School Enrollment : Focus On Retention
Yuba Nath Lamsal
The government has once again announced a weeklong national school enrollment campaign to ensure that more children of school-going age attend school. This campaign, a part of the overall strategy of Nepal to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, aims at roping in more than 13 per cent of children still out of school. This year the government plans to increase the net enrollment of students at the primary level to 90 per cent form the current 87 per cent. The initiative is, indeed, praiseworthy.Millennium Development GoalsUniversal primary education for all children of school-going age is one of the eight goals set by the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, to which Nepal is a signatory. Nepal is making every effort despite several hindrances and obstacles encountered in meeting the goals in education. Given the number of students enrolled at the primary level, the progress is definitely encouraging as Nepal is close to achieving 90 per cent net enrollment of students at the primary level this year. If official statistics or claims are to be taken at face value, Nepal is moving comfortably ahead in achieving the No. 2 Millennium Goal within the stipulated time frame. If so, Nepal's progress in education and literacy level would be far ahead of other countries in South Asia, just second to Sri Lanka. However, the real progress seems to be far from satisfactory. The literacy rate is still low, and Nepal has a long way to go in attaining 100 per cent literacy. The basic concept of bringing all children of school-going age to school is to ensure education for all by 2015. But we should not be over complacent on the statistics regarding enrollment. The basic fact is that not even half the total number of those enrolled in Grade one reach Grade five. Moreover, all enrolled students do not attend classes regularly. If the objective of school enrollment is to ensure universal primary education and make them at least literate, it cannot be done without first ensuring their retention at least until they complete the primary level, or Grade five at the moment.Education is a right of the children and not a gift given by the state. The state must ensure that every child goes to school and attains basic education. For this, the enrollment campaign is important, but what is even more important is the campaign to retain the students once they are enrolled. That alone would make the enrollment campaign more meaningful. The government has declared school-level education free. But not all children are attending school despite the government's free education and campaign. Even the government's statistics show that over 13 per cent of the children are out of school. But experts and non-governmental organisations working for the rights of children and education claim that more than 40 per cent of children of school-going age remain out of school. There is a greater degree of truth in this. The government launches the school enrollment campaign once a year. Once the campaign is over, there is no monitoring and follow-up work. Similarly, concrete efforts have not been made to improve the physical infrastructure and facilities in the schools to cope with the increased number of students. In the absence of adequate infrastructure and physical facilities, schools have become overcrowded. Similarly, the number of teachers has not increased in accordance with the increased number of students. As a result, the performance and quality of the public schools are poor, and, therefore, the environment does not help retain the students.Poverty, poor economic background, unemployment and ignorance are other vital factors behind the illiteracy in Nepal and low level of education. Most parents, who are poor and ignorant, often prefer to send their children to work rather than send them to school as they are not aware of the importance of education. For the poverty-stricken parents, sending children to school is a luxury. In order to retain more students in schools, these factors should also be addressed. Firstly, a campaign should be launched to educate the parents about the need of education and be encouraged to send their children to school.According to ILO estimates, 2.6 million children aged 6-16 years shed their blood and sweat in different sectors for their survival. Most of these child workers have either never stepped into a school or dropped out due to financial and other problems. Child labour is a violation of the child's right. These working children should also be brought to school.The government has announced various schemes and programmes to lure more students to school. But these plans have had little effect. As food is the main concern for the poverty-stricken family, mid-day meal programmes in all public schools can be an effective tool to bringing more children to school and retaining them in the higher grades. This would serve the twin purposes of bringing more students to schools and retaining them, and also providing a nutritious diet for their healthy growth. At the same time, it would do well for the government to make primary education compulsory so that all children could go to school and ultimately help eliminate illiteracy in Nepal.In a bid to meet the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education, the government has announced the 'Education for All" scheme. The Education for All programme not only aims at increasing access to learning but also improving the quality of education. So far, the government and other concerned agencies have focused on the quantity and not on quality. Although enrollment is the first step towards increasing access to learning, it, however, is not sufficient. Their retention until a higher level is more important. For this, better physical facilities and more qualified and trained teachers are needed. Children's interest in learning can be sustained only when a child-friendly atmosphere is maintained in the school.Poor qualityQuality is another aspect, which needs to be given serious attention. It is widely perceived that the quality of education in the public schools is poor. The high rate of failure in the SLC exams is a testimony of the poor quality. The poor quality is attributed, among others, to the lack of sufficient trained and qualified teachers. Firstly, the recruitment process in the past was faulty as the cronies of politicians in power were recruited as teachers through the backdoor without assessing and evaluating their ability. All of them are not necessarily qualified. The teachers who entered the service through this process often identify themselves as followers of a certain political group rather than behaving like genuine teachers. This tendency has hampered the teaching and learning process in the public schools and helped politics creep into the education sector. Political interference is, thus, the main disease in education at present and needs to be ended.
The government has once again announced a weeklong national school enrollment campaign to ensure that more children of school-going age attend school. This campaign, a part of the overall strategy of Nepal to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, aims at roping in more than 13 per cent of children still out of school. This year the government plans to increase the net enrollment of students at the primary level to 90 per cent form the current 87 per cent. The initiative is, indeed, praiseworthy.Millennium Development GoalsUniversal primary education for all children of school-going age is one of the eight goals set by the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, to which Nepal is a signatory. Nepal is making every effort despite several hindrances and obstacles encountered in meeting the goals in education. Given the number of students enrolled at the primary level, the progress is definitely encouraging as Nepal is close to achieving 90 per cent net enrollment of students at the primary level this year. If official statistics or claims are to be taken at face value, Nepal is moving comfortably ahead in achieving the No. 2 Millennium Goal within the stipulated time frame. If so, Nepal's progress in education and literacy level would be far ahead of other countries in South Asia, just second to Sri Lanka. However, the real progress seems to be far from satisfactory. The literacy rate is still low, and Nepal has a long way to go in attaining 100 per cent literacy. The basic concept of bringing all children of school-going age to school is to ensure education for all by 2015. But we should not be over complacent on the statistics regarding enrollment. The basic fact is that not even half the total number of those enrolled in Grade one reach Grade five. Moreover, all enrolled students do not attend classes regularly. If the objective of school enrollment is to ensure universal primary education and make them at least literate, it cannot be done without first ensuring their retention at least until they complete the primary level, or Grade five at the moment.Education is a right of the children and not a gift given by the state. The state must ensure that every child goes to school and attains basic education. For this, the enrollment campaign is important, but what is even more important is the campaign to retain the students once they are enrolled. That alone would make the enrollment campaign more meaningful. The government has declared school-level education free. But not all children are attending school despite the government's free education and campaign. Even the government's statistics show that over 13 per cent of the children are out of school. But experts and non-governmental organisations working for the rights of children and education claim that more than 40 per cent of children of school-going age remain out of school. There is a greater degree of truth in this. The government launches the school enrollment campaign once a year. Once the campaign is over, there is no monitoring and follow-up work. Similarly, concrete efforts have not been made to improve the physical infrastructure and facilities in the schools to cope with the increased number of students. In the absence of adequate infrastructure and physical facilities, schools have become overcrowded. Similarly, the number of teachers has not increased in accordance with the increased number of students. As a result, the performance and quality of the public schools are poor, and, therefore, the environment does not help retain the students.Poverty, poor economic background, unemployment and ignorance are other vital factors behind the illiteracy in Nepal and low level of education. Most parents, who are poor and ignorant, often prefer to send their children to work rather than send them to school as they are not aware of the importance of education. For the poverty-stricken parents, sending children to school is a luxury. In order to retain more students in schools, these factors should also be addressed. Firstly, a campaign should be launched to educate the parents about the need of education and be encouraged to send their children to school.According to ILO estimates, 2.6 million children aged 6-16 years shed their blood and sweat in different sectors for their survival. Most of these child workers have either never stepped into a school or dropped out due to financial and other problems. Child labour is a violation of the child's right. These working children should also be brought to school.The government has announced various schemes and programmes to lure more students to school. But these plans have had little effect. As food is the main concern for the poverty-stricken family, mid-day meal programmes in all public schools can be an effective tool to bringing more children to school and retaining them in the higher grades. This would serve the twin purposes of bringing more students to schools and retaining them, and also providing a nutritious diet for their healthy growth. At the same time, it would do well for the government to make primary education compulsory so that all children could go to school and ultimately help eliminate illiteracy in Nepal.In a bid to meet the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education, the government has announced the 'Education for All" scheme. The Education for All programme not only aims at increasing access to learning but also improving the quality of education. So far, the government and other concerned agencies have focused on the quantity and not on quality. Although enrollment is the first step towards increasing access to learning, it, however, is not sufficient. Their retention until a higher level is more important. For this, better physical facilities and more qualified and trained teachers are needed. Children's interest in learning can be sustained only when a child-friendly atmosphere is maintained in the school.Poor qualityQuality is another aspect, which needs to be given serious attention. It is widely perceived that the quality of education in the public schools is poor. The high rate of failure in the SLC exams is a testimony of the poor quality. The poor quality is attributed, among others, to the lack of sufficient trained and qualified teachers. Firstly, the recruitment process in the past was faulty as the cronies of politicians in power were recruited as teachers through the backdoor without assessing and evaluating their ability. All of them are not necessarily qualified. The teachers who entered the service through this process often identify themselves as followers of a certain political group rather than behaving like genuine teachers. This tendency has hampered the teaching and learning process in the public schools and helped politics creep into the education sector. Political interference is, thus, the main disease in education at present and needs to be ended.
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