Bikram Parajuli is an 18 year old tech educator from Pokhara who is impassioned about teaching young minds about technology. Right after the completion of his plus two education, the 18 year old pledged himself to actively engage as a tech educator and help the tech scenario of Nepal grow.
His Journey
As a tech enthusiast, recent high school graduate Bikram had a deep interest in technology from a very young age but he couldn’t cater to his interests because of the difficulties he faced as a student himself. After facing such difficulties, he became determined to help young tech enthusiasts hoping they wouldn’t have to face the similar problems he faced. “It is because of lack of resources and credible educators; I had difficulty in exploring the tech world. So, I want to help interested students flourish in a competitive tech world by teaching them.” said Bikram earnestly. As Nepal’s STEAM sector is just taking baby steps, he believes it is upon educators like him who can accelerate the growth of STEAM in Nepal.
He started his journey as an educator by teaching in Bal Mandir Secondary School of Pokhara where he taught Arduino, Robotics and IOT as part of a project- Robocamp 2018. This project was initiated by ‘The Nepalions’, a community group he co-founded in 2017. He and his team conduct many programs on STEAM education and digital literacy.
Bikram has also been actively working with American corner from where he teaches young teenagers Robotics. Likewise, he works as a Maker mentor in Karkhana, an educational company which teaches young students STEAM with hands-on learning approach. Through Karkhana, Bikram has been able to reach community and private schools around Kathmandu where he teaches enthusiastic students about Robotics, 3D animation, game design and paper engineering.
Even though he is optimistic about Nepal’s Tech scenario, he feels like the current education system of Nepal lags behind in STEAM education. “Our education curriculum isn’t updated with the ever-evolving tech world. We need to have more interactive and learner-centered classrooms in the schools.” said Bikram. He and other educators specifically have difficulty in gathering the appropriate hardware for his classes due to unavailability of resources. He also thinks many parents are reluctant about sending their children to hands-on learning classes as they assume it might hamper their studies but he believes such classes can help students improve their knowledge on STEAM which will eventually help them excel in studies.
Glocal Teen Hero and his future plans
He knew about the platform of Glocal teen hero through American corner and many of his colleagues there encouraged him to apply. “It felt like platform like GTH could provide us recognition and credibility that we need to help us gain necessary resources.” said Bikram.
Academically, he wants to pursue engineering. He is also planning to work as a tech educator for few more years and then aspires to open a startup company himself.
Bikram Parajuli was selected among the 20 brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers below the age of 20 in Nepal, for the year 2019. This annual list is the ultimate honor roll of young game changers reshaping Nepal for the better. The platform seeks to encourage the youths to share their initiation, creativity, and enthusiasm which will then motivate them and more of the other youths in the nation to develop an entrepreneurial thinking.
