Local level education policy initiatives in education are crucial as they allow communities to address specific educational needs and tailor programs to the unique characteristics of their students and community. These initiatives often involve collaboration among local government agencies, schools, non-profit organizations, and community leaders to ensure the success of educational efforts at grassroot level.
In a significant move towards advancing education in Baglung district, Jaimini municipality has allocated a budget to expand the scope of community volunteers ‘Thuli Didi’ Big Sister for the current fiscal year (2080/81). Since 2021, VSO Nepal has mobilized Thulididi across 33 community schools within the municipality, as part of ‘SIKAI’ project. Big Sisters are local volunteers who contribute to promote the regularity of students into the classroom and also change existing social norms and practices. Their mobilization has made significant contributions to promote inclusive education, increase learning achievements. As a result, the municipality has taken ownership of the approach and allocated a budget of NPR. 594,000 for the first time in the municipality budget.
Khem Prasad Acharya, the Information Officer of the municipality said, the allocated budget aims to extend the concept of ‘Thulididi’ from the initial 33 schools to encompass all 80 public schools within the municipality. These ‘Big Sisters’ have been successful in contributing to enhancing inclusive learning through continuous engagement and discussions with teachers, parents, community, school management committees, students, and other stakeholders of the school.’
Acharya further said that as an initiative of the municipality to take ownership and continue the experiences and successful practices gained through the SIKAI project, a budget of NPR. 594,000 has been allocated for the current financial year to provide these volunteers with incentives of 1500 rupees per month. Nar Bahadur Pun, Mayor of the municipality said that the integration of working modality of Big Sister into municipality’s budget ( Red book), with the consensus of all concerned parties in the budget to be endorsed by the municipal assembly is a testimony to the fact that if it is a program that benefits the people and community, the local government will take ownership of the project even those initiated by the non-governmental organizations.
The successful and effective work carried out under the SIKAI project has been adopted by the municipality at the policy level, and the project has assisted the municipality in formulating certain policies.
