Overview
Teachers and children alike at Bupsa Primary School have benefitted hugely from Moving Mountains involvement in the area. The whole school was built by us after the Maoist conflict in the late 1990s and then expanded by 40% to enable 170 children to be educated there. We have been paying for teachers salaries for nearly two decades now. Over the years we have seen significant increases in educational standards at the school. We have also provided an office, teachers hostel and a water supply.
In 2023 we were able to rebuild the school with a donation from SEO Travel and in April 2024 the new wing of the school was officially opened.
The school teaches up to Class 5 (end of primary school education) with three teachers provided by the Nepalese government, and five teachers whose salaries are funded by Moving Mountains. We provide books and teaching equipment twice yearly to cover all the needs.
Bupsa is a small village south of Lukla, on the original Everest trail that still leads from Jiri all the way to base camp. It has Sherpa and Rai residents. Moving Mountains also built a monastery in the village and over the years has installed water pipelines to some of the houses and buildings.
Opening the new school building in April 2024, from left Amelia Selby (SEO Travel), Tom McLoughlin (SEO Travel), Geljun Sherpa (MM Nepal), Ang Chhongba Sherpa (MM Nepal), Gavin Bate ( MM UK)
The new school building in Bupsa in bright yellow certainly stands out now, and provides six new classrooms for the pupils and teachers.
The old buildings at Bupsa had been built by Moving Mountains 15 years ago but were damaged by the earthquake in 2015.
Children performing traditional dances to welcome the visitors who come to see the work of Moving Mountains in their village.
The expansion of the school has enabled many students to avoid what were often prohibitively long journeys to schools elsewhere and has guaranteed an accessible, good quality education. We also supply an annual grant to the school for books and stationery which enables them to charge less to families for the education of their children, indeed many families pay no fees and education is now accessible to all.
The original school buildings were made of stone and a local plaster made mostly from mud. Dry stone walling is still used today but many people are opting for insulated pre-made structures that are warmer and potentially more earthquake proof.
The school buildings have had several facelifts over the years, and the region (below) is now well serviced by a new road which means materials can be brought up by truck. This area of solu Khumbu is the Sherpa heartland where villagers spend their year farming and during the tourist season will go away for work. The terraced fields have not changed much in the last century but the introduction of a school meant that families opted to stay there, and also has enabled the first generation of children to go onto secondary and tertiary level education. This in turn has meant more income for the village as young adults have got better jobs and even gone abroad, yet still send money home. All this has only become evident after such a long time doing our work in the area and having such a long relationship with the community.
Bupsa pupils give a warm welcome to visitors.
The old Bupsa School was built by Moving Mountains during the 2000s but then in 2015 it was damaged by the earthquake. Children eventually could not study indoors, and we were very fortunate to find a donor in SEO Travel to pay for the new building in 2023.
Would you like to get involved? Would you like to help? Would your school, university, family group, or a group of friends like to visit these places? Why not fundraise for a project and come out and get involved? Contact us on info@movingmountainstrust.org for more details, or have a look at some of the Moving Mountains trips that we run through Adventure Alternative (who manage our international trips) here: Volunteering Trips. Schools Trips. Medical Trips.