A ceremony for the rebuilding of Jalapa Devi Higher Secondary School sponsored by EF Education First (“EF”) was held in Sindhupalchowk on September 28th, 2016. The ceremony was attended by Nepalese Vice President Mr. Nanda Bahadur Pun, Shanghai Charity Foundation Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Shin Qi, and EF China General Manager and Chief Representative Ms. Melissa Lam.



In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015, Mr. Bertil Hult, founder of EF Education First, made his commitment to the rebuilding of a school within the damage zone, and designated a team of four EF China staff (team leader Hope Ma, Edengrace Cayosa, Vienna Chen and Jonah Mu) to help identify an educational institution in need and supervise its reconstruction, settling for Jalapa Devi Higher Secondary School where two buildings collapsed and the other left horribly damaged. As of now, 20 teachers and 582 students currently attend classes in the impaired building and the rest of them in temporary structures built by UNICEF.

Implementing the latest anti-seismic techniques from Japan while still respecting the local cultures and traditions of Nepal, the school will be rebuilt to sustain earthquakes up to the magnitude 7 and will have two buildings; a main building facilitating till grade 12, and a building holding which includes classrooms, dining rooms, reading rooms, science laboratories and offices. It will be the biggest school in the district of Sindhupalchowk and will be able to hold a population on 1,200 inside the school compound.