Back to school - the Nepal way

Improved tuins make the journey safer

This short clip (1 minute) shows how dangerous the journey to school can be for children living in remote villages in Nepal.

Due to the rugged terrain villages are often some distance from local amenities such as schools and hospitals – and the journey involves a long and potentially dangerous trip using traditional tuins.

A tuin usually has a single wire rope, pulley and a simple wooden trolley. To cross rivers this way is hard work, and sometimes life threatening.

Improved tuins

Practical Action has been working to introduce sustainable solutions to overcome this challenge through its international "Access to services" programme.

So we carried out an initial study to look at how the existing tuin technology could be improved. Members of the local community suggested ideas to make them safer - several people had lost their fingers while operating them and there was always the danger of falling off the trolley while crossing.

Several low cost changes were made to make the tuins safer such as adding seats and installing sidebars. Also a new pulley system was designed to make the pulling of the trolley easier and eliminate the risk of trapping fingers in the mechanism.

The improved tuin was developed and tested in Mahestar village about 60 km west of Kathmandu. Based on the experiences at Mahestar, the design was further developed into a double-cable design. Although it costs more, it provides improved balance and can carry heavy loads at the same time.

Now children no longer have to face their perilous journey to school.