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| A child participates in the Physical Training drill from outside the walls of a Private School in Kathmandu imitating the students of the school. This iconic image was by Photographer Shaligram Tiwari for Kantipur Publications. |
Quality Education in Nepal is still a privilege for many despite Government and Non-governmental Sector tunneling enormous economic and bureaucratic resources into Education.
A Historical Perspective
A
century long Rana Regime which feared an educated populace would
threaten their autocratic rule suppressed Education in Nepal. During
that time the few who could go to Indian cities or those who were
related to the Royal Family or the Army were fortunate enough to pursue
education. Nepal’s literacy was a meager 5% by the time the Ranas were
overthrown form power. In the following years, educational institutions
have been set up all across the country by the governmental,
non-governmental and private initiatives which have led to rapid
progresses in the various indicators of education, the literacy rate at
present is about 60%.
Present Scenario
Education
is a national priority sector in Nepal in terms of governmental
budgetary allocation, and involvement of national and international
non-governmental organizations. In a matter of a few decades, this has
led to an overall quantitative improvement that has won accolades from
observers.
But
a keen look into the current scenario reveals that there still are a
number of hurdles that are likely to limit any further progress in the
education sector. Socioeconomic and Cultural factors like poverty,
gender-based and caste-based discrimination, poor state of
infrastructure and logistics continue to prevent a large number of
students from obtaining a formal education. On top of that the much
hyped quantitative leap has not been adequately linked to the improving
the psychological, mental, physical and professional development of a
student and thus the society has not benefitted much.
On analysis of the present educational status of the country we see the following major trends:
1. The Divide
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Children
comfort each other at a dumping site in Kathmandu. Almost a third of
the children in Nepal live below poverty line with scarce food, clothes
and shelter. Education is too distant a worry for their parents. An
award winning image taken by Chan Kwok Hung.
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Education in our country has, in simple words, been vastly different for the well off and the not so privileged.
The public institutions are less costly and therefore the only option to the poor parents. The vast majority of the parents from middle class families often has to sacrifice other areas of family expenditure to enroll their children into costlier but more effective private schools and is often forced to juggle thoughts between public and private institutions depending upon short-term earnings. It is a general trend amongst many such families to admit their sons into private schools and daughters into public schools.
2. Lack of Creativity and Research
The curricula which have been developed do not comply with the local contexts and therefore the books which are designed have examples which the local student does not understand. Although imparting international knowledge might look good on paper, it is counterproductive if the educational subject matter and tools that are suggested for use are not available locally and thus a whole section of the subject matter does not enter the young brains.
For example, the experiments suggested in the science books of the schools often need sophisticated materials for conducting them and in the end the teachers and the students end up not at all going through them. Contrary to general belief, this problem is equally significant in the private schools as in the public schools.
Even in higher education and even in technical courses there is an astounding lack of research by standard norms.
3. Lack of Direction and Purpose
The education systems and policies lack the basic planning about what kinds of products, that is to say what kind of manpower; the education system is intended to produce.
It is almost non-debatable that the education system should be based on the socio-economic standards of the society at present and directed on short term and long term basis to the kind of society we aspire to see. However we see that the education that our students receive has little effect with regards to this matter, here education is simply about reaching even higher classes.
With so much concentration on the process and no focus on outcome the education system is plagued with the disease which produces more unemployed youths who have wasted their family’s property in futile education.
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The relatives of a migrant worker to a Gulf nation prepare for his funeral rites. His story gripped the world as an investigation by a British newspaper found Nepali migrant workers working in appalling conditions facing exploitation and abuse amounting to modern day slavery. As education is not linked to profession every day youths numbering thousands leave the country for riskier manual non-skilled jobs for skimpy salaries. Image by Pete Patisson.
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Our education system neither teaches professionalism for individual or social prosperity, nor does it teach skills required to maintain the healthy functioning of the society. There is virtually non-existent schools-industry linkage.
4. Lack of Inclusion
In a diverse country like ours, multicultural approach to education is a must. Whereas we find a single class consisting of students from all geographical regions and ethnicities in urban schools, many of our class rooms at rural areas consist of majority of students who understand a single language which may not be the language of the textbooks. Thus on one hand our teachers and syllabus should be culturally aware and sensitive on the other hand teaching-learning activities in the mother tongue should be promoted wherever it is effective.
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Girls sit on a wooden plank inside a classroom in a school in Dadeldhura. In our country, girls are less likely to go to schools than boys for a number of reasons. It is a trend in many families to enroll their sons to expensive Private Schools while the daughters are sent to inexpensive and mismanaged Public Schools. Image courtesy Hungry for Change
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On a different side is the issue of inclusion of female students. As already mentioned, many parents are reluctant to spend on a girl's education in general. While it is highly appreciable that the Ministry of Education has recently acted upon the dire need of separate Girl’s toilets in the schools, much has to be done to bring the girls to the school overcoming the familial and societal discrimination against them.
5. Lack of Regulations
While topics like regulations and policies cover nearly all aspects of any field, the role of the lack of regulations in the degradation education sector of our country is undeniable.
To add to a system already crippled by chronic shortages of infrastructure and personnel, lack of regulations has led to downfall of the entire education system.
The public education institutions are overwhelmed by the partisan political overindulgence of students, teachers and administrators. With political affiliations and politician’s servility rewarded over merit and hard work; the motivated, laborious and the creative are often sidelined and subject to mockery by other disillusioned colleagues and the society.
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Teachers affiliated to a major political party during a rally in Kathmandu as schools and colleges are shut due to the strike. Image curtsey of demotix.com
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The vast majority of private institutions have no established guidelines or rules for recruitment of teachers, their curriculum is non-uniform and subject to change every year according to a private publisher’s financial incentives, their fees structures are often expensive out of comfortable reach of a common family.
6. Lack of Local Participation
Although the government has initiated and intensified the concept of Community Schools, it is unfortunate that the system has been misused by local political elites for their own personal or partisan gains. Related guardians and local population are still not directly involved in the development of the educational institutions and very few can pursue their roles as stakeholders in the development of the institute.
7. Unsupportive Environment
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A schoolgirl struggles to escape bricks being hurled at security force as Campus Students and Police clash in front of a Public Campus in Kathmandu. Photograph by A. Joshi.
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Frequent political upheavals have taken a toll on education: whether it is the direct/indirect effect of the armed struggle in the country, or the frequent closures of the educational institutions by political parties.
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| Students cross the river below via a tuin (local rope way) literally risking their lives every day to reach their school. Image courtesy of visualnews.com |
The children often have to walk uphill and downhill for hours to reach a school everyday. Those journeys often include walks through risky ropeways or one-log bridges.
Conclusion
On keen observation, it is obvious that although an increasing number have seen the light of education due to a quantitative expansion of the education system, the growth has stagnated due to certain barriers inherent in the socioeconomic and cultural character of our society. The education in the Public System is vastly inefficient despite the huge administrative budgeting and a paradoxical lack of adequate funding on infrastructure and tools, while the Private System fails to cater to the large economically vulnerable and underprivileged population. A general lack of creativity, under-regulation and the never ending political turmoil hurts all forms of education systems.
