Volunteer at Maya Universe Academy

The name of our school is Maya Universe Academy, a social entrepreneurship project providing free education in rural Nepal in exchange for parents' time, instead of money.

My name is Manjil Rana. After my education in the United World College in India and the College of the Atlantic in USA, I returned back to Nepal to learn about my country and help my people. Three years ago, I was 22 years old when my friend Yoon and I started a school with a green tent pitched in the jungle. We wanted to challenge the public school system of Nepal.

Two Thirds of Nepalese students attend public schools. About 85% of them drop out. 73% of public school students failed the national grade 10 examinations last year. This means they do not get to attend high school. After a failed education, most become a part of the remittance industry, working in countries like Qatar and Kuwait doing work that nobody else wants to do. Husbands and wives do not see each other for years at a time while their children grow without having active parents in the house. The rural poor do not have a choice. They accept the low quality education from the government because nothing else is available to people who cannot afford a private school.

Yoon and I opened the first and only private school in Nepal where parents do not have to pay any money. There is no admission fee, test fee, book fee, x fee or y fee. Here, parents volunteer at the school for two days of every month. Instead of giving money to the school, they give their time. This is the Maya model. We are testing, replicating and adapting this model to different areas of Nepal and we think we have stumbled onto something that can make a huge difference in the lives of our future generations.

There is a lot you can learn about culture, language, politics, ethnicity, farming, construction and the grass root development process at Maya. We ask that you pay $10 per night for food and accommodation. Discounts are applicable on long term stays. This also contributes to paying local teacher and staff salaries. Volunteers can get involved in education, agriculture, construction or management depending upon their skills and experience when matched with our needs and resources at the time of arrival. We are 5 hours away from Kathmandu and 2 hours from Pokhara.