Shikshya Foundation Nepal, Gyan Mandala (2026)

Shikshya means Education– and we strongly believe that while the emphasis on formal education is important, it is equally important that education can take place beyond classrooms, especially through arts and culture. The Foundation was aptly named Shikshya Foundation Nepal: ‘Shikshya’ meaning education -the imparting of knowledge, not necessarily through books or in a classroom scenario, but it c

ould be the transfer of wisdom gained through your life’s experiences. Prabal Gurung was honoured by Character Approved, USA Network with a citation and a cash prize. We were grateful that we could immediately start our work. For our first initiative, we decided to concentrate on the educational needs of girl children. For this purpose, the board members visited several organizations to find future partners to aid this endeavour. We decided on a center, Early Childhood Development Center, run by Pushpa Basnet, that supports children of prison inmates, mostly children of women prisoners who otherwise would have no option but to continue living in the prison with their mothers. After assessing the organization’s credibility through their financial records, spending enough time with the children at the center as well as visiting the school that the children attend, we made the payment for their educational needs. Apart from occasional visits to the center, which we feel is important especially to ensure their overall well-being, the center provides us with monthly, quarterly and yearly progress reports. The distribution of funds will entail first the evaluation of the recipient of the fund, monitoring of their work, reporting back to the donors and at the same time, treat our grantees as valued partners, and treat the ultimate beneficiaries of our work with respect. So, initially it is through the donated seed money and the amount that we have generated among the board members that we have been able to really put our initiatives into action. For the foundation, this is a long-term commitment as it intends to continue its support to these children right through their higher education. Meanwhile, Mr. Hemant Golchha, Director of Hulas Remittance, spouse of our board member Rupali Golchha contributed the amount covering for the education sponsorship of these 23 girl children for one year. We are really appreciative of his generous contribution, which means the amount donated by Prabal Gurung can be kept as seed money for the foundation. We understand what a huge honour it was for Prabal to be recognized as a Character Approved Honoree, and it was an amazing gesture on his part to donate this back to Shikshya Foundation. The rest of the board members then decided to retain this amount as seed money so that we can apply for matching grants in future. Our aim is to eventually create an Endowment Fund initiated with this seed money. Last month, TiinaLaakkonen, a high profile stylist based in New York, decided to contribute certain percentage from her yard sale to Shikshya Foundation Nepal. Tiina is a dear friend of Prabal’s.

10/11/2025

TEN YEARS OF PHOTO KATHMANDU!!!!!

Photo Kathmandu , organized by photo.circle is an international photo festival that takes place more in the narrow gallis (alleyways) than the galleries of Kathmandu. Shikshya Foundation Nepal has been a proud associate of this unique open-air photo festival that features seminal lens-based works by national and international artists, addressing pressing contemporary issues ranging from time, resilience, gender, sexuality, patriarchy, power, climate change, justice, care.

Photo Kathmandu does the essential work of bringing together artists and audiences to create conversations and open new, possible pathways to learning, imagining, problem-solving and being. The exhibitions, workshops, symposia, residencies, incubators, arts education program, collateral events during the photo festival creates space for a coming together at a “periphery of mainstream arts, education, journalism and academic pursuits,” as NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, the festival director puts it.

SFN recognises the plural possibilities of questioning, innovation, collaborations, interventions, resistance and vital community-building that are made possible in these preferred, fringe areas of artistic, political and intellectual explorations and expressions, and has thus, since its inception in 2015, been a steady supporter of PhotoKTM for its 5 editions so far.

SFN is proud to be back as its Associate Partner for its 6th edition (Nov 14 - Dec 14, 2025).

29/03/2025

28/03/2025

“You are not your story. You are simply a medium for it.” - Bhavani Iyer

A one-of-a-kind intensive scriptwriting workshop by renowned writer, Bhavani Iyer, has left us deeply inspired and has renewed our belief in the power and magic of writing for South Asian cinema. The primary objective of the workshop was to lend an incisive insight into the scripts of the participants, guide them towards the best representation of their respective scripts using modern storytelling, new cinematic narrative and screen craft. We had an incredible cohort of 16 diverse writers who brought stories from all over Nepali across all genres. We cannot wait to see the shape their scripts will take in the near future.

During the four days, Bhavani touched upon many aspects of scriptwriting for the South Asian film such as identifying the story and voice of the writer, world building, character graphs, writing for biopics and true stories, and navigating dialogues, interval, song and dance. At the end of the fourth day, participants got a chance to pitch to Nepali film industry’s producers.

Go Tell It On The Mountain was organized in collaboration with Shikshya Foundation Nepal. We would like to thank Pravesh Gurung for sharing this dream with us; Bhavani Iyer for her unmatched generosity when it comes to writing guidance and mentorship; all the esteemed producers from the Nepali film industry who carved out time to listen with such integrity and interest to all the participants’ stories; Ubahang Nembang for the beautiful workshop poster; and lastly but most importantly, Shilpakar & Co. for the seamless and smooth implementation of the program.

Thank you to those who applied; we invite you to follow us and stay tuned for more of these kinds of workshops.

Photographer: Srijal Marhajan

22/03/2025

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN, a four-day intensive scriptwriting workshop with Bhavani Iyer has come to the end.

It’s been an incredible ride of learning and unlearning for all our participants. The days were long but the conversations never dried up.

We would like to thank all the applicants who applied for the workshop. We are reminded, once again, of the richness of Nepali stories.

Today, we would like to congratulate and introduce all 16 of our writers who completed the workshop. Our writers come from diverse backgrounds and experiences carrying stories from all over Nepal. We are excited to see how their stories will continue to grow, and one day meet us on the silverscreen.

Photos by Srijal Maharjan

Address

Gyan Mandala

Website

http://shikshyafoundationnepal.org/

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