Executive team
Pramod Khakurel
Head and founder of the school
Pramod Khakurel
Originating from the Nuwakot district, approximately 40km North-West of the valley of Kathmandu, Pramod lived 15 years in France where he obtained an MAS in Sociology and compared Anthropology. He then obtained a diploma in tourism, which enabled him to open his own sustainable travel agency, Mandap Travels, which is currently the main funder for the school.
In 2010, he founded VHMaVi with the help of Tristan Lecomte.
"The generations to come are the vectors of change of a society and of the development of a nation. A quality education, that is free and without discrimination, to educate youths and children and to offer them a better future is the responsibility of every country. I have chosen the path of action, commitment and responsibility in this country in which I was born and in which I live today. The primary objective of this school is to offer a quality education to children that are eager to learn, without discrimination regarding their socio-economic background."
Saru Khakurel
School principal
Saru Khakurel
Originating from the Nuwakot district, Saru also lived in France for 7 years where she studied linguistics and obtained a diploma in FLE (French as a foreign language), before teaching Nepalese at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations in Paris. She then obtained a diploma in Economics (with a Finance option) at the Sorbonne Paris 1 university.
Back in Nepal, she integrated the Nepal Investment bank in service credit for 2 years before quickly realising that this environment was not for her.
Seduced by the high quality and free French education system, outraged by the low level of the Nepalese education system and by fee-paying Nepalese schools excluding disadvantaged children, Saru has the ambition to create a platform for the protection of children's rights; she naturally reorients herself towards education and obtains the position of school principal.
In 2012, she decides to join her husband Pramod at the travel agency Mandap Travels as a tourist guide before becoming principal of the VHMaVi school at the end of 2012, which she has continued until today.
"The VHMaVi school is the guardian of children's rights. It is not a child's fault to be born in an impoverished family. It is therefore the responsibility of adults to find necessary means to educate them as best as possible. The school is here to offer a fulfilling life to these children."
Tristan Lecomte
Co-founder of the school
Tristan Lecomte
Since 1998, soon after leaving HEC, Tristan is attracted by the simplicity and bravery of people in the South, invested in cooperation. His goal is to participate in a trade that is more human and sustainable.
After starting his career at L'Oréal, he founds Alter Eco, a company implicated in fair trade and which regroups, in order to commercialise their products, more than 40 cooperatives. An ambitious and integral project which promotes a more respectful image of producers.
In 2008, he becomes head of Pur Project, a social enterprise which acts to regenerate the planet's ecosystems, through projects of Insetting by agroforestry. The concept: to accompany enterprises in becoming engaged in actions that are climatically integrated and in socio-environmental programs that are more global. This benefits not only local partners and their ecosystems, but also the company itself, making their economic model more resilient, effective, legitimate and inspiring for other actors.
Pedagogical team
Constituted of people, the teaching team regroups the teachers, the boarding school staff and the administration and technical personnel.
