There are a few exciting stories to report from NAG again, starting out with our 12th graders. They are currently under exam stress. The last final exam for Year 12 will take place on May 8 and we are keeping our fingers crossed for all of them! Before the exams started, the eleven students who will be working as “teacher trainers” after the exams are done, were able to enjoy the last training session with Jessica Winsor and Manjita Koirala. From mid-May, they will then be working in some of our partner schools and will hopefully be able to successfully apply what they have learned.

Last week, on April 23, the annual “Admission Day” took place. On this day, poor families come to NAG with their children. They queue up in the early hours of the morning to secure a place for their child at the NAG internal school “NiMS”. Once again this year, many people turned up and the NAG team was very busy interviewing the families in more detail. That way, we can ensure that the few places are allocated to the cases that really need them. This year, 24 children were accepted for the “Nursery”.

STEAM – this stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics and is increasingly finding its way into our education. The appropriate German term is MINKT (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, art and technology). According to https://www.spielundlern.de/wissen/mint-und-die-bedeutung-von-minkt-stem-steam-fuer-die-schule, STEAM aims to meet technical challenges with artistic, creative and critical thinking, cooperation and effective communication in conjunction with a solid technical understanding. At NAG, we are also trying to adapt our teaching to the latest requirements so that our students will have good job opportunities in the future. Last week, our teacher Buddha worked with a group of students to create cool robots that can draw circles. We are thrilled!

Did you know that Nepal uses a different calendar? Like us, they have 12 months, but the new year starts sometime in April, which varies from year to year. The Nepalese calendar is not aligned with the position of the sun like our calendar, but with the moon. The Nepalese year begins on the first day of the spring month of Baisakh. In our calendar, this day falls on a day in mid-April. The years of our calendars are also very different. Between January 1st and the 1st day of Baisakh, the Nepalese Bikram calendar is 56 years ahead of ours. Then on the 1st day of Baisakh until 12/12, the Nepalese calendar is ahead of ours 57 year. In 2024, the Nepalese New Year’s Eve was celebrated on the evening of April 12. There was also a small celebration and dance at NAG. And on April 13, 2024, the year 2081 started in Nepal. Interesting, isn’t it?