Nepalese Education Foundation Established in America

The United States, January 25, 2003 - "The Nepal-America International Education Foundation (NAIEF) is established today as a non-profit and nonpartisan organization in the memory of late mother, Chandika Devi Shrestha, to advance education in Nepal by strengthening people's participation in social works," announced Mr. Suchitra Bahadur Shrestha, the chairman of the foundation after welcoming all of the friends and family members in a meeting held in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to the announcement, a minute of silence was observed in her memory on this very 45th day of her demise.

"Our vision is of the country of Nepal in which every citizen enjoys the basic human right to education as the key to a dynamic, prosperous, and peaceful nation," said Mr. Shrestha.

Laying out the mission of the foundation, he said, "First, we need to make human and financial resources in Nepal and abroad available to needy, poor, but talented students at the school and college level. Second, we need to provide them guidance, and create an educational, supportive environment for them to succeed, not only in their academic endeavor, but also in all aspect of their lives and help them become a foresighted, intelligent, compassionate and productive member and leader in their community. Third, we need to educate parents about the importance and their basic human right to education for the welfare and betterment of their children, family, community, and society at large. Finally, we need to encourage community-based educational research to develop and define educational policies and strategy in order to serve the society as a public interest advocate on educational issues in Nepal."

The names of the patron, advisors, and directors of the foundation were also announced in the meeting, which have already been posted on the web site of the foundation (http://www.naief.org).

Stating the urgency and the need of educating the deprived people in Nepal, Dr. Dev Raj Rai, Mr. Pradeep Ghimire, and Mr. Ram Upadhayay, directors of the foundation stressed the importance of well-defined vision and educationally focused mission of the foundation. They pointed out that the foundation is committed to help unprivileged, promising students by identifying them with due processes and by maintaining transparency in its policies and activities. "The foundation will be serving the poor Nepalese people for their educational needs for many years to come by establishing itself as a reliable and credible institution," was the unanimous voice of the directors of the foundation.

"Nothing is important than education. It is a noble cause that the foundation has undertaken to teach the people how to fish rather than giving them fish. It is encouraging for all of us that the foundation is giving us opportunities to do something to give back to our society from which we have benefited so much," was the message echoed again and again by the respected members of the foundation, Dr. Hari Pandey, Mr. Lok Raj Adhikari, Dr. Shashi Prakash, Mr. Suraj Shrestha, and Mr. Venkat Ambati.

Mrs. Nisha Shrestha, treasurer of the foundation affirmed, "An endowment fund, the Chandika Devi Shrestha Memorial Scholarship Fund is established today for reducing financial road blocks to create incentives for the disadvantageous students to pursue their academic goals." She reported that the seed money in the fund had reached up to US $11,500 with generous donations by the Shrestha family members and friends. Mrs. Shrestha said, "The interests and dividends generated by the fund are used strictly to finance its scholarship programs without any administrative costs attached."

With the closing notes in the meeting, the chairman of the foundation, Mr. Shrestha thanked all of the family members and friends for their moral and economic support, without which, he said, he could not have had the courage to take a single step forward in this long journey of social works. Mr. Shrestha made a humble request to his fellow Nepalese brothers and sisters and organizations in the country and abroad for their support in helping the most economically deprived Nepalese students harvest their dreams and reclaim their lives through education.