Nepal’s education minister resigns

Under pressure from all sides, especially his own political party, Ram Chandra Kuswaha has resigned from his post as Minister of Education. News update here

The big question everyone is now asking is whether he will face charges.

NSA Chairman blogs against corruption

The news from Nepal about corruption in the Ministry of Education and how it has adversely affected the country's School Sector Reform Plan, prompted Nepal Schools Aid chairman to pick up his blogging pen and write to the Nepal Economic Forum on the matter.

Self righteous anger doesn't get us anywhere, but at least his article cited other prominent Nepali writers who are starting to point the finger at Nepal's institutionalised corruption coupled with dereliction of duty on the part of some donors as well as offering this UK charity's prescription of values as a means to improve.

Read the article in full here at Nepal Economic Forum

Education Minister charged with corruption!

A disturbing report from Nepal today tells of Nepal’s Education Minister being charged with corruption leading to a number of aid agencies suspending their support. Specifically their support relates to 25% of the costs involved in implementing the School Sector Reform Plan which we described here a few days ago and is the basis of our upcoming teacher development week in April. The report is reproduced below and we will keep this blog updated with developments.

Bloody brilliant!

“International donors which had been funding or have pledged to fund various education projects including the School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) have suspended aid on the projects demanding action against education minister Ram Chandra Kushwaha who has been charged of corruption.
Representatives of the international donor community met finance minister Surendra Pandey Monday and said they will not resume providing aid until a convincing action is taken against the minister.
The aid suspension follows a probe by the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament on the minister. SSRP will be adversely affected by the aid suspension as international donors fund 25 percent in the programme. nepalnews.com”

Sujeev Shakya to open Teacher Development programme.

Only four weeks to our departure for Kathmandu and the launching of our Teacher Development programme on March 30th.
Preparation has been hectic with the intellectual work on the sessions and materials in the UK combined with the logistical organisation in Nepal. At times the skills required to herd cats would seem like child’s play!
Although this is our first programme we are determined to give it the “big bang” treatment, not least in our striving for media attention, support from corporate Nepal and the political backing of the Nepali Ministry of Education. So, we have asked and received a positive response from Sujeev Shakya to inaugurate our programme on 30th March.

Sujeev first came to our attention via his book Unleashing Nepal a forthright look at Nepal’s history of economic woes, it’s catalogue of aid cock-ups but with a challenging prescription of what needs to be done to catapult Nepal into the 21st Century. He is not only an author but also the Chairman of the Nepal Economic Forum and the CEO of Beed Management. In his spare time he writes a fortnightly article for Nepali Times, always humorous, often scathingly sharp towards some section of Nepali society. You can read more about him by clicking on http://www.sujeevshakya.com/

The information gap & NGO corruption

If there’s anything we pride ourselves on at Nepal Schools Aid it’s our integrity. We say what we mean, we mean what we say, we are honest, account for every penny we spend and focus 95% of our spending on our primary goal “educational support for the children of Nepal”. We guard our brand name and will not let anyone use it or do things in our name in Kathmandu. We have an exacting covenant with our donors in that they know exactly where their money will be spent.
So why are we telling you all this? Well, an article in the Nepali press written by a renowned social commentator, Sushma Joshi, has exposed some of the “misappropriation” of funds between donors, NGOs/charities and Government.It makes for interesting reading and gives food for thought in to why billions £ has been poured into Nepal but in many cases to little or no effect.

Click here to read it.

School Sector Reform Plan 2009-2015

Just over a month to go now and we will be off to Kathmandu to deliver the teacher training programme we have developed jointly with Haverigg Primary School. For those of you not regular readers we have two courses, for teachers "Creating a learning environment" and for Head teachers "Managing change". You can see a detailed description on our main website at www.nepalschoolsaid.co.uk
Now, the Nepal Ministry of Education has recently published a far reaching document which is a reform plan of the entire education system 2009-2015. Specifically the plan covers Early Childhood Education, Basic & Secondary Education, Literacy & Lifelong Learning, Teacher Professional Development and a great deal more. From our viewpoint working with Primary Schools a great deal of the plan's focus is on the physical infrastructure of the school system, so it outlines standards on things like buildings, classrooms, toilets, furniture. It sets increasing standards for initial qualifications to become a teacher and the selection process for Head teachers. School management is focused on relationships with the School Management Committees, local communities, local councils, together with governance outlines, teacher contracts, mandatory school opening days, standards of teacher attendance and much more.
This document is most valuable to us in that it gives us a template for the development of our five supported schools as well as some idea of where we may best be able to assist the Ministry of Education in our future dealings with them.