Trustee Chairman slams Nepal education statistics!

We all probably know the quote about " .... lies, damn lies and statistics" and this can certainly be applied to some of the general statistics floating around about Nepal's educational performance at the moment. As initial background Nepal has signed up to the UN's Millenium Development Goals one of which is Universal Primary Education by 2015. This means that the country is supposed to achieve 100% of children taking (and completing) primary education by 2015. The figures put out by the government over the past couple of years has shown a steady increase where last year it was quoted as 94.9%, a long way forward from the initial 80% or so. The problem however is that this overall figure hides some disturbing facts and here are a few:

1. Nepal female literacy 54%, male literacy 81% 
2. Secondary education female 29%, male secondary education 53% 
3. Tarai region Dalit caste female literacy 17%, male literacy 48% 
4. Tarai region Dalit caste female secondary education 5%, male secondary education 19% 

 So, when you analyse deeper the overall progress figure of 94.9% this probably means nothing more than that this is the % of children who enrol at primary school. Of course it tells us nothing about the ever present male-female divide, regional differences or most importantly the serious disadvantage felt by Dalits as a caste group. We are interested in these figures for two reasons. Firstly the children attending our 6 schools in Kathmandu are mostly Dalits and we are therefore strengthened in our resolve to help this massively underprivileged group of children, born into poverty and discrimination, destined for nothing and nowhere. Secondly the Nepalese government's so called strategy to assist this group is so short sighted to be laughable. They seem to think that scholarships for boys and girls is the answer, pay them all around £3 or so each to buy a school uniform and stationery and this will solve the problem. I don't think I have ever heard anything so outrageous and destined to fail. Put £3 in a Dalit's hand and most of them will buy milk and food for their infant children! Can you blame them? Why can't the government just supply the schools with stationery just as we at Nepal Schools Aid do? What is the point of a school uniform when you don't have a pen, a pencil, a textbook? Why bother to come to school at all when it's so mind numbingly boring sitting rigidly at a desk listening to a teacher drone on about Pythagoras, Queen Victoria or English past tense verbs? Where is the child centred learning, where is the creativity, the play? When will this blasted government and the foreign aid agencies start listening to a different strategy to transform the education system instead of pouring money down the drain?