Sponsor letters are needed by August 1!  Please send them in today!  This year the Fall Holidays come early and we must get these letters to Nepal ASAP so the staff can distribute all the letter before the schools close down for a nearly a month. If not there will be at least an additional month's delay in your receiving their replies. Your letter and payment (if due) can be sent in the same envelope to:

ANSWER 
PO Box 68401
Grand Rapids, MI 49516.  

We hope to devote the next newsletter to ANSWER student's best, interesting or touching quotes.  Please email me your best excerpts from your letters to share with other ANSWER sponsors. So many letters are priceless and help us to understand and appreciate how we are changing lives through our support of education in Nepal.  Click HERE to send your quotes.  If you have a good picture, that would be welcome too!  THANK YOU!!!! 
Please Share Your Letters!
Reshma Nepal pictured with Sponsor Gwen Holland's grand daughter, Shelly Cunningham from Phoenix, Arizona 

 

  "Recently my annual examination has finished and I am promoted to grade ten, the last grade of school life.  It is also said as SLC (School Leaving Certificate.) All night and day we have to work hard for good result. Then after, our college life will start. Mimi, SLC is also said as an "iron gate." Mimi, I will try harder this year to get good result in SLC.

Mimi, my mom and I will always remember you because you are like our God who helps me get a good education.  My mother and I had dreamed that one day  I will be a nurse and can be self-stand.

 

Mimi, I will try to do my best in my studies. I wish for you and your family's good health."

 

With lots of love, 

Reshma Nepal   

 

Pabitra Bendhari passed SLC With Distinction...On to college!
 
"Now I am waiting the results of my SLC examination. I hope my result will make me as well as you also feel proud.

Thanks for your ideas about medical jobs beside being a doctor. First I would like to graduate in college and then I would like to engage in medical field. I wish to be a hospital administrative or ultrasound technician.

I am helping my mom in her household works during this holidays. Do you enjoy doing household works? I wish you good luck in your future."
Love,

Pabitra Bendhari
School Leaving Certificate (SLC)
Exam Results Released 
by Earle Canfield
 
In June once again the SLC results were released for 94 of our high school seniors (actually 10th Grade). Once again the National results were disappointing with only 43% of exam takers passing.  This Exam is considered so difficult that it is also known as the "Iron Gate." Last year the pass rate had bottomed out at 40%!  For the 50-60% that fail each year, a retake is possible if only one or two subjects were failing. Otherwise, one has to repeat the 10th Grade or study on ones own for a year to retake this exam. In other words, if one does not pass it. They do not graduate out of high school and their education is over. 
  
How did ANSWER students fare? We had 92 students take it, 34 boys and 60 girls. Of these 45% passed with Distinction (>80%) and 53% in First Division (60-80%). One and pass in 2nd Division (50-60%) or even 3rd division (40-50%). Less than 40% is failure. For the first time we had two failures, two boys whose principals forged marks or failed to communicate problems to us. These lapses are our failures as much as theirs for we have empowered the principals to improve our oversight and this is one of those unintended consequences. As this is not the first time principals have violated our trust, we are taking immediate measures to address this. 
  
Here are the break downs for the past three years, so you can all get a feel of the consistent high performance of our students: 
2014: 94 takers: 34 boys/60 girls; 40 (45%) Distinction: 12 boys/30 girls, 50 (53%)1st Div; 2 Failures.  
2013: 96 takers: 30 boys/66 girls; 39 (41%) Distinction: 16 boys/23 girls, 45 (47%)1st Div; 2nd Div;,1 F
2012: 77 takers: 26 boys/31 girls; 36 (46%) Distinction: 17 boys/19 girls;  41 (53%)1st Div. 
  
Cautionary Note: Private schools have a pass rate around 85%; Government schools have a pass rate of only 10-15%, although a few can compete with the private schools as there are both good, but mostly poor government schools, esp out in rural areas. Most ANSWER children come from Private Schools which spend the entire senior year with extra classes designed to memorize questions and answers to on previous SLC exams, i.e., teach to the test. Therefore ,Private school grades are inflated and do not represent what we would call "learning." This, of course, produces great problems when trying to counsel the students who think they are going to score Distinction or better (!) in College.
  
As many educators know: the best indicators of how a student will perform in college is how they performed in high school. We have been deep into career counseling with all of our students who are college bound (92/94). for the past few months.

 

 

Write Your Letter!!!
Reply letters due August 1!!






College Entrance Exam Results!
Read about the "Iron Gate". Failing this test (43% fail rate) slams the gate shut on further education.  Read how ANSWER students fares this year. (Below) 










Save the Date!
 If you live in Michigan, please mark your calendars and join us on Sunday, September 28 at City Flats for ANSWER's annual benefit concert featuring David Lockington 

 

 
























 

Quick Links
Join Our Mailing List

ANSWER
PO Box 68401
Grand Rapids, MI 49516
616-516-0955
Stay Connected

Facebook    Twitter    LinkedIn    Pinterest

Visit our Website!  | ANSWERnepal.org

Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved.