Rights-based education for children and community: a case study for orphan and conflict-affected children in Nepal

The research question addressed: What criteria do leaders in education, child rights, government and advocacy in Nepal and in the United States consider the most essential attributes of an educational curriculum for orphaned and conflict-affected children? Education should help all children develop to their full human personality as outlined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). These children have social, cultural and political stigmas attached to their life situations, hindering their ability to receive an education an (re) integrate into society. Using Piaget\u27s (1951/1973) work on child-rights as a lens, I examined if a rights-based curriculum would help shift the cultural and educational paradigm, thus providing a grounded environment in which to cultivate their intellectual curiosity and raise their self-esteem. Education is an integrative pathway into community and can change society\u27s perception of these children