systems in Nepal? There are already schools like “Samata School” which takes Rs 100 per month from students as tuition fee but the school that I am talking about is even better than that.
Tapariza school is located in the Phoksundo village district committee (VDC) which includes villages like Ringmo, Pugmo, Rike, and Renji. The school lies centrally at the intersection of several trading routes and has become a place where the villagers meet and interact, especially during school events.
Tapariza was formally started in March 1998, intaking 38 children in rooms provided by Shey-Phoksundo National Park. With the increasing number of students soon they were in desperate need of a new building. The village donated some land for the school and a new building was built and inaugurated in 2001. Since then the school has continued its growth with the growth of the number of children attending the school.
The school lies centrally between many villages offering education to children of multiple villages. Schools also provide hostel facilities to students to avoid long walking distances. The School area consists of classrooms, a hostel, a library, solar tubes for electricity, a kitchen, and sanitary facilities. They even have their own vegetable garden and greenhouse to produce the required foods.
Like every other school in Nepal, there are mandatory subjects and curricula that Tapariza follows. Besides that Nepali, Tibetan, and English languages are also taught in school. To preserve and promote local culture, the schools also conduct various excursions which teach students about Tibetan medicines and engage with elders to learn about Tibetan history and culture, local songs, traditional knowledge, and much more.
Besides school activities, Tapariza also contributes to the welfare of society. Whether the contribution of cultural heritage or the building of a monastery named Monastery, whether it may be the preservation of herbs and medicines or training to promote women empowerment, Tapariza is actively contributing and totally engaged in the welfare of the society. Tapariza is supported by various NGOs like TASHI-D (Tapariza Association of Social Help in Dolpa), Tapariza NGO, Friends of Dolpa, American Himalayan Foundation, etc.
Tapariza is the model school that every community and village in Nepal should have. It not only develops students academically but also educates them about their local culture, language, tradition, and environment. On top of that students are not monetarily charged but instead charged with the locally produced food items for all the school-given facilities. This is the perfect example of how an institution can provide the best services using local means and resources. Definitely visit the school and learn more about it when you trek to Phoksundo.
