Flipping through the pages of the government textbook for Grade 7 Nepali, one comes across this baffling paragraph which would be funny if it were not so serious:&nbsp; An elderly couple live in a village. They bear a son in their old age whom they name Balram. When Balram grows up to be a young man, the couple decide to get him married. The wedding is a grand affair. Balram’s wife is exceptionally beautiful and his parents are ecstatic about having found such a beautiful buhari. However, the sasura, curious about her intellect and disposition, decides to test her. So he calls her in and asks her, ‘Buhari, can you tell me how much you think we spent on your wedding?’ Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/learning-rubbish-memorising-gibberish">Learning rubbish, memoring gibberish</a>, Yugottam Koirala and Yugeshwor Koirala Red flags go up all over that paragraph that serves as the story's exposition. But wait, things get even more interesting:&nbsp; &nbsp;The buhari replies, ‘I think you must have spent only about 2-3 manas of rice grains’. Offended by these words, the sasura retorts as he fumes with anger, ‘Your wedding cost me a fortune, and you’re saying 2-3 manas of rice grains is all that was spent? You make it seem like I incurred no expenses’. In what sounds like a line lifted right off of a hammy Indian daily soap, the sasura then goes on to say, ‘I don’t even want to look at your face anymore. Go back to your parents’ house right away! There is no place in my home for a buhari like you’.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230925090916_76578a0ecf3c35d2bdeff79022ed048c5bcfeed57a9cfd4b618c5d33c62f2783.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230925090916_76578a0ecf3c35d2bdeff79022ed048c5bcfeed57a9cfd4b618c5d33c62f2783" data-rendition-name="original" width="1311" height="463" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali textbooks"> <figcaption>The story in the government textbook for Grade 7 Nepali.</figcaption> </figure>  Although aghast at her father-in-law’s response, the buhari does not utter a word. The dad-in-law, on the other hand, is determined to send her off to her parents’ house. The two then embark on a journey to the buhari’s parental home. As the plot thickens, it is revealed that the buhari has a special ability, thanks to which she can communicate with animals. Along the way, the sasura-buhari hear a wolf howling. The sasura does not think much of it, but the buhari knows exactly what the wolf is ‘saying’. The wolf's words translated are too bizarre to ideate. It says, ‘There is a corpse buried right here. If someone were to dig it up, I could feed on it. There’s a diamond ring on one of its fingers. I’d give the ring to whoever digs up the corpse for me’. Upon hearing this, the buhari thinks to herself, ‘If only I could lay my hands on that ring. My sasura will never believe me if I tell him about this. Oh, what a fix I am in!’ Soon, the sasura-buhari decide to make a pit stop under the shade of a banyan tree, and the sasura dozes off as he rests. The buhari then sneaks off to the spot where the wolf had been howling and starts to dig. Unsurprisingly, she unearths the corpse, presents it to the wolf, and takes the diamond ring on the body's finger. Not only are readers confounded by the sheer absurdity of the plot of this 'story', but it must be hard for young Grade 7 readers (or even their teachers) to shake off the macabre mental image it projects in the mind. Aside from a blatant disregard for the concept of dignified treatment of the dead, this story actually presents grave robbing as a perfectly acceptable thing to do.&nbsp; This is not all. The buhari then goes on to dig up some more valuables after a crow tips her off. The sasura is delighted to have come upon so much wealth because of the buhari. Subsequently, she also hands the diamond ring to the sasura and tells him all about how she found it. As you may have guessed, the sasura is now in awe of the buhari and regrets ever having doubted her. Having had a change of heart, he decides not to take the buhari back to her parental home. &nbsp; The story drags on as the sasura continues to ask the buhari random questions to test her wit till he is convinced of her ‘intelligence’ and ends with the sasura ‘entrusting’ the buhari with all his household responsibilities as he is finally impressed with her. What is a student to learn from the protagonist’s attitude towards his daughter-in-law? Will the story leave a child assuming it appropriate for a man to ask his daughter-in-law how much he must have spent on her wedding? Will a child be able to question why such an enquiry on the part of the father-in-law is even relevant? Will a seventh grader who reads the story consider it a man’s prerogative to ‘send his daughter-in-law off’ to her parents the minute he feels offended? What is a girl child to make of the portrayal of the buhari in the story? Are they to think that there is nothing wrong with assuming that a man is entitled to ‘test’ whether his daughter-in-law is good enough for the household?  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230925090920_7a8bef87e71b1ce652247b916eaa4d0e1addfb882b53dcbfad2bf39c5693805c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230925090920_7a8bef87e71b1ce652247b916eaa4d0e1addfb882b53dcbfad2bf39c5693805c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="500" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali textbooks"> <figcaption>Government textbook for Grade 7 Nepali.</figcaption> </figure>  Is it only after she proves her ‘worth’ that a woman is acceptable to her marital family, even if that means digging up graves to bring in wealth? Oh, by the way, where was the woman’s husband while all of this transpired? Even if the author who wrote this story thought it would be an appropriate example to teach children they should not be too quick to judge a person, didn’t a single person who reviewed this story to decide whether it should be part of the school curriculum find the details in the story in the slightest bit objectionable?&nbsp; It is worth noting here that the line-up of authors and reviewers featured in the preface of the textbook in question is predominantly male and all from the dominant ethnic group. Perhaps objections were raised to the content of the book, but they were overruled? Either way, this and many other examples warrant a closer assessment of the government’s school curriculum development system, particularly the process of reviewing and screening content to ensure it is conducive to children’s overall social and emotional development in addition to helping enhance creative and analytical skills. It is crucial for those who design Nepal's school curricula to be mindful that the content of textbooks can solidify gender and social stereotypes in young minds and shape how people perceive and interact in society. If we are to envisage a future free of gender bias and social inequality for Nepal, school textbooks may be a good place to start. &nbsp;&nbsp; Sudeshna Thapa is a human rights lawyer and researcher. thapa.sudeshna@gmail.com

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The Exceptional Buhari

Many students in Nepal do not even learn half the content of the school curriculum in various subjects because of teachers without adequate training and motivation. The 2020 report <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J1ZmZgigpoOPtrRW05wzp7N4kZYZUB3H/view">National Assessment of Student Achievement (NASA) in Mathematics, Science, Nepali and English for Grade 8</a>, published recently by the Education Review Office (ERO) showed that students are struggling to acquire even minimum learning. The report draws from its assessment of 43,886 students from 1,800 schools across the country, and concluded that the majority of students are not able to learn even half of the content of the subjects they are taught.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230329150352_4f54a4bd8b361f57e915abccca760ac5d8fefd6ed9bd8338a553a11f6145f776.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230329150352_4f54a4bd8b361f57e915abccca760ac5d8fefd6ed9bd8338a553a11f6145f776" data-rendition-name="original" width="796" height="1060" loading="lazy" alt="Student performance in Nepal"> </figure>  Three versions of standardised tests, together with the background information in the questionnaire to the sample students, the teacher questionnaire to subject teachers and the school survey questionnaire to the head teachers, were administered in each school.&nbsp; Only 32.1% of eighth graders in Nepal passed the basic proficiency level in mathematics. The numbers for science, Nepali and English stand at 37.7%, 58.8% and 51.1% respectively.&nbsp; In the case of mathematics, the national average of learning achievement in 2020 decreased by 17 scale scores from 500 in 2017. Similarly, the national mean of science was 470, which is 30 scale scores below the national mean from the NASA 2017 study.&nbsp; And while the students from Bagmati, Gandaki and Kosi scored above the national average, the report adds that the performance of Madhesh, Karnali and Sudur Paschim students was lower in all four subjects than the national average. “The increased number of students with minimum learning achievement shows problems in the teaching-learning strategies, remedial actions and the role of head teachers,” says Devi Ram Acharya of ERO. The assessment was designed to prepare baseline data for the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP), as well as to compare the learning achievement of 2020 with the previous cycle of NASA in 2017 to ensure quality school education. Since 2011, ERO has published four reports, all of which have found lower-than-average learning achievements. "We have been suggesting the government and policymakers to formulate practical and implementable educational policies at national and sub-national level for the much-needed educational reforms,” adds Acharya. “But the government has failed to address the problem.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230329150352_7fa0b2ef65c148899547f715806dc7ef9b32827b81f226ee26e3b912babbb3b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230329150352_7fa0b2ef65c148899547f715806dc7ef9b32827b81f226ee26e3b912babbb3b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Students in government schools"> <figcaption>Photo: NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  The factors considered in the research are age, home language, school type, distance between home and school, career aspirations, parental education and occupation, family size, teacher's regularity, permanent head teacher, and subject teachers. The president of Nepal Teachers Federation, Kamala Tuladhar, believes that one of the reasons behind the poor level of learning of Grade 8 students is the promotion of failed and weak students from lower grades.&nbsp; The government in the 1990s introduced the Liberal Promotion Policy which allows students from Grades 1 to 7 to be promoted to higher grades even when they fail the final exam. But teachers and parents are also said to be equally responsible for the lower proficiency level.&nbsp; Education expert Shyam Shrestha, on the other hand, blames the ignorance of the government. “Most public schools don’t even have enough subject teachers to begin with,” he says.&nbsp; Shrestha was a member of the High Level National Education Commission in 2019 which published a report recommending the government to fill the vacant post of teachers to improve school education. Shrestha’s team found that out of 650 public schools, only 71 had the required number of teachers.&nbsp; “In our report to the government, we recommended that enough teachers should be hired, even suggesting the ways in which the student’s learning achievements can be improved,” he says. “If there are no adequate teachers, including subject teachers, how can the students learn?” Teachers were involved in politics, they lacked infrastructure and textbooks, and there was unequal distribution of students in class. “The government itself is promoting private schools rather than thinking about the improvement of public schools,” he adds. The Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) however says there is no link between the students’ learning achievement and the curriculum. Director-General Baikuntha Aryal says, “We have been analysing the recommendation of ERO and we have changed the curriculum as per the students’ point of view.”&nbsp; But the difference in basic-level learning achievement affects not only the students and their future, but also the country's human capital and knowledge economy, especially as Nepal continues to rely heavily on labour migration even as the world advances rapidly in all the sectors. &nbsp;“There is a noticeable gap in monitoring and evaluating school governance, empowering head teachers,” he adds. “Proper systems for reward and penalty should be in place to improve the situation, and local government should also play a crucial role in the improvement of governance in the school.”

Why do so many Nepali students underperform?

When Nepalis are leaving the country in droves, there are unsung heroes providing selfless services in isolated parts of the country. Teachers like Sarala Basnet do not crave wealth or fame but work one day at a time to meet their ideal of bringing up the next generation of motivated and compassionate Nepalis. Sarala, as her name suggests, values simplicty and is guided by a straightforward attitude towards life: integrity, diligence and decency. After working her way up from a small village in Baglung, Sarala, at age 35, is the first female principal of Chandrodaya Secondary School in Abu Khaireni of Tanahu district. Back in Baglung, she was also the first female student to pass SLC from high school two decades ago at a time when very few girls attended school in such far-flung villages. “The mindset was that if the girl is educated, she will contaminate traditional culture,” recalls Basnet. “But I had my heart set from an early age to being an educator.” Her father was in the military, and Basnet was the youngest of many siblings. Luckily, the family valued education and sent her to school, unlike many of her childhood mates. But it was not an easy path. When she raised her young voice against prevailing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/fatal-discrimination/" target="_blank">gender inequality</a>, neighbours scoffed at her. This only made her more determined to be a teacher. After school, she graduated with a Bachelor of Education from Gorkha Campus, which was an accomplishment on its own at a time when <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/can-nepal-end-child-marriage-by-2030/" target="_blank">families married off their daughters </a>instead of sending them to colleges. She traveled to Butwal for an internship as a maths instructor but seeing the need in her own hometown, returned to Baglung and was a teacher for 17 years. Eight years ago she was transferred to Abu Khaireni and made principal in recognition of her dedication and commitment.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230303050312_84ca4e90b26674b418916f02c7beebf7728cff814e440ad82db72ebf69fbc892.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230303050312_84ca4e90b26674b418916f02c7beebf7728cff814e440ad82db72ebf69fbc892" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Nurture in her nature NT 2"></figure>  During this time, she got married to musician Krishna Prasad Bhatta, who works as a music teacher in Kathmandu. The couple has two children, 13 and 8. Abu Khaireni is a small picturesque farming town mostly inhabited by families whose <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/diary-of-a-nepali-soldier-in-france/" target="_blank">men serve</a> in the British, Indian or Nepali armies. The rest of the young men have migrated for work to the Gulf or Malaysia. There are not a lot of jobs for young people here and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-child-marriages-spike-during-pandemic/" target="_blank">child marriage</a> is common. Which is why one of the first things Sarala did when she became a teacher was to counsel parents about the importance of schooling girls. It used to be the girl students who dropped out in Grade 5 when their parents married them off, but interestingly these days it is the boys who are dropping out. “The boys are leaving to work in the cities or to try to get into the military,” says Sarala. “This is worrying, it is not good for the future of this village.” Schools in rural Nepal have <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/" target="_blank">insufficient amenities, instruction is impractical and curriculum outdated</a>. During the Covid-19 pandemic, students at Chandrodaya School did not have access to the Internet, and were deprived of online classes for nearly a year. To fill the gap, Basnet organised physical sessions with varying schedules for the students. By the time the second Covid wave hit in 2021, the school was prepared for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/face-to-face-classes-online/" target="_blank">remote classes</a>. Even so, parents still make students complete their household chores before or after school, and there is not much time for the children to play and have fun. Sarala remembers her own childhood and how she had to struggle to balance home work with homework. She had to finish her assignment under the faint light of a kerosene tuki lamp. “We had to walk an hour every day to get to school, the path was steep and through forests with wild animals,” she recalls. All 160 students at Chandrodaya now have access to extracurricular activities including basic computer classes, sports, and other contests, including arts and crafts. It is extraordinary for a government school to have activities that are much better than neighbouring private schools. After having spent over two decades shaping young minds, Basnet believes that age or circumstance should not affect the process of learning. She says: “We should never stop learning, it is a lifelong process. My biggest sense of fulfilment comes from seeing my students do well in life.”

Nurture in her nature

<div class="embed-block"><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/133">							<img width="762" height="261" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150236/63fe11c39c7e80680e0da4f5jpeg.jpg" alt=""></a>
											Issue #133 21-27 February 2003</div>
The obsession of our leaders with Singapore is unmatched. Every prime minister we have had in the 30 years (some of them serial prime ministers) has promised to turn Nepal into a Singapore one too many times. Why not just build a Nepal that is just and fair for everyone?
Many readers are going through a withdrawal syndrome after the Ass formally stepped down, including the author his-self. This week we revisit one of the earlier <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4308#.Y_guAy8w1KM">‘Under My Hat’ columns</a> which takes a dig at our Singaporean aspirations.&nbsp;
Excerpts from <a href="https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_133.pdf">issue #133 21-27 February 2003</a> 20 years ago this week:
If, one day, we want to become filthy rich like the Singaporeans, it is pretty clear that we must institute stiff fines for all major and minor misdemeanours and also turn ourselves into a penal colony.
But let’s be realistic: do our army, navy and air force have the capacity to instill fines on every non-flushing Nepali? Sadly, the answer is an unequivocal “no”. So, unlike Singapore, which penalises offenders with fines, we must use positive enforcement by rewarding those who do things right. In Nepal, instead of taking money away from those who litter, we must give money to those who don’t.
Cash prize of Rs 2,000 for the lone pedestrian who actually used the overhead walkway at Bhotahity in the last fiscal year. To be presented at a public felicitation ceremony chaired by the Mayor of Kathmandu or the MP of Kathmandu, whoever is elected first.
The Honest Cop Award in Cash or Kind for the pre-embarkation security check personnel at Tribhuvan Intercontinental Ballistic Airport who doesn’t ask you to open your wallet during the mandatory body search and contribute generously to the Free Lunch Fund for Kathmandu’s Finest.
The columnist who adheres to the highest standards of personal hygiene by not grooming his nostrils in full view of the rest of his staff during the course of writing the above column. This award carries with it a permanent residence certificate for Singapore. Terima Kasi.
From archive material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: <a href="http://www.nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">www.nepalitimes.com</a>

Singha Darbar, not Singapore

<img width="596" height="447" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140216/63e3a0e29c7e80680e0d7058jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>A headmaster of the local school, an entrepreneur and an ambassador of the community who helped foster relationships with the outside world, Suraj Kumar Gurung, fondly known as 'Master Surje' was a fixture in Sikles.For international visitors he was an excellent interpreter, educator and friend who was always willing to share his vast knowledge of Gurung culture and nature. For the locals, he was the eyes and ears of the community.On 2 January 2023, at the age of 71, Suraj passed away in a house fire.He was born in Sikles, Kaski and dedicated his life to the village. After completing his early education in India, he did his Bachelor of Education from Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara.He then dedicated nearly four decades to teaching before retiring in 2012. Although politics was not his cup of tea, he contested and won the first local elections as the village needed an educated and committed leader. He served his term as the ward chair of Ward 1 in Madi Rural Municipality following his belief in sustainability and justice. <img width="602" height="451" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140216/63e3a0e49c7e80680e0d7059jpeg.jpg" alt="">He was also a social entrepreneur looking for opportunities to uplift the economic condition of the community. He established the local village shop in the centre of Sikles, introduced vegetable farming, ran a rice mill, developed poultry farming and introduced mule transport before the road to the village was completed.He also served as a member of Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) for sixteen years and was passionate about including traditional knowledge into the ACAP ethos. He encouraged the community to keep the entire village neat, clean and green. It was because of people like Suraj Gurung that in 2014, the Conservation Area Management Committee, Parche under ACAP won the prestigious UNDP Equator Initiative Prize.Over the years he welcomed, and supported, many volunteers from United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA), Singapore and beyond. <img width="588" height="371" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140216/63e3a0e79c7e80680e0d705ajpeg.jpg" alt="">Master Surje is remembered by all of them as being the heart and soul of the community. He was highly committed to improving the education in Nepal, both the infrastructure and teaching methods. Even after retiring, he made sure to help outsiders settle down, understand the complex social issues, challenges in the village and schools.Gunhild Flaamo was a graduate student when she visited Sikles from Norway 25 years ago. She had helped the Norwegian talk to people and gather information about local environmental knowledge for her Master's thesis. <img width="559" height="356" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140216/63e3a0e99c7e80680e0d705bjpeg.jpg" alt="">Gurung also helped her set up the Lali Guras Fund that provides scholarships for needy students. The Fund named by Gurung after the national flower of Nepal with an endowment of Rs1.1 million has supported over 300 students."We continued our partnership with the establishment of Lali Guras Fund. I wanted to contribute with resources as an appreciation of the generosity the Sikles community had shown me. I could not have established the fund without him," says Flaamo.Tributes have poured in from the Sikles diaspora community as well as volunteers whose lives Gurung touched with his generosity and knowledge. <img width="602" height="394" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140216/63e3a0ec9c7e80680e0d705cjpeg.jpg" alt=""> “I remember being so impressed by his passion, vision, and hard work for the Sikles community,” writes Arianna. “He was in inspiration, so kind and so helpful for my undergraduate dissertation research.  And with a brilliant sense of humour,” writes another visitor Zuzanna.“What a loss the Sikles and wider community will be feeling right now. Such a keen mind full of generosity and drive.  In the times I had the pleasure of talking with him, he always made me feel I had more to offer than I realised,” writes Paul.“What a huge loss. I can’t imagine the village without him. He was a pillar of the community in the trusted sense. He really held it up in so many ways," says Alyn.BK Shrestha from Global Action Nepal who worked in Kaski area says, “He was not only educator for children but whole Sikles community."Suraj was always immediately available when the authors visited Sikles and updated them on village affairs with a great humour. He was always concerned about the number of young people leaving the village.Suraj took great pride in his role as political leader in his later years.  He was a keen supporter not only of formal education but also non-formal education and took keen interest in the discussion group literacy classes that ran in Sikles. <img width="602" height="271" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230208140216/63e3a0ef9c7e80680e0d705djpeg.jpg" alt="">Suraj sir was truly a ‘bridge’ connecting Sikles with international and national visitors and built connections to make Sikles a model for sustainable heritage village. Suraj’s lifelong investment in education to his people has built a confidence and established a network to work for the development of the community and continue his legacy.  As Gehendra Gurung, deputy headmaster in Sikles notes in his emotional tribute,  Suraj was “everyone’s guardian” and his “educational intellectual contribution to the village and contribution to rural municipality and social service and whole service to the nation will remain a golden one”. Man Bahadur Gurung, Federal Member of Parliament (Kaski-1) from Sikles remembers Suraj as an intellectual whose knowledge and wisdom will be greatly missed. He will remain as a star in the hearts and minds of people because he was not only born in but was also a man of Sikles.  The passing of Suraj, just as his presence did in life, has united people all over the world. To honour and respect his work we are setting up a Suraj Gurung Memorial Foundation to raise funds to support education in Sikles with the support of his family and wider network – link <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/surajgurungmemorialfund?utm_source=messenger&amp;utm_medium=fundraising&amp;utm_content=surajgurungmemorialfund&amp;utm_campaign=pfp-share&amp;utm_term=278616aa28ea4a88a408d7f9a4240090&amp;fbclid=IwAR3HbvlGOHCTfpMyzM8MbX0JDuvQRMhTAjHHf_5vD9e3uhytZAm-yRzZ8Eg">here</a>. Hum Gurung is Asia Partnership Manager, BirdLife International and Sara Parker is Reader in Development Studies at Liverpool John Moores University.

The man from Sikles

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd3f89c7e80680e0d3082jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1115" height="738"/><figcaption>Estimated number of Nepalis studying, working and living abroad in selected countries. Source: VARIOUS SOURCES</figcaption></figure>At a recent graduation ceremony of one Australian university, 300 students paraded across the stage to receive their diplomas. All were Nepalis, except one. The only white people there were faculty members.A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that at an average cost of USD30,000 per year for their undergraduate education Nepali students spent $15 million in just that one university in Australia.Just from January-June 2022, the Ministry of Education in Kathmandu approved 82,000 NOC (No Objection Certificates) for Nepali students going to Australia, Canada, UK, Japan and the US. This was more than double the figure for last year.A conservative estimate shows that Nepalis spent a whopping $3.3 billion for education overseas in just the first six months of this year. By comparison, Nepal’s annual petroleum import bill has risen to $2.5 billion, and tourism brought in less than $1 million in 2019.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd3fc9c7e80680e0d3083jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="227">Nepalis are essentially <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/rs40-billion-outflow-by-nepali-students/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">enriching first world countries with student out-migration</a> now costing the country more than what it earns from all its exports combined.Although some of the money students spend on fees and living costs are from what they earn from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-nepalis-are-flocking-to-okinawa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">part-time jobs</a>, much of it is funded by families in Nepal who sell their land or borrow money to send their children away.Since work and residence permits are difficult, getting a student visa is the easiest path to emigration for desperate Nepali youth. For host countries, this is a way to get cheap labour for low-skill jobs that their own nationals will not do.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd4009c7e80680e0d3084jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1386"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/education/why-is-australia-such-a-popular-destination-for-nepalese-students-20191217-p53ktf.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sydney Morning Herald reported</a> recently that the ‘Nepal market’ was worth $2.6 billion to Australia in 2018-19, up from $1.6 billion the previous year. Nepal is the third biggest source of international students in Australia accounting for 7% of them."My best guess is that a majority of Nepalese students in Australia are here simply for work, hoping to make enough money in Australia both to pay off their tuition loans and return some extra to their families back in Nepal,” Salvatore Babones at the Centre for Independent Studies of the University of Sydney told the Herald.Countries like Australia, Canada, Japan, and increasingly the UK have deliberately left their immigration door slightly ajar to address their temporary labour shortage by giving out student visas, without a drastic liberalisation of their strict immigration policies. A bonus is the income that they earn from student fees.International students are an excellent business proposition. <a href="https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-europe-nordics-2022-12-danish-engineers-demand-removal-of-foreign-student-cap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Danish Society of Engineers in Copenhagen</a> this week asked the government to drop the cap on foreign graduates and allow them to work after completing studies to fill a crippling shortage of engineers.Many Nepali students interviewed for this report admitted that getting a student visa was a one-way ticket out of Nepal. Indeed, the push-factors are strong: erratic and low quality instruction in colleges, and the lack of job prospects.Whereas abroad, students get better education and exposure, earn some money on the side because the host governments allow them to work a limited hours per week, and also because of the possibility of staying on.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/hardworking-students/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hardworking Students</a>, Editorial<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd4049c7e80680e0d3085jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="584">Another push factor, especially for young Nepali women is that by going abroad they can escape family pressure for an arranged marriage. Nepali youth are also <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-past-is-foretold-in-nepal-poll-results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">frustrated with Nepal’s politics and leadership</a>, and most voted for the Rastriya Swatantra Party in November elections.“Three thousand Nepali youth are leaving the country every day either on work or student visas, but many of them will not be coming back,” says Pukar Malla of the non-profit Dayitwa which supports returnees with entrepreneurship in Nepal.Making it easy for students to leave allows the government to get away with not improving the state of education in Nepal. This is similar to labour migration which lets the government off the hook by not having to worry about job creation, and runs the country on the estimated $10 billion in remittance that Nepalis send home every year.The disparity between public and private education systems in Nepal is stark. And while there have been some notable improvements including world-class education in business administration, economics and public policy, much of this is centred around Kathmandu and not on the scale required.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd4079c7e80680e0d3086jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="718"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“The fact that our education is still very much <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/teaching-nepali-teachers-to-teach-better/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rote learning with curriculum</a> not relevant to our context means we are producing graduates without actual skills required to meet challenges. Moreover, our education doesn’t even guarantee them jobs,” says educationist Narottam Aryal of King’s College.Speaking to Nepali Times from Finland where he is attending a conference on education reform, Aryal added: “We must shift our focus to innovation and entrepreneurship, to evidence-based research and interdisciplinary learning. Unless our policies put students at the centre, we will continue to lose our brightest young minds.”Some recommendations include reforming university law such that the focus is on quality instruction instead of infrastructure, and allowing autonomy in specific areas of study and their institutions.Says Pukar Malla: “Let’s get going by empowering our youth and women who are still in Nepal, providing them with leadership roles. Once we truly start changing politics and work for the people, even those who have left will start returning home.”Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/migration-certificate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Migration Certificate</a>, Prakriti Kandel<h4>Sima Gurung, 22</h4><h4>Bristol, UK</h4>I am from Sindhuli and I went to college in Kathmandu. After graduating in 2019, I am now doing a three-year undergraduate course in UWE-Bristol. I also work part-time as a bartender in a Latin-American restaurant here.It has only been three months since I left Nepal. The reason I left was that my college affiliated to Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu relied only on theoretical knowledge. I needed to have more practical knowledge and more exposure for better opportunities in future.Here in Britain, universities have decades of experience in working with international students. My annual tuition fee was £14,250 a year but I got a partial scholarship. In addition, I paid £5,700 for my CAS letter as per university regulations plus expenses for medical, visa and biometric fees.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd40a9c7e80680e0d3087jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="853">There are many international students in UWE-Bristol which also includes a lot of Nepalis. I have met some of them who took loans to be able to afford education here.I have many friends who have settled down abroad. There are a lot of opportunities here, and that discourages them from returning. But I have also met students who are here for learning and exposure and are determined to return to apply it back home.I haven’t thought much about my future plans yet. I will probably return to Nepal, but I’m not sure. I definitely want to contribute in some way for my country. But there must be jobs that pay well back home for me to return.<h4>Samjhauta Rai, 26</h4><h4>Winnipeg, Canada</h4>I am originally from a small town in Sarlahi district. I completed my bachelor's degree in social work in a college in Kathmandu before moving to Canada for a diploma course after paying a lot of money in the hope that I would get a quality education and exposure to the outside world.Since I arrived here in midst of the pandemic, I had to bear a lot of extra expenses from tuition fees to preparing additional documents, booking hotels for quarantine and so on. But the online classes were well planned, engaging and efficient. There was a stark difference with education in Nepal.Taking a loan to afford abroad studies is a common practice in Nepal and I had to as well to build my career and secure a future. I see students dying to go aboard, risking everything to get a visa that they think would open the doors to their imagined lifestyle.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100132/63bfd40e9c7e80680e0d3088jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="853">Most students who come here tend to stay on permanently. But I do want to return to Nepal ultimately. Maybe a couple of years down the line, I will be back home and set up something using the skills I have learnt here.Lack of jobs back home is the main reason for youth migration. It is the failure of the Nepal government that we are forced to leave. Even when they have a job on return, the salaries are low. The government should have a social safety net to help low income families.Canada has taught me a great deal of things. I’m more patient, calm and composed. But personally, I think it is best to return to our own country at some point. I cannot wait to get back home and add value to my experience here.

Sonia Awale

Nepal’s hard working students overseas

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd2a19c7e80680e0d302ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: PRAKRITI KANDEL</figcaption></figure>In recent years, many scholars, policy makers, and educators have pointed to the abysmal results of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/ministry-of-education-gets-an-f/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s education system</a>, particularly its government schools. Some have noted the persistence of this low performance year after year.According to a 2017 Asian Development Bank (ADB) study of education in South Asia, student learning achievement in Nepal ‘has remained poor over the years’.Because of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/class-differences/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s ineffective educational system</a>, the country as a whole suffers but especially those from rural and marginalised communities -- Dalit, ethnic minorities, and poorer Nepalis of all caste groups. As wealthier students move to private schools, students from marginalised groups increasingly make up most of the students attending public schools.In particular, the ADB places the blame on Nepal’s ineffective and outdated teaching methods: ‘The main issue in Nepal is how to address the weak performance of classroom teachers.’ It emphasised the need for ‘fresh perspectives’ for understanding teaching and teachers.By and large, ever since modern schools arrived in Nepal in the 1950s and 1960s, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/good-fellows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali teachers</a> have taught the same way: using rote methods with teachers lecturing or reading material straight from the textbook and students listening and later regurgitating.This holds true, with only a few exceptions, from pre-K through college, in both government and private schools. Very few teachers encourage critical thinking, meaningful learning, or practical application.Why is rote so entrenched? Many factors seem to combine including cultural, political, policy, and personal factors. In an influential study, Nepal’s leading anthropologist Dor Bahadur Bista argued that a status-based anti-utilitarian philosophy of education embedded within Nepali religious traditions has long pervaded and undermined Nepal’s ‘modern’ schools.Historically, Bista says, education in Nepal has meant recreating hierarchy, not bringing about meaningful change in the world. The ADB addresses these foundational ideas when it calls for a new role for teachers: ‘It is important to develop teachers as facilitators and not as the sole source of knowledge and influence.’Other scholars have noted how Nepal’s autocratic rule before 1990 promoted narrow education traditions creating a mindset that still drives Nepal’s schools, including the emphasis on rote.In addition, Nepal’s culture of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/teaching-teachers,3126" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">teacher education</a> is broken. Years of pre-service and professional development efforts have made little dent on how Nepali teachers teach.‘Most of the teacher education and training initiatives have failed to transform the classroom teaching and learning process,” the ABD report notes. It adds that this includes not just Nepal’s preservice training but also its in-service teacher education: ‘The opinion of most stakeholders is that in-service programs have been reduced to training halls and leave no impact on the teachers.’That’s worth emphasising: ‘no impact’. What has been the result of years of trainings costing millions of dollars? No impact.The problems with Nepal’s teacher training culture are many. The ABD stresses one key problem: what it calls the ‘approach to delivery of curriculum’. Nepali teacher education programs, it notes, are 'structurally loaded with adequate content … (but) the overall approach and delivery most often remains traditional and fairly weak’.In other words, in Nepal, even ‘expert’ teacher trainers primarily use rote teaching methods. Exactly those trainers charged with showing teachers how to use non-rote methods often themselves rely upon rote methods.They lecture about how teachers should not lecture. In doing so, Nepal’s trainings reproduce the core problems of its educational system: too much regurgitation and not enough higher-level thinking.“Got it?” trainers yell out to teachers after a lengthy rote explanation. “Got it,” respond the teachers, and everyone is happy.Kathmandu University professor Laxman Gnawali has researched the culture of trainings in Nepal, and finds two main problems. The first is methods imported from elsewhere. These methods work in these other places (presumably), and are assumed to work in Nepal, but are actually untested.Gnawali does not conclude that outside methods cannot work, just that they can work only if they are better road-tested and carefully tailored to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/digital-divide-exposes-class-divide-in-nepal-schools/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">realities of Nepali classrooms</a>. That rarely happens. Instead there is an assumption that they should work.The second problem Gnawali identifies is the many ‘last mile’ barriers to implementation that Nepali teachers face. Student failures in English, he notes, “are often ascribed to teachers' under-performance.”“The plight of the teachers working in under-resourced classrooms,” he points out, “is habitually ignored.” That includes a daunting list of challenges: parents who are not literate, class sizes of 50 to 100 or more, hard-to-manage students, students who don’t speak much Nepali, multigrade classes, students years below grade level, a lack of materials, sometimes even no textbooks, and desks and benches fixed to ground or too crowded to move.Too often, Gnawali says, teacher trainings presume a near perfect teaching setting. Trainings “present to the trainees a picture of idealised classrooms which are well-laid out, materials rich, learner-friendly, within teacher's control and generally conducive to learning.”That’s not the reality real <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-decade-of-work-lost-in-4-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali teachers</a> face in real classrooms. Instead, Gnawali says, Nepali schools need more “context-specific” methods.Many reports on Nepali education, including the ADB report, call for new teaching methods often developed in radically different teaching environments, but rarely place the emphasis on context specific appropriateness that Gnawali reminds us of.In addition, no discussion of the problem of teacher trainings would be complete without mention of two core problems. The first is one I have seen over the decades but is rarely commented upon: the problem of paying participants extra stipends on top of their salary and transportation costs to attend trainings."As soon as you say the word ‘training’ to a government teacher,” a teacher once told me, “he'll ask immediately, 'How much allowance is there?'"The extra money may guarantee high attendance – a common metric donors use to assess training ‘success’ -- but usually distorts who actually shows up for trainings and undermines their motivation to learn.And finally, there is little to no accountability for teachers. Teachers in Nepal are protected by political parties. The parties help teachers get hired and protect them when in the position. In effect, the political parties control hiring and firing, not the schools.Even if teachers do something egregious, they are rarely disciplined, much less fired. This almost total lack of accountability lowers performance across the board. It protects bad teaching.Reform efforts must account for these realities if they hope to bring any real change to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s failing public school system</a>. In the meantime, a generation of Nepal’s youth will suffer the consequences.Tom Robertson is a historian and the former director of Fulbright Nepal.

Tom Robertson

Teaching Nepali teachers to teach better

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/637230619c7e80680e0c2563jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Nepalis are proud to have never been colonised, and being South Asia’s oldest nation state. Keeping out the world may have preserved the sovereignty of a feudal state, but it meant that Nepal had a lot of catching up to do in terms of governance, consolidating democratic institutions, infrastructure, health and education.For example, we have been talking about the sorry state of the education system in the country for the past decades. Writing 52 years ago in an article titled ‘Education: the Road to Nowhere’, Prof Kamal Prakash Malla bemoaned the fact that ministers of education were in the habit of boasting that Nepal’s education system went from having just one college pre-1950 to 36 colleges and a university.Malla pointed out that this showed selective use of statistics to distort the truth, and ignore the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/">poor quality of instruction in schools and colleges</a>.Five decades later, after major political changes and many trials and errors in education, the substance of the debate on the need to improve the education system is still the same. Bureaucrats and politicians still cite statistics to prove progress in education, and like Malla wrote all those years ago, we are still on a journey without a destination.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/">After quantity, Nepal’s education needs quality</a>, Prakriti KandelIf statistics are so important, then these tell a different story: there are still 770,000 children below 12 who are not in school, 29% of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/half-of-nepals-girls-may-drop-out-of-school/">primary school students drop out</a> halfway, 43% of secondary school students do not complete Grade 10, and government school pupils have a pass rate of only 20%.Why is it that successive governments have not fixed the serious flaws in a system that allows 80% of students in public schools to waste time in classrooms in the name of ‘education’? It is not that Nepal's rulers are not aware of the disgraceful quality of education in government schools.The Minister of Education’s own surveys show shocking <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=464#.Yt-86exBz0s">inequity in Nepal’s education system</a>. Among well-off families, 65% of children are educated, whereas the figure is only 12% for poorer households. Money for education is flowing into a black hole.The federal government has been cutting its education budget every year, but the investment is not being transferred to provincial ministries of education. This is widening the equity gap in education, and leading to a steady decline in the quality of instruction. Instead of leveling the playing field, education is entrenching class differences.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/digital-divide-exposes-class-divide-in-nepal-schools/">privileged get a world-class education</a> and fit into the world’s best universities, whereas the rest migrate to the Gulf for jobs. Those who stay behind are swallowed by a corrupt bureaucracy and contaminated politics.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=41#.Yt-8luxBz0s">Education for all and all for education</a>, Naresh NewarThe main reason Nepal still lags behind in development is our distorted and inappropriate system of education that is churning out deficient human resources. The blame game is heaped on private schools. There are regulatory issues with for-profit schools, but private school enrollment is low in districts where public schools offer quality education. Private schools and colleges are providing much-needed education in Nepali, and reducing the numbers of Nepalis who used to have to go abroad.Punishing private schools to improve government schools never worked, and will be a backward step. The best way to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/sisterhoods-empowering-education-in-nepal/">reduce the commercialisation of education</a> is to improve the standard of public schools. Government schools have a lot to learn from private ones about curriculum, instruction, management and facilities, and some PPP models have demonstrated this.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/sisterhoods-empowering-education-in-nepal/">Sisterhoods empowering education in Nepal</a>, Nepali TimesSome government schools have made the wrong move to try to emulate private schools, and introduce English-medium instruction for fee-paying students. This is creating a rich-poor distinction within schools, which is unjust and goes against Nepal’s egalitarian Constitution.As with everything else, the main blame goes to a political class that forgets when it gets to power the very values enshrined in the Constitution, the manifestos of their parties, and promises to voters. In fact, leftist politicians are the most prominent investors in the private school sector, and eagerly pass legislation that unfairly benefits them.The new generation will reject politicians who thrive on hollow nationalism, but neglect education forcing them to migrate overseas for work.We have to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19596#.Yt-9pOxBz0s">take politics out of education</a>, reward good public schools and their teachers, invest in teacher training and facilities of government schools. That is the only way to prevent Nepal from becoming a failed state.Rabin GiriRead more: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19596#.Yt-9pOxBz0s">No time for school</a>, Nepali Times

Class differences

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/637208209c7e80680e0b54cejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1119"/><figcaption>Takam village (above) in Dhaulagiri Municipality is a model for how federalism should function. Photos: JOY STEPHENS</figcaption></figure>Bal Bir Biswakarma from the village of Lulang at the lap of Mt Dhaulagiri in Central Nepal is a 68-year-old subsistence farmer, descendants of metal smiths who settled here centuries ago to smelt copper ore.When the copper ran out, he became a high altitude porter, summiting Mt Lhotse and even rock climbing in Wyoming in the United States. But, as Joy Stephens <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-clouds-are-lifting-below-dhaulagiri/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">writes in her travelogue</a> most of his life Bal Bir Biswakarma has been living hand-to-mouth in this Dalit village high up in the mountains.Since 2017, Lulang is a part of Dhaulagiri Municipality and elected Thamsara Pun as mayor who took the revolutionary step of moving the headquarter from the traditional power centre of Takam to Muna village to make it better accessible to the region’s indigenous and Dalit populations.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/637208239c7e80680e0b54cfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="792"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In the past five years, villagers have begun to see improvements in healthcare, education and jobs, thanks to political devolution gained through Nepal’s new federal structure. Pun is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/all-politics-is-local/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">looking forward to fast-tracked local elections</a> on 18 May, and the chance to serve five more years.This is what federalism means in practice: giving voice to the voiceless, letting under-served communities take charge so they can better take care of themselves. Dhaulagiri Municipality is also a reminder to the squabbling political class in faraway Kathmandu, some of whom have prematurely declared federalism dead without even letting it prove its worth.Excitement about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/think-nationally-vote-locally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local elections</a> is already palpable across rural Nepal, but a cynical and pessimistic political class in the national capital does not want to let go of power and resources. In fact, despite a federal Constitution, political decision-making is more centralised than ever before.While the rights of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/polls-in-the-time-of-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local governments</a> are enshrined in the Constitution, it is not followed in the spirit with access to resources for them to actually perform.“Federalism is the sum total of everything we Nepalis have gone through, from various governing structures to the Maoist conflict, the Madhes Movement and everything in between,” explains Khimlal Devkota, recently elected to the National Assembly.“Federalism stands for stability, development and devolution and we had high expectations, expecting quick results,” he adds. “In some ways we have succeeded, people don’t have to rely on Kathmandu for everything. But the centre is still involved in everything from hydropower plants to erecting view towers.”The 2015 Constitution <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/trial-error-democracy,3713" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devolved rights to local and sub-national governments</a>, but the necessary laws were not in place until after elections. This meant a confusing transition regarding jurisdiction which threatened to undermine past gains in areas like community forestry, public health and education.“Coordination between the governments, vertical and horizontal, is a pillar of federalism and so is functional demarcation,” says Balananda Paudel who headed the Local Bodies Restructuring Commission. “Our laws are riddled with lack of clarity in some places and elsewhere there is a problem of overlapping functions for different levels of government.”This results in a perpetual blame-game between different levels of government, and a lack of accountability. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-f-word/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Federalism</a>, therefore, is still work in progress and this year’s series of elections will hopefully result in greater devolution.One of the reasons federalism got a bad name is that in the past years, it also decentralised corruption. Of the 753 local governments, one-third have elected chairs and mayors who are contractors and have awarded themselves <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hiding-their-head-in-the-sand/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sand-mining</a>, road-building and quarrying  contracts.Which is why upcoming local elections are even more important -- to reward elected municipal governments who have worked for the people with another five-year term and reject those who did not.This might also be a time to question the purpose of retaining a parallel power structure composed of the District Administrations and the Chief District Officers. Its job of issuing citizenship papers and passports allows this unelected office of centralised bureaucrats to wield extraordinary power over ordinary people.Federalism has also multiplied central-level politics by seven. Bagmati Province recently set a new record with 70 mini-ministries in Hetauda to allow the coalition to keep power. Much of the last five years were wasted in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/The-f-word-again,1426" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">endless debates about demarcation</a> of provincial boundaries and designating capitals. It took four years for Madhes Province to get its name, and Province 1 is still just a number.“We have made some headway in formulating laws and regulations, now we must bring it into practice, improving staffing for service delivery at local levels and promoting better coordination between and within levels by activating intergovernmental relations,” says Balananda Paudel.Just as democracy is only as effective as politicians, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/federalism-rule-of-law-and-the-judiciary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">federalism</a> too will only function if it follows the true spirit of devolution of power and resources to the periphery. It needs political will at the centre to provide technical and financial support – something we have not seen in the last five years.Says Khimlal Devkota: “Citizens should be placed at the centre of all decision making. This can be done only by nurturing and strengthening federal practice.”

Power to the periphery

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1e8b9c7e80680e0af416jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>Photo: SAGLO SAMAJ/HIMALMEDIA</figcaption></figure>The Covid-19 worsened the disparities in young children’s development and learning in Nepal. One out of five Nepali children between the ages of 2-4 years are not developing on track amidst the pandemic with noted impact on their health, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-cancels-regions-gains-in-education/">learning</a> and psychological well-being, a new UNICEF study has revealed.The Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) survey conducted in August among 2,853 households via phone conversation showed that children from lower income families, living in rural areas, with caregivers with no or low levels of education, and not attending early childhood education (ECE) programs were at higher risk.Even among children who attended ECE, those who attended government ECE were at higher risk of being developmentally off track compared to those who attended private programs.Early stimulation activities like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-power-of-reading-aloud/">reading books</a>, telling stories, singing songs, going outside, naming objects, counting, or drawing things were found instrumental for young children’s development and learning. However, the data revealed an alarming plunge in parental engagement compared to pre-pandemic conditions.As the country opened up with the decline in Covid cases in August 2021 and parents pursued livelihood options, only 31% of children received early stimulation at home by family members compared to 73% in 2019.A follow up survey in October found that mothers’ engagement improved over the time after she got over the initial hectic schedule right of the pandemic. The same can’t be said for the fathers, whose parental engagement remained low at 6%, maintaining a social norm of men’s reduced role in raising children.This is just the latest in the series of impacts that young children have been subjected to following the pandemic. Early in the coronavirus crisis, repeated lockdowns and travel restrictions meant that parents were unable to take their children for routine immunisation, also resulting in an outbreak of measles in the Dhading district. Similarly, the dramatic <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/children-are-collateral-damage-in-nepal-lockdown/">decline in institutional delivery</a> led to increased infant mortality.Reduced family income due to job losses during the pandemic also added to the problem of childhood malnutrition in Nepal. School closures also deprived many children of getting <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-out-of-school-children-get-food-at-home/">one decent meal a day</a> while they also missed their lessons with over 80% of government school children not having attended classes – online or otherwise in the past two years.Among children in the age group 2-4 years, half of those surveyed were found to have been enrolled in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Prepping-for-preschool,253">pre-primary level</a> but 34% of them didn’t participate in learning through alternative learning modalities at all, most of the children only accessed home tuition. While low-tech solutions like educational radio and TV and tele-teaching were almost unused, high-tech solutions like online classes were used almost exclusively among children who attended private ECE.Underused low-tech solutions and unequal access to high-tech solutions might have further contributed to the developmental gap observed between children who attended private ECE and other children and is the proof of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/digital-divide-exposes-class-divide-in-nepal-schools/">growing digital divide</a> between private and public institutions.Following the survey results, UNICEF has recommended remedial learning to target children at a higher risk. The government and aid agencies should also develop a system to support teachers and parents to understand their children and figure out their learning levels through user-friendly assessments.In many ways, Covid-19 was a learning lesson for future disasters and being forced to adapt to online educational tools has helped teachers, students and parents prepare for school closures. But the alternative methods of learning remain largely underused, mostly in lack of infrastructure. School across Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-the-pandemic/">has to be trained and well-equipped</a> with Internet facilities and electronic devices.Having said that, parenting education, in particular, involvement of fathers and learning at home is of utmost importance and should be communicated as much in the communities.

education