Reforms In Education Action Needed, Not Rhetoric
Yuba Nath Lamsal
Minister for Education and Sports Dr. Mangal Siddhi Manandhar at a public function held recently said that the government was introducing changes in the policy and structure in the education system. The words of the Minister are guided by good intention as he has promised to upgrade the quality of education while ensuring that it is affordable to all.New Education PlanOne often wonders why every new minister talks of introducing changes in the education system as soon as he assumes office. Despite the ministers? public commitment to improving the education sector, the end result has always been zero. All promises are mere rhetoric, and once the minister is out of office, all plans are binned. All agree that there is a flaw in our education system. But no one has so far come up with an appropriate education model for the country.There have been many changes in the education sector over the decades. Until the inception of the New Education Plan, the education sector was a private affair, barring a few isolated cases. The community ran the schools and monitored them. The community collected funds through different sources to pay the teachers? salaries, build schools and meet other expenses. The community had a sense of responsibility to the society. The New Education Plan was, of course, a giant leap forward in the education sector. It was introduced so that the poor and downtrodden could also go to school. It brought about a revolution in the education sector, with the government taking over the responsibility of running the schools. The community heaved a great sigh of relief. Teachers were paid better and higher than before. In the beginning, primary education was declared free. Secondary level education also became free later. This completely rid the community of the financial burden. However, some distortions also crept into the school education system. As the schools no longer had to bear the financial burden, the demand for schools grew geometrically in the rural areas. The number of schools increased fast and with it the number of teachers. The number of students also went up but not in proportion to the rise in the number of schools and teachers. Today there is a school in every nook and corner of the country, even in the remote areas. The salaries of the teachers and other expenses are sent from the District Education Offices. On paper, school enrolment is high, but less than a third of the registered students attend school in the outlying areas. In contrast, classrooms are heavily crowded in the schools in the urban and semi-urban centres, where more classrooms and teachers are needed to cope with the growing number of students. Hence, more resources must be channelled to the areas where concentration of students is high. This has not been the case in the absence of proper supervision and monitoring and also due to lack of coordination among the government authorities and the local community. The local community could do the monitoring and supervising work, but their involvement is nominal. It is beyond doubt that development projects and social activities cannot yield the desired results without the involvement of the local community. So far as the public schools are concerned, the local communities have been totally ignored in the management, monitoring and supervising tasks, which have resulted in the poor performance of the public schools. There has been a new realisation among the planners, policymakers and even donors about the critical role of the community. And the government has been handing over schools to the community to mobilise the local people in line with the concept of decentralisation. Decentralisation is necessary in all sectors, including education, if we are to consolidate democracy at the grassroots and empower the people. The decision to hand over the schools to the communities marks a major shift in government policy, which needs to be expedited. Although the scheme of handing over schools to the communities was introduced a few years back, the process has been slow. The communities have not been forthcoming to take over the management of the schools. Politicisation and political interference are other factors contributing to the delay in this process. Some political parties and their student wings are also creating hurdles.Every change so far has been on an experimental and ad hoc basis. This is one of the reasons why our education sector has suffered badly. Education is the foundation of development and modernisation. In the absence of good and meaningful education, sustainable development is not possible. That is why the government has been spending huge sums on the education sector. Similarly, donors have also poured a huge proportion of their assistance into the education sector. Compared to the investment, the progress, however, is far from satisfactory. Education for allThe government has shown its commitment to meet the millennium development goals of the United Nations, which include among others, universalisation of primary education. Under this programme, ?Education for All? has been announced so that all children of school-going age can have easy and affordable access to education. To accomplish this goal, a national enrolment campaign was launched to ensure that no child is left out of school. This campaign has definitely helped create awareness among otherwise ignorant parents. Although this drive has helped increase the number of students at the primary level, it has not achieved the desired goal. There are still many children - about 25 per cent of the total children of school-going age - especially in the rural and remote areas who do not go to school. The rise in enrolment is an important step towards universalisation of primary education, but is not a sufficient criterion. Almost half the students who enrol in grade One drop out before they complete grade Three. So sustaining students in the higher grades has proved to be more challenging job.Efforts must be made to ensure that those children who are enrolled in grade One complete at least the primary level, i.e., grade Five. Given the lacklustre performance, Nepal is unlikely to achieve the millennium development goal in education. What we need now is action rather than rhetoric if we are to accomplish the goal in the education sector.
Minister for Education and Sports Dr. Mangal Siddhi Manandhar at a public function held recently said that the government was introducing changes in the policy and structure in the education system. The words of the Minister are guided by good intention as he has promised to upgrade the quality of education while ensuring that it is affordable to all.New Education PlanOne often wonders why every new minister talks of introducing changes in the education system as soon as he assumes office. Despite the ministers? public commitment to improving the education sector, the end result has always been zero. All promises are mere rhetoric, and once the minister is out of office, all plans are binned. All agree that there is a flaw in our education system. But no one has so far come up with an appropriate education model for the country.There have been many changes in the education sector over the decades. Until the inception of the New Education Plan, the education sector was a private affair, barring a few isolated cases. The community ran the schools and monitored them. The community collected funds through different sources to pay the teachers? salaries, build schools and meet other expenses. The community had a sense of responsibility to the society. The New Education Plan was, of course, a giant leap forward in the education sector. It was introduced so that the poor and downtrodden could also go to school. It brought about a revolution in the education sector, with the government taking over the responsibility of running the schools. The community heaved a great sigh of relief. Teachers were paid better and higher than before. In the beginning, primary education was declared free. Secondary level education also became free later. This completely rid the community of the financial burden. However, some distortions also crept into the school education system. As the schools no longer had to bear the financial burden, the demand for schools grew geometrically in the rural areas. The number of schools increased fast and with it the number of teachers. The number of students also went up but not in proportion to the rise in the number of schools and teachers. Today there is a school in every nook and corner of the country, even in the remote areas. The salaries of the teachers and other expenses are sent from the District Education Offices. On paper, school enrolment is high, but less than a third of the registered students attend school in the outlying areas. In contrast, classrooms are heavily crowded in the schools in the urban and semi-urban centres, where more classrooms and teachers are needed to cope with the growing number of students. Hence, more resources must be channelled to the areas where concentration of students is high. This has not been the case in the absence of proper supervision and monitoring and also due to lack of coordination among the government authorities and the local community. The local community could do the monitoring and supervising work, but their involvement is nominal. It is beyond doubt that development projects and social activities cannot yield the desired results without the involvement of the local community. So far as the public schools are concerned, the local communities have been totally ignored in the management, monitoring and supervising tasks, which have resulted in the poor performance of the public schools. There has been a new realisation among the planners, policymakers and even donors about the critical role of the community. And the government has been handing over schools to the community to mobilise the local people in line with the concept of decentralisation. Decentralisation is necessary in all sectors, including education, if we are to consolidate democracy at the grassroots and empower the people. The decision to hand over the schools to the communities marks a major shift in government policy, which needs to be expedited. Although the scheme of handing over schools to the communities was introduced a few years back, the process has been slow. The communities have not been forthcoming to take over the management of the schools. Politicisation and political interference are other factors contributing to the delay in this process. Some political parties and their student wings are also creating hurdles.Every change so far has been on an experimental and ad hoc basis. This is one of the reasons why our education sector has suffered badly. Education is the foundation of development and modernisation. In the absence of good and meaningful education, sustainable development is not possible. That is why the government has been spending huge sums on the education sector. Similarly, donors have also poured a huge proportion of their assistance into the education sector. Compared to the investment, the progress, however, is far from satisfactory. Education for allThe government has shown its commitment to meet the millennium development goals of the United Nations, which include among others, universalisation of primary education. Under this programme, ?Education for All? has been announced so that all children of school-going age can have easy and affordable access to education. To accomplish this goal, a national enrolment campaign was launched to ensure that no child is left out of school. This campaign has definitely helped create awareness among otherwise ignorant parents. Although this drive has helped increase the number of students at the primary level, it has not achieved the desired goal. There are still many children - about 25 per cent of the total children of school-going age - especially in the rural and remote areas who do not go to school. The rise in enrolment is an important step towards universalisation of primary education, but is not a sufficient criterion. Almost half the students who enrol in grade One drop out before they complete grade Three. So sustaining students in the higher grades has proved to be more challenging job.Efforts must be made to ensure that those children who are enrolled in grade One complete at least the primary level, i.e., grade Five. Given the lacklustre performance, Nepal is unlikely to achieve the millennium development goal in education. What we need now is action rather than rhetoric if we are to accomplish the goal in the education sector.
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