Kathmandu, October 5:

Internet was introduced in Nepal over a decade ago, but its use in educational sector is still negligible. Lack of infrastructure and manpower and the governments’ indifference to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, have contributed to the slow development of Internet services in Nepal, speakers at a programme, ‘Use of Internet in education: Challenges and Opportunities,’said.

President of Nepal Teachers’ Association Keshav Bhattarai said leadership, willingness and vision were necessary for the development of ICT, but we lacked all three in Nepal, he said. Tika Bhattarai, an educationist, highlighted the lack of infrastructure to disseminate information in Nepal. He urged the government to adopt guidelines to make the distribution of information over the Internet systematic and useful.

There was virtually no use of ICT in teachers’ training programmes, said Babu Ram Adhikari, the president of Teachers’ Union. “Development of Internet is important at a time when the basic needs of education are difficult to fulfil,” he said. We did not not have the manpower, the resources or the infrastructure to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural population, he added.

“Internet was introduced in Nepal in 1994 and since 1997, it has been available to general public with ease. But so far, computer and Internet have only been used, by and large, for database management, which comprises a very small portion of all the applications of the computer and Internet,” said Dipesh Giri, a technocrat. There were hundreds of ways to make ICT useful in enhancing the quality of education, he said, adding, the developing of Internet facilities was just one of them. Giri highlighted the need of a platform through which learners and trainers can stay in touch. He said Nepal did not lack manpower.