Munsel School

Munsel Foundation has been a participant in the development of the Munsel School Project since January 2006. Beginning in 2011 the role of sponsorship has been gradually taken over by Dragon Seat Meditation Center but our foundation continues to keep an active connection with this worthwhile project.

The 2007-08 school year saw 15 children moved to Yushu (Jyekundo) town and begin living in a rented house near a public school. 2008-09 an additional 20 children came to live in a purchased home 5 minutes from the public school.

April 14, 2010 at 7:49AM a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the town. Yushu is on the Tibetan Plateau at about 12,000 feet in altitude. In less than a minute most buildings had collapsed. Five Munsel School children died that day. Due to the heroic efforts of the adult staff 25 children survived.

Most children returned to the villages for two months after the earthquake. All 25 children returned to Yushu and continue to attend school. They lived for over 2 years in refugee tents while the city was rebuilt.

Due to changes in governmental city planning our school home site was lost to a new city park. This required a big change in homing our children. At the start of the 2013 school year, the older children were spread throughout the city living with extended family members. The five children without a place were moved into a much small house with the house parents. Our kind and hard working house parents continued to oversee the other children being sure they were attending school and had necessary supplies.

At the 2013-2014 winter school break all the children gathered together, along with other kids, to have an intensive study period of studying the Tibetan and Chinese languages. Emphasis was placed on Tibetan writing skills.

Adult School: Feb. 2008 Munsel Foundation began adult education with 70 women and men of all ages. For 3 months they studied intensively Chinese and math.

Since then we have offered classes in Tibetan, Chinese and math at the villages, in Yushu, to students in a classroom setting, and to an extended family in their home compound.

Due to the earthquake all classes stopped for over 2 years. There is interest and plans are being made to begin again during the winter months. The 2013-2014 Munsel school intensive was a successful beginning of extra classes.

In 2016 the first group of school children graduated from the 8th grade. They were required to take regional standardized tests to be able to attend high school. All the kids passed above the mark needed and were placed in high schools locally and in China. At the end of 2017 everyone is still in school.

In 2017 the second group took their tests and all but one passed to attend high schools. They are presently finishing up their first semester of school.

New Project:: To help prepare younger children we are now assisting them by offering online English classes using web based Rosetta Stone. While it took several months working together using skype and sharing screens to figure out how to do it, presently the students are using Rosetta Stone on their own and progressing smoothily in learning English.

 
Adult School
 
 
Vietnam
 

 

 

 
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