Investment in education is investment in development. The more we spend on education today, the more we can reap tomorrow. However, the outcome of investment in the field of education cannot be seen immediately. Nepal is spending around 17 per cent of its national budget in the education sector. Out of which, about 60 per cent is consumed by basic and primary education provided free of cost. Whatever amount we spend on education, almost all of it goes for distributing salary, so very little or none is left for development purposes. That’s why the infrastructure of the schools is still below standard even after spending billions of rupees through costly projects.

Educational projects in Nepal have not been successful in raising the standard of education in the past two decades. This is because we have not properly identified the investment areas in this sector. The authorities readily sign any agreement for such projects without a vision for the nation’s future. We do not want our development partners to be unhappy, so we follow whatever advice is given and thus land up nowhere.

Forty per cent of the total population comprises the youth. Out of which, very few are educated and only some are literate. The literacy rate of 15-24 age group is not encouraging. Adult literacy and child literacy rates in poor families are very low. According to a report published recently, first 10 per cent of the poorest group has an adult literacy rate of only 19 per cent and that of children counts 26 per cent. Those who are educated are jobless, not to talk of the others. What do they do then? People say that an empty brain is a devil’s workshop. Gambling, drinking, drug addiction, etc., are some of the outcomes of this scenario. Many have joined the militant force. What benefit did Nepal get with these social ills? What we have is chaos, instability and deeper poverty. Is this what we wanted from our education system?

The history of public education in Nepal started in 1951. It has already been 15 years when we restored democracy. We are not moving forward; we are rather going down, why? It is because we could not devise our own educational plan with a vision for another 20 years or so. What we did was a patchwork in education taking loans and/or grants from different development partners to serve them more than to fulfil our domestic interests. Now we are in the process of developing a new Nepal through a constituent assembly. At this crucial period, we have to think seriously about the fate of out future builders. What kind of Nepal do we envisage after 20 years? Changing the existing textbooks will not suffice nor changing the administrative heads.

The government should encourage professional discourse among education experts and stakeholders to come up with a visionary plan of education for at least 20 years from now. The discourse should take its course in two directions, if not more. One, they have to think about the kind of education provided to children. Second, they have to think about survival skills for those who do not have formal education. It is high time that the government gave importance to technical and vocational training. Thus, plans need to be made to have both streams of education, general and vocational, in schools and tertiary education. The children should have the right to choose between the two streams. The system should provide an opportunity for the kids to switch over to either stream. In other words, the forthcoming education system should have an integration of both general and technogical/vocational education in a balanced way, not like the present watertight compartment.

To increase the number of educated people, we have to boost the access to education. Thus formal education alone cannot do this. We have to move forward emphasising the non-formal structure as well. Open education can be a strong mechanism for this. We thus need a new system of education soon.

The major goal of education should be to lead towards reducing the disparity between the rich and the poor. But the present system is encouraging this gap. Private schools have helped to some extent, but they have widened the gap. They have become more commercial and have only served the affluent class. This is a serious matter. The government should thus come up with a clear agenda on its liability towards educating its citizens. In order to establish a sound base for development, the government should commit free and compulsory school education. But commitment alone will not be sufficient; there must be quality education too. In this context, privatisation of school education should be discouraged. At least the same basic education should be available to all the citizens regardless of caste, culture, gender and remoteness. Let’s hope for a better Nepal with peace, prosperity and progress through a well-planned and visionary education system, replacing the feudal and bourgeois type of education we have been experiencing for more than five decades.

Dr Wagley is professor of Education, TU