Because education opens doors to dreams, by Jackie Morris

Heena*, 10, lives with her sister Soneeya, 11, and her aunt, uncle and grandmother in the Nepali mountain village of Sedangfung

The girls’ mother walked out on the family, and their father is working in Malaysia. They help with the household chores, sweeping the house, fetching water and cooking, as well as feeding the cattle

Neither goes to school, but both long to. Heena says: ‘It’s not a big deal for me to do the household chores, I don’t find it difficult. But when I see other children of the village going to school, I wish my sister and I could go too. ‘I wonder what it feels like to be in a classroom wearing a school uniform. I’ve heard that teachers give special care to their students. I wish to see and experience all that’

The girls may soon get their wish as a new school is being built by United World Schools in the neighbouring village of Mabir. The school will be a 15-minute hilly walk for the girls. ‘I am very happy to see a school being built,’ says Heena. ‘It will be so much easier for me and my sister to go to study in the school here. I will study really hard so I can be one of the best students in the school and all the teachers will like me the most’

The village of Mabir. While Nepal has high primary school enrolment rates, there are huge gaps in achievement. According to Unicef, only 12% of children from the poorest families are on track with literacy and numeracy attainment goals, compared with 65% of children from the wealthiest families. Soneeya says: ‘My dream for the future is to become a teacher so I can develop this village and teach small children and students’

Preeti learns maths with a cockerel, by Emily Gravett

Preeti, 10, studies with her younger sister, Muna. When she was six, Preeti’s mother left the family. Her father was unable to look after her and her sister, so the girls were first given to another family in the village to be cared for.

Their aunt and uncle, however, wanted the girls to be looked after by their own family, and took them in. They now lives high in the hills of Nepal in the village of Helabuwesi, also in Sankhuwasabha

Preeti’s determination to learn, by Axel Scheffler

Preeti carries a four-litre container in a bamboo basket as she walks back home after collecting water. Although Preeti has to help around the house, her aunt insists she goes to school. She is the first girl in her family to do so

‘To me, my aunt is everything. She treats me like her own daughter, she loves me and I feel like she is my own birth mother,’ says Preeti

Preeti’s story, by Guy Parker-Rees

‘Auntie Bhim insists that I go to school every day – and it makes her happy to see me go. And I enjoy going to school. On my way I see lots of beautiful fields, but it takes a long time to get there as it’s a bit far away from our home,’ says Preeti. ‘I like the school environment and enjoy studying. I feel glad when our teachers let us play – I love to skip. My favourite subject is Nepali. When I grow up, I want to become a doctor’

Illustration, by Debi Gliori

Chimini, 11, lives with her grandparents in Mabir village. Her mother left the family, and her father works in Qatar. She helps her grandmother to cook and serve noodles to the villagers in their kitchen shop

Chimini has never gone to school, but her grandparents have promised that she can start this year, when the new school is built

‘I have to look after the cattle, so they don’t go to our neighbours’ field and destroy their crops. We have a small shop in the village and many people come to buy things from our shop. My grandmother teaches me to calculate the change and I’ve learned how to cook noodles and serve the customers,’ says Chimini. ‘My grandmother even helps me to learn how to read and write. But I wish to go to school so I can be better at reading, writing and understanding everything – and I want to learn to write my name’

‘When I see other children going to school, I feel sad that I cannot go too, but I have to stay home and help my grandparents as much as I can because they are old, and they go through a lot of troubles to keep everything going,’ she says. ‘My grandparents say I shall join school when there is a school built in Mabir village. They hope that I become well-educated so I can get a high-level job with a good salary and facilities and I can improve all of our lives. When I grow up, I want to be a nurse so I can treat people and provide medicines to people in need’