Renu Kshetry

Kathmandu, March 7:

Ministry of Education and Sports, with the financial assistance from the Japanese government, is launching a pilot project next month to bringing underprivileged children to schools in Siraha and Dhangadi districts.

Haribol Khanal, executive director at Non Formal Education (NFE) centre under the Department of Education said the two districts were chosen to create regional balance as the drop out rate and gender disparity rate are very high here. "The project is different from the regular system as it focuses on students who have not been able to go to schools due to household chores," said Khanal. Majority of Dalits reside in both the districts.

According to NFE centre, the estimated budget of Rs 60,00,000 for the five-year project will be provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project comprises two Nepali and two Japanese experts along with four other members. The project has three types of programmes — nine months training, three year programme with the formal educational text group and flexible schooling for working children. The project will focus on students who after completing the five year non-formal education are eligible to sit for entrance test for the grade five school education.

The project scheduled to begin from the second week of April will target children from 6 to 14 years. It is being jointly conducted by the MoES, NFE centre and the Japanese government. The project will also focus on strengthening the NFE system and improving the educational strategy.

Kenichi Tanaka, JICA advisor to the Department of Education (DOE) said that due to financial crunch we have started with just two districts. "Our main objective is to bring in the out of school students into the educational mainstream through non-formal education," said Tanaka. Twenty per cent children are still out of schools," said Tanaka.

The next meeting with the joint coordination committee headed by ministry officials, DOE officials, the NFE centre chief, and the ministry of local development representatives will be held on March 9 to discuss further programmes. Krishna Lamsal, programme officer at JICA said the project will transform non-formal education into formal education. The project will also help in enhancing the capacity-building of the employees.