Our story began in 1998, rooted in the vision of the local community. The people's representatives, intellectuals, and elders of the former Phoksundo Village Development Committee recognized a critical problem that was keeping their children from gaining an education. The terrain was too difficult and the settlements too scattered for children to reach the few schools that existed, which themselves operated irregularly at best. And the government teachers designated to teach the school were often drunk to teach the students due to the close proximity of school and village. This caused the irregularity of class and no good environment for the students to study. Many families simply kept their children home, seeing no viable path to schooling.
In response to an urgent request from the community to establish a residential school in a more accessible location, the Tapriza Association for Social Help in Dolpa, or TASHI-D, was born. We registered as a non-profit, non-governmental organization with the District Administration Office in Dunai on 27th Magh, 2054, corresponding to January 1998, and soon after affiliated with the Social Welfare Council in Kathmandu to ensure proper oversight and transparency. As there were many schools provided in the scattered villages, additional new school was not allowed by the education board. So, after discussing with the Punikha Village, Their Former Saraswati Primary School was relocated to a new site (Saijol) away from the villages and centrally connecting the neighboring villages with well provision of residential blocks for teachers and staff and studying environment. Our first major task was to relocate the former Saraswati Primary School from its inadequate location in Punikha to a new site in Saijal. With community members contributing what they could, we purchased land and began constructing the first proper school buildings. We renamed the school to Tapriza Secondary School, and over the years, thanks to unwavering community effort and growing donor support, it has grown into what is now Tapriza Secondary School, offering classes from Early Childhood Development through Grade 10.
