Even as the government advocates education for all, the sorry state of educational quality in government schools and colleges across the country fails to evoke a pleasing image of an educated and self-reliant citizenry. A recent report reveals that community schools in Kavre have SLC dropouts hired as teachers. Many government schools, especially those in the rural areas across the country, have much the same story to tell. To some extent, this is because of the dearth of qualified teachers ready to work in villages. On the other hand, the schools cite this reason to take undue liberty of hiring teachers on a random basis. Given this, it is not quite difficult to figure out why Nepali students lag far behind others in competition that requires them to demonstrate their knowledge and aptitude.

Teaching as a profession may not sound attractive to many. However, it is equally true that there are tens of thousands of qualified people who are desperate to get rid of the “unemployed” tag. Teaching for them definitely would be a respectable offer, if not the best. The schools and colleges should bring an end to the practice of hiring teachers randomly and instead select them on the merit basis. Moreover, the government needs to invest generously to attract more qualified professionals to the education sector, with greater incentives for those who are ready to work in rural areas.