May 9, 2003
 First Secondary School Opened in Philim, Gorkha
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In the northern part of Gorkha about 90 km from the headquarters of Gorkha district lies a village called Philim at the foot of a 7000-meter-high mountain range. Several primary schools are running, yet they are poorly equipped due to lack of maintenance for facilities like school equipment, teaching materials, and other basic infrastructure problems. This situation is compounded by the lack of a secondary school nearby. Therefore, this inaccessibility to schools has limited the opportunity of secondary education for the local students.
However, to alleviate this predicament, the children of Philim now have a lower secondary school in their village. The school was constructed under the joint financial assistance from the Government of Japan and a Japanese NGO - Asia Architecture Friendship Japan (AAF). The Government of Japan has provided the fund through the Grant Assistance for the Grassroots Projects (GGP) scheme, amounting to seventy-two thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five US dollars (US$72,825), equivalent to approximately five million, five hundred forty-one thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two Nepalese rupees (NRs. 5,541,982). With this grant, the project was implemented by Himalaya Area Conservation and Development Committee, Gorkha.
The new school building of Shree Buddha Lower Secondary School, designed and constructed under the technical guidance of AAF, is equipped with eleven classrooms, a library, a science laboratory and toilets. The school is expected not only to create a conducive study environment, but also to contribute to the promotion of the education sector in upper Gorkha that has a population of about 20,000. A further benefit of this secondary school, the first of its kind in this region, will be the increased awareness about education, and will ultimately lead to an increasing number of educated people in this area.
On April 18, 2003, Mr. Saburo Sato, First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan, Mr. Chuman Basnet, Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Sports, Mr. Kenzo Akao, President of AAF, Mr. Dhan B. Gurung, President of Himalaya Area Conservation and Development Committee, and many others attended the inauguration ceremony of a new school building where they were warmly welcomed by teachers, students and villagers. More than 500 village people including students joined the celebration.
In the inauguration ceremony, Mr. Sato praised the enthusiasm and tireless efforts of all the concerned people in realizing the project. He also extended his best wishes to the school for its further success and development. Furthermore, he expressed his hope that the school as well as the community would make a concerted effort to ensure its proper management and maintenance with discipline of ownership and self-help.
Addressing the same function, the headmaster of the school, on behalf of the school and the people of Philim, thanked the Embassy of Japan, AAF and other parties who have been involved in the project, for extending support to construct the school building and other facilities for educating the children in this remote area. He assured Mr. Sato and other parties that they would utilize the facilities effectively and efficiently and would work to motivate people to acquire education locally.
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