<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2a69c7e80680e07baf5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>A <a href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/this-is-how-the-government-is-failing-education/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/this-is-how-the-government-is-failing-education/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599106575183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGqoopIXsdCYs-Ctd44AsChaPmyng">columnist</a> recently described the state of education in the country as being characterised by the government's neglect of public schools and disdain for private schools.This is nothing new. Those in power have always paid lip service to helping the poor, while doing everything in their power to ensure that the poor have no recourse. The added tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic is that this dangerous populist proclivity has exacerbated the education crisis, creating an even bigger chasm between private schools and government ones where 80% of students are enrolled.The government has used the excuse of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/online-classes-may-widen-digital-divide/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/online-classes-may-widen-digital-divide/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599106575183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEmjAzru8cBDcL32pkhzDg0nmWdxA">‘digital divide’</a> to discourage private schools from thinking out of the box on online classes. Vague and ambiguous policy decisions have not helped clear the confusion.Now that it is clear that the pandemic here to stay, the Ministry of Education has finally finalised a plan to grant formal recognition to remote learning classes. However, if not planned properly, this will further widen the inequity in Nepal’s education system.A <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599106575183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFmPvte291xwmwk4iUd6cz7ILYL3g">recent survey</a> showed that 95% of households said their children had stopped going to school, and 52% were not even studying at home. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/digital-divide-exposes-class-divide-in-nepal-schools/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/digital-divide-exposes-class-divide-in-nepal-schools/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599106575183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH4g2MExFt6ZFTGQpkQ8mnF2d5v_A">Only 29% had access to distance learning</a>, but that only half were using it. <img width="1046" height="580" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915110/636bb2a99c7e80680e07baf6jpeg.jpg" alt="">The attitude of the Ministry towards government schools which fall directly under its own purview is even more grievous. While the government school teachers, administrators and the entire education super-structure have remained fully salaried throughout the nearly six months of lockdown, they have nearly nothing to show in terms of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/face-to-face-classes-online/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/face-to-face-classes-online/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599106575183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEYCXAumkU_7dKJWPwdu3amiDkP8A">remote teaching.</a>The government's inability and unwillingness to address the lack of education for nearly 6 million students that attend government schools is tantamount to criminal negligence. The ministry’s dynamism has long been eroded by the politicisation of the education sector, neglect by the education establishment from the federal minister downwards, and lack of accountability and institutional memory among  donors who have practically guided the Education Ministry with its 'basket fund' over the past decade.Even today, the ministry seems to be mainly concerned with passing the buck when it comes to pandemic response. This is a ministry that has over the past few years made school exams so lenient in grading as to be meaningless. And today it has done nearly nothing to end the inertia of the lockdowns.Better-off private schools have access to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lockdown-gives-distance-learning-a-boost-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lockdown-gives-distance-learning-a-boost-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599106575183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHihnP63dLNDsz2uqOv73NXiP2q4Q">internet learning</a>, but most government school children have neither computers nor connectivity. The  government’s response has been more fatalism and populist rhetoric about helping the poor.The most underserved mountain districts have negligible Covid-19 spread, and schools there are so sparsely populated that attendance is possible with physical distancing in the classrooms. Yet, it has been five months and the Ministry of Education has not acted on the basis of this simple reality.For government schools in urban clusters and the densely-populated Tarai, the federal government had enough time to implement an emergency plan to let local governments ensure wifi availability and remote radio/tv classes. Some of these online classes could have been centralised, while the individual schools that had the capacity should have been encouraged to start their own. The lassitude is unbelievable, yet sadly predictable.Minister of Education Giriraj Mani Pokhrel deserves an ‘F’ for not using the Covid-19 crisis to improve government school education. But the buck stops with his boss, Prime Minister K P Oli. They should both re-read the Constitution, which relegates the responsibility for school-level education to municipalities. Local governments most likely would do a better job.It is well known for decades that while Nepal’s enrollment rate rose, literacy went up, and we have numerically more schools, there was abject failure on the part of the government in raising the quality of instruction. We had hoped that handing over education to the local governments was a way to improve quality. But alas, like everything else, education is still tightly centralised.The Covid-19 crisis could still be turned into an opportunity if the federal Ministry of Education were to wake up and support urban and rural municipalities to restart remote and in-person classes, and raise the standard of instruction in government schools where it is most needed.

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Ministry of Education gets an F

<figure><img width="765" height="432" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba56f9c7e80680e0736c6jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Room to Read's local mentors supporting girls through remote mentoring session.</figcaption></figure>With schools closed for the past five months, and families losing their livelihoods due to the pandemic, many girl students across Nepal are helping their parents and may not rejoin schools once they reopen, a new survey has shown.Some of the girls, especially from poorer families, have been lured into seeking jobs, and some have even fallen prey to labour and sexual exploitation, the survey by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-time-for-every-purpose/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-time-for-every-purpose/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGkmsG1vTn8ZTapfDddZ3aX5jooHA">Room To Read</a> literacy group has shown.The Girls’ Education Risk Survey among 3,992 girls in four districts from April-June this year showed that financial hardship caused by the pandemic may push back <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19596#.XzDWDIoza72" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D19596%23.XzDWDIoza72&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFXr2zy8leFPGPyMxip6_6Y0lt5IQ">Nepal’s gains in improving its female school enrolment.</a>During the COVID-19 lockdown there has also been an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/child-marriages-up-during-nepal-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/child-marriages-up-during-nepal-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGDTbpd2OUWeEr4twYUnv3Fie-Tpw">increase in domestic violence</a> against female members of households, and Room To Read itself has lost some of its students to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-child-marriages-in-locked-down-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-child-marriages-in-locked-down-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHtm9ChCz-vEMds8H0Oz2EPkSlLAA">child marriage.</a>“Keeping girls at school was already a difficult task, but this pandemic is keeping them away from school and is putting them at a higher risk,” explains Salina Tamang at <a href="https://www.roomtoread.org/countries/nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.roomtoread.org/countries/nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGDdd99zMSOm6TUF78a4kWeFj7ipA">Room to Read Nepal.</a> <figure><img width="1366" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5719c7e80680e0736c7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This survey included three indicators for identifying risk of not returning to school: girls not studying at home while their schools are closed, a loss of job or income in the household, and a girl’s stated concern that she will not be able to return to school.Of the nearly 4,000 girls surveyed in Banke, Bardia, Nuwakot and Tanahun districts through June, 45% of girls reported their household income had fallen because members had lost their jobs -– a factor that has lead girls to drop out of school even before this crisis.Another 16% of the girls surveyed said they had stopped studying at home since school closed in March, meaning they will be hesitant to return to school or will have difficulty catching up and passing important gate-keeping exams when they do return.Of those surveyed, 7% admitted that they would probably not return to school when it reopens. The reasons include the need to work or provide care at home, lack of parental support, and limited financial resources. (See chart). <img width="870" height="529" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914114/636ba5749c7e80680e0736c8jpeg.jpg" alt="">One 17-year-old surveyed in Banke district had left for Kathmandu in a truck when the lockdown began to find a job to augment her family income. But she fell into drug addiction, and had to be rescued.“We were monitoring her because she had attended one of our awareness programs against sexual exploitation. Which is why she knew how to save herself when she fell into bad company,” says Ram Pyari of Room To Read.Another 15-year-old from Kohalpur lost her father just before the lockdown started, increasing the responsibility to take care of her mother and three smaller siblings. She decided to drop out of school to take care of her family.“We are trying to find a way for her to continue her education, while managing her family’s needs,” explains Rachana Chaudhary of Room To Read in Kohalpur, who has been counseling the girl. “However dire the situation, a girl’s education should not stop.”The Nepal survey was part of a series conducted by <a href="https://www.roomtoread.org/countries/nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.roomtoread.org/countries/nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGDdd99zMSOm6TUF78a4kWeFj7ipA">Room to Read</a> among 28,000 school-going girls in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia andTanzania during pandemic lockdowns. The results were similar to Nepal – 49% of the girls were found to be at risk of not returning to school.“We were very concerned about the impact on education of girls from low income families, and we need to develop strategies to retain them in school,” says Pushkar Lal Shrestha, Nepal Country Director at Room to Read.  Most of the girls interviewed for the survey were involved in domestic chores and did not have access to remote learning. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597123246065000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEp3gSpILwJJE3DcBlJ-Y4srzuO9Q">Figures from another survey by UNICEF</a> in May confirmed some of these finding. It showed that more than half the families reported a loss of jobs or earnings, with one-third facing food shortages.The UNICEF poll also showed that children in 95% of families had stopped going to school, and 52% were not even studying at home, with only 12% attending classes online or by radio/tv.Room To Read has been conducting remote learning classes as well as mentoring sessions with girls to keep them safe and motivated. Counselors sent keep in touch with their students through SMS or social media.

Half of Nepal’s girls may drop out of school

In ordinary times, children would wake up in the morning and put on their uniforms, pack their bags, and leave for school.This time of year, SEE students in Nepal would be making full use of their post-exam holidays, books and exams the last thing on their minds. University students would be in the thick of spring semester, some on the verge of graduating and going out into the world as young professionals.But these are not ordinary times.Nepal’s baby steps towards distance learning has gotten a boost as the COVID-19 lockdown redefines schooling, replacing it with virtual classes. But the pandemic has also revealed how unprepared schools and teachers are to distance learning, and the existence of a digital divide despite the spread of data communication.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/online-classes-may-widen-digital-divide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Online classes may widen digital divide...but it will also allow Nepal to leapfrog in education</a>, Madhu Sudan Dahal<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/back-to-school-season-goes-remote/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Back-to-School season goes remote</a>, Saniaa ShahAt Tika Vidyashram, a public school in Sanepa, principal Bimala Lamichhane had been advising students sitting for SEE exams to find educational materials on YouTube since the lockdown began. However, as the shutdown stretched on, Lamichhane along with her teachers resolved to conduct Grade 10 classes on Zoom.But after trying for two days, Lamichhane realised that it was a futile exercise.“Not every student was able to access Zoom, because none of the students have computers and only some had mobile data," she says. “Some of the students do not even get to eat properly during the lockdown, let alone have Internet access.”Her students thought it would be better to form a group on Facebook Messenger and conduct classes that way. Now, students take pictures of their assignments and upload them onto their Messenger group so that the teachers can evaluate them. Students who can access the Internet call their friends who cannot, and pass along information.“Simply advertising online classes is not enough when there is a lack of access,” says Lamichhane.Government schools in Nepal are notoriously underfunded, understaffed and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lowest-common-denominator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lack infrastructure</a>,  which is why parents who can afford it send their children to more expensive schools. There is a fear that the COVID-19 lockdown will add to not just the digital divide, but also the gap between haves and have nots, and the disparity in the quality of education provided by public schools and private schools.But Lamichhane thinks even better endowed private schools are having a difficult time adjusting.  “Some private schools might be able to successfully conduct classes online, but there is no way most can communicate with 100% of their students,” she says. “Be it a public school or private, this pandemic has shown that we are all on the same boat.”<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-model-government-school,3122" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A model government school</a>, Shreejana Shreshta <figure><img width="1600" height="1200" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221202151240/638a0e7a9c7e80680e0cd471jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Tika Vidhyashram in Sanepa. As the lockdown stretches on, SEE students are forming groups on Facebook Messenger to communicate with teachers. Photo: BIMALA LAMICHHANE</figcaption></figure>The reputed Shuvatara School in Lamatar has been able to reach all of its 450 students and conduct  classes online. With the help of the 3Di project, teachers have been conducting webinar-style classes via Zoom, and students hand in their assignments on Google Classroom.Principal Khyam Timsina says that the first week was a trial period, but classes have been going on smoothly on the second week of their online academic year. And although online classes are not the same as real classrooms, Timsina adds, the students have taken to it.<a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/it-is-all-about-it-in-nepal,3887" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It's all about IT</a>, Sahina ShresthaFor Shuvatara, there has been a positive consequence of conducting classes online. “This process has empowered our teachers, who have been learning a lot about IT and gaining mastery in the technical aspects of teaching,” says Timsina, who says the lockdown has challenges but also offers opportunity for education.“This pandemic has made us think about developing digital learning, which we perhaps would not have done otherwise,” he says. “ICT in education is crucial, and hopefully, some much-needed attention will be directed towards building a digital platform that will help students well into the future.”However, the pandemic has brought into stark focus that although 96% of households in Nepal have mobile phones only a quarter of those <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mobile-nepal-is-hooked-on-youtube/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mobile-nepal-is-hooked-on-youtube/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1589001391333000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGLuLWFFy4sBpnqZJvNQ_Bdsk5-OQ">polled in a recent nationwide survey</a> said they used the Internet on a daily basis, and most used it to access Facebook and YouTube. But telecom companies are attempting to provide a solution to this problem.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/nepals-new-digital-landscape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s new digital landscape</a>, Sonia Awale <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221202151240/638a0e7d9c7e80680e0cd472jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>NTC has introduced its E-siksha package, providing 2 data options to students at reduced cost. Schools can request the company to provide students access by giving NTC a list of their mobile phone numbers.“We have a robust system,” says NTC spokesperson Rajesh Joshi, adding that if schools take the initiative of communicating with their students about the service, most can easily go online with high-speed 4G Internet in all 77 districts.Still, many students are concerned about missing out on their classes due to the unavailability of the internet, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/officialroutineofnepalbanda/posts/3655482774484489" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/officialroutineofnepalbanda/posts/3655482774484489&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1589001391333000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFsJjQ4D8aMJ8Gh8-RJihSnJMMvLQ">expressing their frustrations on social media</a>. Even having constant access to the Internet doesn’t mean that learning is easy.A final year undergraduate student working on her thesis says that although she has been doing the research over the Internet, the lockdown has made it impossible to conduct fieldwork that she needs. Moreover, she has Zoom consultations with her thesis supervisor at 10 pm. “It is a new experience for all of us,” she writes in an email to Nepali Times, “but we have had to adjust to it in order to utilise our time.”Karkhana CEO Pavitra Gautam believes that although online education is a way to engage students at a time like this when not much else can be done, this cannot be the only way to go about education.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/by-the-way/Unlearning-education,85" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Unlearning education</a>, Anurag Acharya“Be it a Learning Management System or Zoom, most of the time educators are not thinking about how engaged their students are with them,” says Gautam, adding that there should be a deeper understanding about how kids learn rather than arguing over what tools and technologies are better.Will this attempted shift towards the digital improve the quality of education post-pandemic?Gautam says that if we just look at this as a way to engage students until the schools open back up and we go back to our old ways, nothing is going to change. Neither will things change if we look at this as a way to completely transform education into the digital.“Technology is a tool that should support good teachers,” he explains, “and although technology enhances capacity, amplifies the reach of information and can bring reforms it is not sensible to depend entirely on it. A blended model is going to be the best approach.” Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/giving-back-to-nepal-what-nepal-gave-to-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Giving back to Nepal what Nepal gave to them</a>, Kunda Dixit<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-computers,658" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Computers in schools without textbooks,</a> Sunil Pokhrel

education-sector

Ministry of Education gets an F

Half of Nepal’s girls may drop out of school

Lockdown gives distance learning a boost in Nepal