Scholarships to Bhutanese Refugee Students: 2014

Scholarship recipients, 2014 with their guardians

In collaboration with the Bhutanese Refugee Women Forum (BRWF), the Punya Foundation provided scholarships to few Bhutanese refugee students. The BRWF is a local organization in Nepal and has been working for the welfare of Bhutanese women and vulnerable children living in the refugee camps in Nepal.

Working methodology: The Punya Foundation organized a series of conference calls with the BRWF team in Nepal. In collaboration with the Foundation, Mr. NB Subedi, the program manager of BRWF, established a project team for implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation strategies for year 2014. 

A scholarship recipient receives scholarship cheque, 2014

The project team: The scholarship task force included Camp Secretaries of Beldangi and Sanischare Bhutanese refugee camps, the heads of schools in Beldangi Bhutanese refugee camps and BRWF staff conducted meeting and selected the following stakeholders as the project team at the community level in the camps: 

1. BRWF, Program Manager, Coordinator project team
2. BRWF, General Secretary
3. BRWF, Social Animator
4. Assistant Principal, Tri-Ratna Secondary School
5. Headmaster, New Horizon Academy
6. Camp Secretary of the Beldangi, Bhutanese Refugee Camp 

Scholarship selection criteria: Like in year 2013, the project team adopted the following criteria

1. Children of martyrs’ families
2. Children with disabilities or orphans
3. Children with parents disabled or cannot support secondary education
4. Children who will not be resettled to a third country by the end of 2017, and those who have not applied for resettlement
5. Children who could not attend school without support 

Scholarship recipients get briefing from BRWF staff, 2014

Selection methodology: The project team approached the head teachers of Tri-Ratna Secondary School (TRSS) and New Horizon Academy (NHA) to collect names of students who passed SLC and to seek recommendation from the schools on deserving students for the scholarships. The project team presented the list to the camp management committee and also sought recommendations of vulnerable students who are in need of support to attend higher secondary education. Following this, the project team analyzed the status (academic, financial, family condition, in addition to the above mentioned criteria) of students through hut visits. Finally, the project team in collaboration with Camp Management Committee finalized the name list of 5 students for the scholarships for academic year 2014-2015.