By Aashish Mishra, Kathmandu, Aug 26: To provide equitable accessibility of education to underprivileged children of Nepal, Mohit Rauniyar set out to create a space that allows every person to enjoy their right to education, irrespective of income, caste, ethnicity, race or religion. A space that they founded in 2016 in the form of Canopy Nepal.

Canopy wasn’t a whim. It was a culmination of Rauniyar’s nearly decade-long involvement in Nepal’s education sector. Rauniyar worked in various capacities with various educational institutes which helped him realise how important education was. “It is the key to improve livelihoods and lead dignified lives,” he shared his belief.

And this belief, shared by his 11-member core team and assisted by supporters and volunteers, has enabled Canopy to make big splashes in just four short years of founding. It has worked with the likes of the Ministry of Education. Science and Technology, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), US Embassy, USAID, Quixote’s Cove, Rato Bangala Foundation and Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

It has further collaborated with 67 organisations, reached 97 schools and has worked with 3,217 students.

Towards achieving its stated goal of equity in education, Canopy offers two scholarships – Canopy Nepal Scholarship Project (CANSHIP) for children aged six to 18 years and FONAI Education Scholarship Program (FESSHIP) for older children who are pursuing higher education.

But, according to Rauniyar, these scholarships are different. In addition to covering the educational costs i.e. tuition fees, they also cover other necessities including uniforms, stationery, tiffin expenses, healthy meals and accommodation. FESSHIP also provides daily allowances.

Furthermore, the two scholarship programmes also provide skill development workshops, technical and vocational training and mentorship for students to develop them into independent individuals.

“Oftentimes, in scholarships, the children become dependent on the sponsors and risk losing their footing if and when the sponsorship ends,” Rauniyar said. “We don’t want that. We want the pupils to become capable of applying for a job or higher education themselves after our scholarship. We want to equip them for self-sufficiency.”

The programmes also provide counselling services that other scholarships often don’t. “Considering the underprivileged background of the children we work with, we provide psycho-social support; something we have intensified now with the COVID-19 crisis,” Rauniyar explained.

CANSHIP is run in collaboration with the Nepali Children’s Education Project (NCEP) Canada, a Nepali-Canadian partnership, and FESSHIP with Friends of Nepal Adelaide Inc (FONAI), a registered Australian charity.

In total, Canopy has awarded 110 scholarships in 32 partner schools, colleges and educational institutions in Kathmandu Valley. The scholarship recipients represent around 24 districts of Nepal and a majority (64 per cent) are females.

Since Canopy provides scholarships to students of various levels and since the needs of each student are different, the amount is assessed at an individual level rather than a fixed blanket sum.

It also makes an effort to reach children who come from ethnically, socially or financially marginalised families or are differently-abled. Similarly, it focuses on LGBTQI+ students.

“We want to expand the scholarships and reach as many children and families as we can. The process has already started, but the coronavirus outbreak has created a few hurdles.”

The hurdles Rauniyar is talking about are financial challenges raised by the pandemic. “We planned to bring in 57 more scholars and partner with more schools this year, but couldn’t due to economic limitations.”

Nevertheless, Canopy did bring in 20 scholars and is moving determinedly forward on its path to ensure education for all.