Nepal Primary Education Forum: Discuss quality education in Nepal.

We are trying to raise the level of debate about the quality of education in Nepal's primary schools and have opened a forum on LinkedIn entitled Nepal Primary Education Forum. Our opening discussion begins with What is "quality education"? How is it delivered in primary schools? If you cannot define it ..... how can you deliver it, manage it or improve it. The School Sector Reform Plan depends on it!

We invite you to visit this discussion via the link and to join the group to add your voice and influence to developing the primary education sector. It doesn't matter whether you are based in Nepal or not, if you have an interest in Nepal and the education system your knowledge and experience could help.

Millennium Development Goals, School Sector Reform Plan: Who knows, who cares?

Compare the following statements:

1. "A key indicator and goal is to reduce class sizes from 41 to 34 (School Sector Reform Plan)"

2. "We have achieved 93.7% enrolment in primary schools (United Nations Development Report, Nepal 2010)"

3. "Nepal is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (Goal 2 Universal Primary Education, World Bank/IMF statement 2011)"

...... with these statements from Binod Ghimire writing in ekantipur today:

1. "A majority of the 642 public schools in the Valley have fewer students than the standard of 45 students per teachers set by the Ministry of Education"

2. "“Student enrollment in primary schools has decreased remarkably in the last five years and if the trend continues, many schools will have to be closed in the next five years”

3. "37 schools have closed in the Valley in the past two years due to poor enrolment"

They don't stack up do they? And suddenly we get quotes "explaining" the latter with statements such as:

"Education experts blame over-politicisation and “irresponsible teachers” for the deterioration of the quality of education in public schools"

“The situation is never going to improve unless teachers perform their duties responsibly,” (Mana Prasad Wagle, Educationist)

Well there's a surprise! But what would be an even bigger surprise would be some clarifying statements from ADB and DFID as major funders of education reform, together with some decisive action from the Nepalese government and INGO's such as ActionAid Nepal as major implementers!

Don't hold your breath.

Official: Quality Education needs quality teachers!

An excellent "report" on the UNESCO (Kathmandu) website today following World Teachers Day. Fully reprinted below with the vital words in bold and underlined. Thank goodness we agree, but is anybody in Nepal listening or acting?

"Today, on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, we take a stand for all Nepali teachers.  They have a central role in shaping children’s lives.  They are essential for the cultural, social, economic and intellectual development of the country.  They are vital change agents in Nepal’s transformational process.

But only quality teachers can achieve quality education.  For this, there are three prerequisites:  Nepal's teachers should have adequate training. Nepal's teachers should have access to ongoing professional development. And the rights of Nepal's teachers should be protected.

Only teachers who are well trained, can provide quality education and promote the values of citizenship, peace and intercultural dialogue. Nepal has made clear progress in terms of teacher training. However not all teachers have had the opportunity to receive adequate training.  

All teachers need professional development throughout their careers, with continuous feedback between theory, practice, and research.  Life-long training, networks of learning teachers, action research, community relations, evaluation and accountability: all these are crucial factors for making teachers who can provide their students with the most productive and successful settings for learning.

The rights of   all teachers must be protected. The low status of some teachers and unequal working conditions infringe on their rights, while discouraging talented young people from joining and remaining in the teaching profession.

Investing in viable national policies and programmes for teacher training, recruitment and incentives will encourage teachers to remain in their posts and develop their professional skills.  At the same time development partners should also increase investment in well trained teachers.

Today, on World Teachers’ Day, we celebrate all Nepali teachers, especially female teachers, who serve in deprived and disadvantaged areas reaching out to the excluded, and bringing them the prospect of a better life through education. We particularly commend those who work in extremely challenging circumstances for their strong commitment to quality teaching.

In Nepal and elsewhere in the world, nothing will ever replace a good teacher. Nothing is more important than taking a stand for teachers." 

Hanaa Singer

UNICEF Representative

Education reports of two decades .... unimplemented!

The headline says it all, in the last 20 years no fewer than 11 separate reports for the development of Nepal's education system have been unimplemented.

 These include reports on Improvement of Education Policy (1991), Regulating The Private Education Sector (1999), Systematising The School Leaving Certificate (2000), Textbook Development (2010). There have been many others only partially implemented, the most recent being the School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP) 2009, where there are a variety of pieces of conflicting evidence as to it's spread and depth across the country.

The cost of producing these reports has been astronomic, in many cases funded by many aid programmes and development agencies. DFID alone contributed £££ millions to the SSRP.

One of the major factors in the non implementation is the frequent changes in government and subsequent changes in Education Ministers who want to revise policies etc to their own tunes! Of course such government changes affects other policies too including road building, hydro-power, and many others. But it beggars belief that something as fundamental as education with inputs to policy developments made by national and international experts should be subjected to political interference.

Who would be a teacher ........ or a child in Nepal?

You can read the full report here Republica

Sensational news: Quality education depends on the teachers not the building!

Another article from Nepal's My Republica newspaper caught my eye today, and for once (at last!) it's about something very positive about education. You can read the full article here Republica . Sharda Secondary School is in Sailung, about 70 miles east of Kathmandu. It has 350 students and has had 100% pass rate for the SLC exam (School Leaving Certificate) for the past 3 years!! Why? Simple: The quality of teachers and teaching, the dedication and hard work of teachers. As we have said for many years "you can deliver quality education under a tree if the teachers are trained, skilled and motivated".

Here are a few extracts from the article, your comments would be appreciated!

"The school building is yet to be completed. The windows and doors aren’t fixed in. The roof leaks when it rains. The students’ desks and benches are not very comfortable, either. In short, the physical infrastructure isn’t very good. 

But the school operates everyday. Its teachers are hard working and provide proper encouragement to the students. The villagers also praise the school and its teachers.

The level of education is also good. The SLC results achieved by Sharda School have made it the talk of the district. After producing results like those of expensive private schools, people have been praising the teachers of the school.

Kumar Tamang, member of the school’s managing committee, believes that it is due to the hard work of the teachers and the students that such good results have materialized.

Sharda Secondary School is now counted as one of the best schools in the district. Students are happy that their school is good. 7th grader Ritu Magar feels happy that her school is so popular. “I have many friends at school now. Our teachers teach us daily. They even take extra classes. Now everything is good,” says Ritu."

Primary-level reading culture: A farfetched dream for Nepal?

KATHMANDU, Sept 30:
A short article in today's My Republica newspaper in Kathmandu describes a "high level" seminar discussing the appalling standards of reading ability (literacy?) of children in the country's primary schools. as usual things like this make for very depressing reading and merely adds to our deepening sense of frustration at our inability to get the Ministry of Education to engage in a meaningful dialogue with us.
The full article can be found here My Republica  and some extracts are shown below:

The educational curriculum in the country has been anything but effective, with the idea of education being set as either passing the terminal and annual examinations or failing them. The idea of responsibility and achievement of a student, teacher or school is only limited to report cards.

The lack of classroom materials and uniform distribution of textbooks all over the country is another hindrance to making the education system justifiable. 

It is difficult for such schools to recognize the idea of reading culture amidst the lack of resources. It is no news that most of the teachers from primary to higher secondary level in these schools are not qualified for the job, either. Reading books for students in these schools is a dream too farfetched, especially when even textbooks aren’t easily available there.

How can we expect students to take up reading other than textbooks when the teachers aren’t resourceful enough? Where can they learn to pick up the habit of reading?