Uttam Sanjel once wanted to be a Bollywood actor. Now, runs the largest network of private schools in Nepal, where over half of the population in Nepal is still unable to read and write.

Classes are taught in English and the classrooms are made out of the cheapest thing Sanjel could find: bamboo.

Each student pays 100 rupees, just over a dollar, to go to the bamboo school each month, about the same as a kilogram of vegetables here in Nepal.

Through his efforts, Sanjel has made private school accessible to many poor children.

Al Jazeera’s Aela Callan reports from Nepal.