Kathmandu:

Education system in Nepal has had a unique blend of existence. During the Rana reign of about 104 years (1847 to 1950), the rulers were against educating the general people, as they thought education would inspire the people to take part in social reform movements to fight inequalities, the oligarchic system and despotic rule. The establishment of the education system can be traced back to the year 1853 when Durbar High School was started. It was the first public school in Nepal where only the Ranas and their relatives had the opportunity enhance their education.

Before the 1950 revolution to oust the Rana, only 332 schools including primary, middle, high and technical, had been set up. The dawn of democracy in 1950 cleared the path to set up many schools, giving rise to private schools. The first private school was the Tribhuvan Adarsha School. But the Adarsh Vidya Mandir established in 1966, Lalitpur, was the first private school in Nepal started on private property and with risk. With the growing popularity of English medium education, the elite were either sending their children to India or started enrolling their wards in private and boarding schools in Nepal itself. An enormous change could be seen in education scenario when in 1971 New Education System (NES) was constituted and all community-run schools were brought into the national bracket and even private schools were provided with government assistance scheme.

The government initiated the campaign to spread the basic schooling system throughout the country. The poor and underprivileged were encouraged to send their children to basic and primary schools. Today we have nearly 8,000 private and 18,000 government schools. On one hand private schools are earning a good name through their regular and consistent efforts to provide quality education, while on the other hand these institutions are said to be commercialised, not fulfiling social norms and obligations.

Public schools are granularly deteriorating, the reasons — no curb or discipline on management, carelessness of the teachers, poor infrastructure, unavailability of necessary material. Most of the schools in villages are ramshackle huts with crumbling walls, leaky roofs. where malnourished children squat on the bare earth or jute or straw mats.

Public education system uses almost 13 per cent of the government money in its development but has failed to deliver what has always been expected. The failure has brought about quite a few social and economic problems and stagnancy in society. The educational scene in government schools is all too familiar — teachers staging dharnas and processions to press for their ‘just’ demands, widespread copying in examinations, especially in rural schools, with invigilators themselves aiding in the process, irresponsible marking.

Public schools do have poor infrastructure, over crowding, traditional mode of teaching learning. Students look more addicted to political influences leading to regular class

disruptions and the teaching becomes select -based and superficial. To add to the confusion, the education department is generally headed by bureaucrats who give priority to higher administration than to the daily changing needs of education. What could be a way out? The government knows only one solution — appoint an educational commission, but we have had committees whose thick reports gather dust. Any new commission would be useless.

It’s clear that private schools are doing their best but in recent years these are being accused of a few irregularities. People claim these schools have been charging exorbitant fees and aren’t meeting certain social obligations. In 2003, agitating students’ bodies put up several demands such as fee ceiling, scholarships to 25 per cent students, freeships to the Dalits and marginalised and to the martyrs’ children in all private schools. The recently added education regulation adds that auditing account books of private schools by government appointed auditors has been mandatory.

But so far schools have remained mum in sharing their audit reports with guardians and students. The perfect solution lies in the improvement of public schools which could enjoy large scale reform polices. Let programmes and policies not remain simply on paper, largely because of the lack of coordination efforts. Let education not be prostituted for political purposes. Let education that begins at home be and carried on and encourage the young to face difficult situations in life. Let them be able to find out new opportunities in every adversity and face every difficulty with courage; let them be ready to grapple with underlying situations with poise and equanimity.

(The author is principal of New Don Bosco Academy)