Unless we produce qualified professionals, building new Nepal will remain a pipedream.

Since the inception of multiparty democracy, successive governments have made efforts at improving the quality of education. However, the objective of delivering quality education has not materialised, mostly owing to lacklustre approach in implementing government policies and programmes. School education, in Nepal, remains dismal also because of unnecessary government intervention in educational establishments from time to time. There are many such evidences. Instead of correcting them, the government has constantly been engaged in breaching the quality norms and making further mistakes.

Last year, the government decided to recognise ten months’ training after SLC as equivalent to grade 11. Moreover, they have also announced that ten months’ training after grade twelve will be considered equivalent to B.Ed first year. At a time when the undergraduate degrees in most countries across the globe require four years of study, the government seems ready to award B.Ed degree in two years’ time. Is not this a retrograde move? How can ten months’ training be considered equivalent to an entire year of academic study?

Worse still, the training contents and methodology at the Education Training Centres (ETCs) are below par as compared with the academic ones. This will only produce incompetent and unskilled teachers but also have an impact on the quality of students produced. In our own neighbouring countries, a primary school teacher requires a Bachelor’s degree plus a year or two years’ training. In our context, SLC pass-outs fulfil the minimum qualification for teachers of primary schools.

The School Sector Reform programme envisages 12 years of schooling as minimum qualifications for the primary school teachers. On the pretext of upgrading the qualifications of teachers, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has made a wrong decision to equate the ten months’ training with academic degree.

As per the government provisions, aspiring teachers are required to sit for exams that certify them to be allowed to work as teachers. However, it is also true that the government has distributed teachers’ licences to all and sundry, without actually assessing the qualifications and performance of the candidates. It should be noted that only such candidates, who have undertaken trainings, are qualified to sit for teacher’s examinations. That means licensing examination is the second layer of quality control. Recently, Education Minister Renu Yadav announced that the Ministry of Education has decided to scrap the teachers’ licensing examinations. If implemented, this will be another erroneous and irresponsible move that will still degrade the educational system.

The government should not take any such decision without consulting the concerned stakeholders, as it is likely to negatively affect not only the educational establishments but also the future generation of students. The planners in the government need to study the teacher appointment procedures in neighbouring countries and abroad, before deciding on a model suitable for Nepal.

Teachers’ employment should not be considered as objects to be divided as shares among the ruling parties as they do so in other appointments. They should be thought of as country’s assets, who work hard to build the future of the nation by producing competent human resources. Unless teachers are competent enough to produce qualified and competent professionals, the dream of the government to materialise a new Nepal will only remain a pipedream. The government should refrain from making immature decisions merely on the whims of a minister, who plainly seems to be guided by political motives rather than the broader national interest. It is high time that the government and the ministers in question rise above party politics and work towards building a bright future for the country.

The Ministry of Education has been telling the public that there are 60,000 vacancies for teachers in schools. They are now keen on employing new teachers. In doing so, the ruling parties are learnt to be wrangling for equal shares, without considering essential qualities such as competence and quality of the aspiring teachers. To make matters worse, most of the aspiring teachers neither have academically sound credentials nor have pre-service training. There would, therefore, hardly be any question if a majority of them would pass through the licensing examinations. This apparently is the only reason the ruling parties want to scrap the existing system of teacher licensing system. Is the government aware that there are more than 300,000 people with valid training certificates and teaching licenses waiting for an opportunity to serve as teachers? Can’t the Ministry of Education appoint teachers from amongst them instead of making decisions that will only invite public ire?

Dr Wagley is an educationist