There is no reason why the quality of learning should be different in public and private schools
Far from the gaze of the capital city, Kathmandu, a rural municipality in Khotang in east Nepal is experimenting to see if it can bring quality to the teaching learning process in the schools by making the principal more accountable. Accordingly, Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality has announced plans to appoint headmasters in 93 schools inside the municipality through open competition. The decision has been hailed across the country, and should it prove fruitful, it could serve as a model for other municipalities in the country to emulate. Under the new federal constitution, the local level has now been entrusted with the responsibility of managing education upto high school. The rural municipality is hopeful that its initiative will bring about a sense of competition among the community teachers, which should elevate the quality of education in the municipality.
A remarkable step, but the local stakeholders must remain vigilant to see that the position is not filled by cadres close to the party in power at the local level. The whole process of placing an advertisement for the post to selection of the headmaster should be carried out in a transparent manner through a competitive and legal process.
It needs no reiteration that the quality of education in the government-funded public, or community, schools leaves much to be desired. Hence, parents, even those who hold a job in the community schools, send their children to pri-vate schools despite the exorbitant costs involved.
This wasn't always the case. Until the advent of multi-party democracy in 1990, parents - rich and poor and regardless of their caste and social status - sent their children to public schools, mean-ing everyone got the same kind of education. But with the liberalisation of the education sector in the 1990s that allowed the private sector to open schools, the haves pulled their children out of the public schools. This brought social and economic division in society based on which school one attended.
And as with all sectors, education too got politicised, bringing ruin in the teaching standards in the public schools.
But of late, the community schools have been successful in attracting students not only in the rural areas but also in urban centres like Kathmandu. Actually, there is no reason why the quality of learning in the public schools should be any inferior to that of private schools. Public and community schools today have adequate infrastructure, and the teachers are treated at par with civil servants, earning a corresponding raise in their salaries and perks every time the government makes a new provision for the former.
But the teachers don't seem committed to their teaching profession largely due to the heavy politicisation of the education sector. In the past, teachers were appointed based on bhagbanda among the political parties, with each party appointing their cadres to the post. Now that the domain of school education has fallen on the lap of the local level, it must do what is best for the schools under its jurisdiction to bring learning quality in them. In the case of Majhuwagadhi municipality, the headmasters should be given adequate legal teeth to take action against the erring teachers.
Writ in full bench
It has been three weeks since Nepali Congress (NC) Parliamentary Party leader Uddhav Thapa was elected as Chief Minister of Koshi Province on July 6, with the support of Speaker Baburam Gautam, to prove his majority in the 93-member Kohsi Assembly.
A writ petition was filed by erstwhile chief minister Hikmat Karki of the CPN-UML at the Supreme Court, challenging the Speaker's role. But the apex court has not been able to give its verdict whether the Speaker can cast the tie vote. The CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party both have 46 lawmakers, while the ruling NC and CPN-Maoist Centre also have the same number. A majority vote is needed to lay claim on forming the government. As per the constitution, a Speaker cannot take any side while forming the government.
Now, the joint bench of Justices Sushmalata Mathema and Til Prasad Shrestha ordered the writ petition to be sent to the full bench comprising three or five Justices. Since Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki will retire on August 5, he has said he will not sit on the full bench. This case should be heard by the Constitutional Bench to be chaired by the Chief Justice. Since the writ is the first of its kind, the full bench should not delay in delivering its verdict to clear the air.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 26, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
