<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a66fa9c7e80680e0599b4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1081"/><figcaption>Photo : BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Nepal is recognised as the only low-income country to have made rapid progress cutting poverty and boosting public health and education in recent decades. But can these achievements be sustained in the 2020-2030 decade?The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/Saving-one-mother-at-a-time,816" target="_blank" rel="noopener">country’s maternal mortality rate decreased</a> from 539 deaths per 100,000 live births to 239 deaths between 1996 and 2016. The adult literacy rate rose from 20% in the 1980s to 67% in 2018, and the proportion of Nepalis living below the poverty line <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-great-income-divide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropped from 42% to 21% in two decades</a>.Yet the poorest still <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/federalism-leaves-nepals-medical-sector-ailing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">do not have access to affordable healthcare</a>. The school dropout rate is as high as the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=41#.XftNv5MzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enrolment rate</a>. In urban centres, people breathe <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some of the foulest air in the world</a>, reducing their life expectancy by up to four years. Many lack safe drinking water.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38023&amp;preview_nonce=024823c344&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Towards 2030</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38038&amp;preview_nonce=e8166bf726&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Another decade to get it right,</a> Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38061&amp;preview_nonce=012fb23553&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal in the 2020s,</a> Sewa BhattaraiLocal elections in 2017, after a gap of 20 years, were supposed to close these gaps by delivering accountable, elected leaders. Two years later, the euphoria has evaporated. The state of the state remains stagnant.“The elections helped us rebuild grassroots democracy and decentralise power, but the lack of accountability at all levels of government continues to be a major challenge,” says Min Bahadur Shahi of the National Planning Commission (NPC). “This is why the primary agenda of the NPC’s 15th periodic plan is governance reform, controlling corruption and promoting transparency.”As we step into the new decade, there are questions about Nepal’s progress in human development, including whether we are on track to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieve double-digit growth. Reaching these targets will require huge investments in healthcare, schools and nutrition. With the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health-makes-nepalis-poorer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emergence of non-communicable diseases</a>, Nepal now faces a double burden: rising rates of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/diabetes-in-south-asia,3018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diabetes</a>, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, which are expensive to treat, while the poor continue to die of easily curable infections.Said Sanjib Sharma, doctor at the BP Koirala Institute for Health Sciences in Dharan: “Our efforts now should be on strengthening primary health care and prevention and early detection of diseases using existing tools, as well as new technologies such as artificial intelligence for virtual expert consultation and drug delivery.”Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38051&amp;preview_nonce=38f8426e6c&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal in 2030,</a> Sanghamitra Subba<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38046&amp;preview_nonce=d2d7129548&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A future written in the stars,</a> Sanghamitra SubbaDespite poverty falling by half, one-third of Nepali children <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are still malnourished</a>. Anaemia among women has actually increased in recent years. The government’s Multi-sectoral Nutrition Plan, developed in 2012, works to improve maternal and child health, vaccination rates and malnutrition.“Development in Nepal is still synonymous with roads, but investing in early childhood development is equally important, it is a component of development,” said Kiran Rupakheti of the NPC, which wants nutrition programs to reach the grassroots.Even as literacy rates rise, gender disparity is expected to continue in the coming decade. As female literacy improves, for instance, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/child-marriage-in-nepal-eloped-at-13-mother-by-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">child marriage</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19596#.XftPh5MzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">girls’ dropout rates</a> will persist. Experts say improving the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quality of instruction</a> at community schools, encouraging female students in technical fields and promoting applied education should be priority areas in the 10 years ahead.Nepal is expected to graduate from lower-middle-income country status by 2030, but that is unlikely if the SDGs goals are not met. For this, the government will need to spend $1billion a year in infrastructure alone. Nepal is hoping to sustain <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/guest-editorial-Nepal-economic-growth,923" target="_blank" rel="noopener">double-digit growth</a> of above 10% and achieve per capita income of $1,595 by the end of the decade.“I’m hopeful about our prospects but if we uplift the economic status of women, who make up more than half of the population, we will get there sooner,” said Saru Joshi, gender and development expert.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/05/24/bleak-economic-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A 2017 World Bank report</a>, however, stated that if present trends continue Nepal will not reach its middle-income target. It pointed out that despite rapid reduction in the poverty rate, the country’s development path has not led to economic growth but perpetuated a shortage of jobs at home, which in turn is fuelling further <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/reducing-labour-pain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outmigration</a>. And while remittance accounts for one-third of the national GDP, it is a symptom of deep-seated, chronic problems.Planners say that a slew of new hydropower and large infrastructure projects planned for the next 10 years, a boom in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/guiding-nepals-tourism-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tourism and the service sector</a>, and better connectivity will create jobs at home, discouraging youth from seeking employment elsewhere.“We know our targets are ambitious but we also have the most favourable environment to achieve it. There is finally stability, the present growth is already at 7%, some <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major hydropower projects</a> are taking off and we have made huge investments in information technology,” said Rupakheti.Shahi forecasts optimistically: “The 2020s will be a progressive decade of sustainable and just development. There will be prosperity along with social justice. There will be double-digit growth, increased investment from the government and the focus will be on quality, not quantity.”

Sonia Awale

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How will Nepal develop in the next decade?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636922199c7e80680e03a10cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Bikram Rai</figcaption></figure>Nepal has made dramatic improvements in literacy rates and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/performance-legitimacy,3505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school enrollment</a> over the past 20 years. The same <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=857#.W5obd84zaUm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cannot be said for the quality of education</a>, however.Teacher training just focuses on how to use existing sloppily-produced text books to prepare for exams rather than the underlying philosophy behind the curriculum. Assessments are used to catch and punish students, rather than to understand if they are learning properly.Though not perfect, educators agree that Nepal’s curriculum is sufficiently good, and includes details about skills students need to learn in every subject. But ineffective implementation of the curriculum impedes true learning, and jeopardises the future of the country's young minds.Most teachers are oblivious of the difference between curriculum and textbooks, so teaching primarily becomes making students memorise these books. Rajendra Dahal of Shikshak magazine says the domination of textbook-learning means that curriculum aims do not reach classrooms.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/6369221c9c7e80680e03a10djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1027"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Textbooks have now become a part of the problem, perpetuating the gap between classrooms and the curriculum. Experts say a good curriculum should not be driven by textbooks or exams, rather by an overall vision that tries to identify the country’s needs. Learning should be experiential and related to the students’ world, and what they identify with.Says one Nepali teacher trainer: “Present teacher training is only about how to use textbooks, not why and how to realise the goals of the curriculum. Teachers have to know how children learn, as well as the purpose and goal of the curriculum.”Beyond this, textbooks are often <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/school-textbooks-in-Nepal-are-outrageously-bad,2475" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shoddy, full of mistakes and poorly written</a> and produced. When teachers focus primarily on such textbooks, the problem is compounded.Students are therefore <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Learning-from-experience,2038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deprived of the experiential learning</a> that comes from the world around them. Instead of embracing this, the education system dismisses students’ reality and instills an illusion that rote learning from a textbook and sitting exams is a proper education.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/6369221f9c7e80680e03a10ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="688"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922219c7e80680e03a10fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="340">“Classroom models must now change to better facilitate learning. Students themselves are a rich trove of knowledge, not just the empty vessels we have treated them as ,” explains Lava Deo Awasthi, former Secretary of Education. He adds that teachers went through a traditional learning system themselves and have to unlearn the style they learnt at school.The National Center for Educational Development (NCED) has been launching periodical teacher training programs, bringing teachers up to speed on pedagogy, using of teaching resources and conducting activities.“Many teachers now have access to training, but teachers must also implement what they learn,” says Diwakar Chapagain of NCED. “Teachers can give excellent model classes, but if one happens to stumble into a regular class of the same teacher, then the quality of teaching is not great.”Textbook improvement is just a component of overall quality of education. And teachers alone cannot be blamed, they need more support and training to help understand their roles.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922239c7e80680e03a110jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="275">“So the focus must shift to mobilising teacher training materials and library books to promote better learning,” says Shanta Dixit of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19131#.W5ob084zaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rato Bangala Foundation</a>, which is involved in upgrading the capacity of teachers in government schools. “Motivated teachers will not just paraphrase textbooks, but foster critical thinking and creativity to fulfill curriculum aims.”With local governments now in place, the opportunity to improve gaps between classrooms and curriculum is immense. However, Kathmandu has been reluctant to hand over power over education to local governments.<h4>Examining examinations</h4><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922259c7e80680e03a111jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Every year in June, there are news flashes about who passed and failed the high school SEE tests. But how good are these exams?Evaluation <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/grading-the-grades,3124" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was changed into grading system</a> to make it more descriptive and holistic, but all that happened was that numbers were converted into letter-grades. Exams still fail to capture the true sense of a students’ ability, and SEE questions are still primarily memory based.The curriculum also provides guidelines for evaluation, and to receive an A+, a student must possess exceptional skills of ‘problem-solving, creativity, critical expression and participation’. But exams do not measure any such abilities.Many teachers and parents believe that good exam results indicate quality, so teachers teach to enable students to pass the existing exams, making them memorise facts and practice on past papers. But if exams themselves were to improve to ask analytical questions, students would do even more poorly because they are only taught to regurgitate text book content.“Without teachers being trained to foster skills and thoughts in students, we are now limited to asking traditional questions,” says Chandra Mani Paudel of the National Examinations Board.Paudel says he has started work to change this by improving questions so that they will measure application and thinking skills, beyond what is just memory-based. The Board has already started training teachers on better question-setting.Paudel says he plans to completely change the existing focus by empowering teachers, preparing quality questions and researching about how it affects students. He adds: “This is new and will take time. It will also need support from the Education Ministry to take it forward.”

After quantity, Nepal's education needs quality

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How will Nepal develop in the next decade?

After quantity, Nepal's education needs quality