{"id":9529,"date":"2016-07-24T12:25:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-24T06:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/?p=9529"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:14:26","slug":"smd-human-rights-education-of-marginalized-nepalese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/smd-human-rights-education-of-marginalized-nepalese\/","title":{"rendered":"SMD: Human Rights & Education of Marginalized Nepalese"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"with<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Last Thursday afternoon, on Sonam and Shirley’s invitation, I made a presentation to the Shree Mangal Dvip Boarding School family. Again, as at the presentation to Teach For Nepal Science Fellows<\/a>, my iPhone failed to record the presentation! <\/em>So, instead of a video as usual, what I reproduce below are the images and notes for the presentation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Slide01<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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I WAS born into a low socio-economic background, and living in our village with my grandfather, I was destined for a life of limited opportunities. I wasn\u2019t meant to have even made it to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Slide02<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I did make it to school, the expectation was that I would drop out soon. Luckily for me, a teacher at this public school recognized my potential, and told my dad to put me in a private school in Kathmandu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Slide03<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After being shuttled from one public school to another in Pokhara, I found myself enrolled at St. Xavier\u2019s Godavari School. My parents could afford to send me there as the Jesuits subsidized the fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The high quality education I was receiving as a primary school student, when in grade 5, made me realize — and decide — that education would be my ticket out of poverty<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My motivation and drive to succeed and my dedication to my studies paid off when I won a full scholarship to the United World College of the Adriatic<\/a>, an international school in Italy, and then admission to Grinnell College with also a pretty much 100% financial aid package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following my studies, I had a professional career as an international teacher for over 15 years, teaching in ten different countries, including Nepal, spread over five continents, and travelling to about three dozen other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My life story however is an exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A majority of Nepalese belonging to marginalized groups like myself and possibly even like many of you, and others, notably the Dalits, women, Tharus and Tamangs, don\u2019t get anywhere near as much opportunities in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IN THE rest of the talk, I will be doing a number of things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Slide04<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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  1. I will firstly be providing details of how these marginalized Nepalese suffer both at home and abroad because of violation of some of their most basic human rights,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Next, I will be describing what education is like in Nepal, a lot of which you might already know, to show you<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. How and why quality education will help marginalized Nepalese, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Finally what COMMITTED, the non-profit organization I run with my friend Jayjeev, does with education to help free themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I know quality education will make the difference to others from backgrounds similar to mine, like many of you, because it made all the difference to me!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [Scroll down just below the Facebook comment box to navigate to the next page.]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

    SOCIAL STRUCTURE in our country has always been very hierarchical. There has always been the hierarchy of class but it is also vastly stratified owing to the Caste System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Formalized in 1854 with the promulgation of the Nepal Legal Code, the Muluki Ain<\/em>, basically the Caste System, is based entirely on Hindu Orthodoxy and classifies people into five hierarchical castes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Slide05<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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    1. At the top are the \u201cwearers of holy thread\u201d, the high castes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Next are the \u201cNon-enslavable alcohol drinkers,\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Then come the \u201cEnslavable alcohol drinkers,\u201d the Tamangs and people like myself from Mustang district, called Bhote<\/a><\/em>, fall in this caste.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. The fourth are the \u201cImpure but touchable\u201d ones such as the Tharus from the Southern Plains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Then at the bottom are the \u201cUntouchable castes\u201d from whom the high castes cannot accept water and whose touch requires sprinkling of holy water. These are the Dalits, the occupational workers, such as the tailors, cobblers, blacksmiths etc. and therefore unclean<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The first and the most obvious way untouchability of Dalits is enforced is through segregation of their residential area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      All Dalits in a village are made to live on streets reserved just for them<\/a>, away from everyone else. The following are some of the numerous other ways their freedom and rights are curtailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"Slide06<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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      1. They are denied entry in houses, restaurants, temples and participation in, or entry into, social and public activities and functions etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. They are denied access to community resources, denied equal opportunities to enter labor market etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Higher castes expect obeisance from them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. They are made victims of atrocities more than others, such as rape of Dalit women.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        These practices are most severe in Terai. The following video, made by my friend Subina Shrestha, a journalist for Al Jazeera, is about the victimization of one such Dalit group in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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