KATHMANDU, MAY 29
Community and institutional schools have failed to run online classes effectively for want of resources.
At a virtual programme 'Education during pandemic: Challenges and coping strategies' organised here today by Sushil Koirala Memorial Foundation, Public School and Boarding Organisation of Nepal Co-chair DK Dhungana said community schools required resources for operating online classes.
Such schools should have access to technology and much needed devices to run virtual classes, he added that government contribution was needed for resource management in institutional schools.
Nepal Guardians Federation President Suprabhat Bhandari said the present education system was limited just to providing certificates as the practical dimensions had been neglected, and that this crisis should be addressed through policy-level efforts. He was of the view that government schools should utilise the budget meant for day meal and sanitary pads (which have remained largely unspent) to equip themselves technologically to conduct online classes effectively.
He argued that scholarship facility meant for students from disadvantaged community was being misappropriated as the long standing demand for establishing a 'scholarship bank' remained unaddressed." Target groups have less access to scholarship,'' he said.
Journalist and Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus teacher Jagat Nepal claimed that people from privileged groups had got scholarships and complained about non-implementation of fundamental rights such as right to education and right to health enshrined in the constitution.
The foundation's member secretary Atul Koirala said the objective of the event was to lobby for creating conducive atmosphere to give easy access to virtual learning to all the students during the COVID-19 crisis.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 30, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
