Ratna
Lal is the only son of his parents. He has 2 sisters.
In
1977, when he was 8, Ratna Lal was extremely fortunate to be able
to join the local government primary school “Kumbeshwar
Nimna Madhyamik Vidyala”. This school was built by a special
development programme, initiated by KTS Founder Chairman Mr Siddhi
Bahadur Khadgi, under the supervision of His Royal Highness Prince
Direndra. The programme was directly funded by His Majesty the
Late King Birendra. Even at this school, though, Ratna Lal recalls
only 3 or 4 other children from the Pody community attending school
with him, the majority of the children in the school coming from
families in local surrounding communities – butchers and
farmers. In addition, there were about 3 or 4 more children from
the Pody community attending schools in different areas. So, of
the 150 or so children in their community under 14 years of age,
no more than 8 children were attending school.
In
June 1983, KTS was launched, initially as a Day Care Centre. Ratna
Lal, then aged 14, recalls that most of the children from the
community had stopped going to school. Being minorities in schools,
they faced enormous prejudice and discrimination. Ratna Lal was
one of those struggling to go to school.
Despite
initial enthusiasm for the Day Care Centre, Ratna Lal remembers
that, just about 2 months after its launch, children stopped going
to the centre. “I remember Kabindra called for late night
community meetings” he said, “and asked the parents
why they stopped sending the children to the school. The parents
said that their average income was about Rs350 (that is about
£5) a month. They were totally dependent on the children
supplementing the food for the family. They needed the children
to look for and scavenge discarded and waste food, and to collect
firewood. Kabindra asked whether, if an income generating programme
was launched for the benefit of the adults and parents, they would
send their children to school. The community members said they
would do. However, it was acknowledged that this meant that the
first need was then to educate the parents.”
In
August 1983 with the community’s agreement, 6 adult literacy
classes were launched for the whole community followed, in about
November, by an income generating programme in carpet weaving
training. Ratna Lal continued: “My friends and I were struggling
at the local school, primarily due to discrimination. So, we left
the local school and joined the adult education programme. The
following year we continued advanced literacy courses set up at
grade 6 levels for the adults, between 14-24 years. After nearly
24 years of the launch of the KTS, I am surprised to learn today
that Kabindra launched all these programmes with money borrowed
from his family. We are pleased that due to KTS, we may now be
the only community in the whole of Nepal in which every single
individual has at least a basic level of ability in reading and
writing. Today, we can practice religion freely and every parent
can send their children to school and make sure that they receive
at least basic primary education.”
By
1986, KTS had grown so much that I decided I needed someone to
help me with the administrative side of my work. Ratna Lal recalls
that, by this time, he was in the 2nd year of his advanced education
at KTS, when I announced that I was looking for an office assistant.
He says: “A friend of mine and I volunteered for the job.
We were sent for two weeks’ typing lessons in the local
typing centre. Soon after, we were both given appointments as
office assistants at wages of Rs 350 (about £5) a month.
We became two of the very few people in Nepal to get office jobs,
as, traditionally, most of the community members could at best
hope to get jobs only as street sweepers or cleaners.”
Since
1986, Ratna Lal has been promoted within KTS a number of times.
He continues: “About 3 years ago, I was promoted to Programme
Coordinator. My current wage is about Rs 8000 (about £61)
a month. I am very proud of my job. It is clean, and quite a prestigious
job and I am certainly one of the few people in my community to
have such a prestigious job. It is still rare and difficult, if
not impossible, for my community members to get decent jobs, no
matter how well educated they are.”
Ratna
Lal now has 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. His first child completed
high school in 2006, in the 1st division. She is studying accountancy
in her college and hopes to become an accountant – a career
unheard of in Pody community until very recently. He states: “In
our community here at Kumbeshwar, there are some 14 boys and girls
who have already completed High School. This may be one of the
highest numbers of High School graduates from the Pody community
in any one area in Nepal. Furthermore, KTS has played a major
part in integrating us with other communities through the KTS
integration programme. Still, we are not totally accepted by other
castes, and our life is far from perfect but we are much more
accepted now than some 20 years ago. We are proud that every child
in our community goes to school and has at least basic primary
education. Now more and more children are attending high school
and job opportunities are opening for our community members and
we can see many of our community are getting into professional
jobs like teaching, nursing, and office jobs. My fellow community
members believe that this would have never been possible had it
not been for KTS. Thank you.”
Ratna
Lal is the only son of his parents. He has 2 sisters. 
In
1977, when he was 8, Ratna Lal was extremely fortunate to be able
to join the local government primary school “Kumbeshwar
Nimna Madhyamik Vidyala”. This school was built by a special
development programme, initiated by KTS Founder Chairman Mr Siddhi
Bahadur Khadgi, under the supervision of His Royal Highness Prince
Direndra. The programme was directly funded by His Majesty the
Late King Birendra. Even at this school, though, Ratna Lal recalls
only 3 or 4 other children from the Pody community attending school
with him, the majority of the children in the school coming from
families in local surrounding communities – butchers and
farmers. In addition, there were about 3 or 4 more children from
the Pody community attending schools in different areas. So, of
the 150 or so children in their community under 14 years of age,
no more than 8 children were attending school. 
In
August 1983 with the community’s agreement, 6 adult literacy
classes were launched for the whole community followed, in about
November, by an income generating programme in carpet weaving
training. Ratna Lal continued: “My friends and I were struggling
at the local school, primarily due to discrimination. So, we left
the local school and joined the adult education programme. The
following year we continued advanced literacy courses set up at
grade 6 levels for the adults, between 14-24 years. After nearly
24 years of the launch of the KTS, I am surprised to learn today
that Kabindra launched all these programmes with money borrowed
from his family. We are pleased that due to KTS, we may now be
the only community in the whole of Nepal in which every single
individual has at least a basic level of ability in reading and
writing. Today, we can practice religion freely and every parent
can send their children to school and make sure that they receive
at least basic primary education.”
Since
1986, Ratna Lal has been promoted within KTS a number of times.
He continues: “About 3 years ago, I was promoted to Programme
Coordinator. My current wage is about Rs 8000 (about £61)
a month. I am very proud of my job. It is clean, and quite a prestigious
job and I am certainly one of the few people in my community to
have such a prestigious job. It is still rare and difficult, if
not impossible, for my community members to get decent jobs, no
matter how well educated they are.”
Ratna
Lal now has 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. His first child completed
high school in 2006, in the 1st division. She is studying accountancy
in her college and hopes to become an accountant – a career
unheard of in Pody community until very recently. He states: “In
our community here at Kumbeshwar, there are some 14 boys and girls
who have already completed High School. This may be one of the
highest numbers of High School graduates from the Pody community
in any one area in Nepal. Furthermore, KTS has played a major
part in integrating us with other communities through the KTS
integration programme. Still, we are not totally accepted by other
castes, and our life is far from perfect but we are much more
accepted now than some 20 years ago. We are proud that every child
in our community goes to school and has at least basic primary
education. Now more and more children are attending high school
and job opportunities are opening for our community members and
we can see many of our community are getting into professional
jobs like teaching, nursing, and office jobs. My fellow community
members believe that this would have never been possible had it
not been for KTS. Thank you.”