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ICS has a partner school - Shree Mangal Dvip School (SMD) - in Kathmandu, Nepal. SMD is a boarding school for children from remote Himalayan villages.
I am forever grateful to ICS and my host families for their guidance, support and help. Lhakpa Sherpa
Schooling is not compulsory in Nepal and schools in the Himalayas are very few and far between. SMD gives children an education they would not otherwise receive. Our Mission Statement commits us to "fulfil our responsibilities". Our relationship with SMD is one of the ways we do so.
We offer scholarships to SMD students, enabling them to enter ICS in Grade 11 to study for their IB Diploma.
Our students and teachers volunteer at SMD. ICS Teachers helped set up a literacy scheme at SMD and have taken student groups - including the Grade 10 Expedition and the Grade 9 Service Learning and Adventure trip - to volunteer at SMD.
ICS families offer Scholarship Students a home while they study here. This is often a life-changing experience for both the student and family.
Some ICS students spend part of their gap year or Personal Development Month volunteering at SMD.
The Nepal earthquakes in 2015 damaged SMD school buildings and made them unusable. Our ICS community contributed over CHF 80,000 to the school to help with repairs and rebuilding. We are also proud of former Scholarship Students now back in Nepal who helped deliver aid to those in need.
Our Scholarship scheme changes lives
A scholarship to ICS can change the life of a Nepalese student. SMD only goes up to Grade 10, so its students need to find another school if they want to continue their education. When they come to ICS, they study for the IB Diploma - and this opens the door for them to go on to university.
Dechen Dolma, who studied at ICS from 2011-2013, says this opportunity directly helped her get into the University of Victoria in Canada. "For me and my fellow students, coming to ICS really changed our lives. Getting into university from Nepal would have been really difficult. But having the IB Diploma really helped me as my university gave me credits for my IB studies."
What our former scholarship students are doing
Pasang (2010 ICS graduate) studied at Simon Fraser University Faculty of Engineering and graduated in 2017.
Phur (2010 graduate) studied at Simon Fraser University Faculty of Engineering graduated in 2017.
Karma (2011) studied International Development with a Minor in Business at St Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Sherab (2011) went to Canada to study at St Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and continues with a 2 years nursing course.
Lhakpa (2012) returned to Nepal for 2 years & then studied for a Bachelor of Engineering & Materials Processing Technology Programme at Arcada University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland.
Tsering (2012) returned to Nepal and graduated from the Social Work & Rural Development programme at the college in Kathmandu.
Lhachoe (2013) took a 1 year gap by returning to Nepal and then studied in Accounting/ Business Administration at NorQuest College in Edmonton. She graduated in 2017 and is now working in Canada.
Dechen (2013) went to Canada to study at the University of Victoria where she graduated with a Bachelor Degree in 2017 in Child & Youth Care. She is now working in Canada.
Kunchok (2014) returned to Nepal and joined the Monastery to become a Monk.
Tenzin (2014) returned to Nepal and worked as a teacher at SMD school and for the past two years has been studying Microbiology at Kathmandu University.
Chhimi (2015) is currently at Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland studying Business Management.
Damzik (2015) returned to Nepal to teach at SMD school. Since 2016 she has been studying Social Work & Rural Development at the college in Kathmandu
Tenzin (2016) currently studies at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland.
Pemba (2016) returned to Nepal is currently teaching at SMD school and is looking for options for further education.
Tsewang (2017) returned to Nepal and is a student in Fine Arts at Kathmandu University.
Sadip (2018) currently studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in China.
Sonam (2018) currently studies at the University of Oregon in the US.
Pemi (2019) currently studies Psychology at the Maastricht University in Holland.
Tsewang (2019) returned to Nepal taking a 1 year gap and will be reapplying to the University of Amsterdam to study Sports Management.
Pasang (2020) currently studies Bioeconomy Engineering at the University in Finland.
Tsering (2021) currently studies Psychology at the Maastricht University in Holland.
Nima (2021) is our current Grade 11 scholarship student.
ICS is proud to be the only Round Square school in Zurich
We can offer Scholarships thanks to the generosity of ICS Host Families. If you would like more information about hosting, please contact us.
It was an absolute pleasure and honour to host scholarship students as members of our family. They brought strong values of care and responsibility into our home. They taught our children how to appreciate what they have, the education they are being given and how to have simple fun together.
Rachel G, ICS Host Parent