Priority To Innovation

Nepal has given high priority to the development of education considering its significant contribution to achieving economic growth, making innovations and maintaining social harmony and stability. There is no denying the fact that education is an important driver of an overall development of any nation because it is one of the most powerful tools to reduce poverty and gender and other social inequalities. It also helps in improving people's health, bolstering institutions and maintaining peace.

As education is the key to making citizens more competent, responsible and dutiful and creating employment and other livelihood opportunities for individuals, the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 takes it as one of the fundamental rights of citizens. Most developed nations worldwide have achieved their present status owing to their consistent focus on education. Therefore, it is essential for nations like ours to make effective investments in people’s education in order to develop the desired human capital so as to deal with poverty and other development challenges. No nation can make much progress in socio-economic and technological advancement without imparting the advanced cognitive, socio-emotional, technical and digital skills to its citizens, especially youth.

Despite facing a spate of problems, Nepal has come a long way in terms of literacy over the decades. As per the National Census 2021, the country's literacy rate of the total population aged five years and above has increased to 76.3 per cent from 65.9 per cent in 2011.  The male literacy rate is 83.6 per cent while the female literacy rate stands at 69.4 per cent. Over the past few decades, the nation has witnessed a massive rise in the number of educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities. However, the country has continued to go through the problem of brain drain, with hundreds of thousands of Nepali students going abroad for higher studies every year. The nation incurs a huge loss monetarily as well because such students take a lot of money with them. Lingering political instability and dearth of prospects for better education and jobs are the major reasons for the mass exodus of youth.  Some of the universities in the nation are often blamed for not providing quality education to students and producing only ‘unemployed lot’.

In such a situation, all national academic institutions, especially universities, are required to lay much focus on imparting research-based education and innovation to students so as to retain them within the country. Unless energetic and well-educated youth are reluctant to stay in the nation, it may not be possible for such a country to make strides in development endeavours.  Taking this into consideration, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has called on universities in Nepal to concentrate their efforts on research and innovation. Addressing the 28th convocation ceremony of the Kathmandu University (KU) organised in Dhulikhel on Sunday, the Prime Minister said that various challenges had emerged because of the establishment of universities and other higher education institutions without making proper planning for ensuring quality and reliability. He suggested that postgraduate level courses should prioritise research and innovation and the undergraduate level ones need to focus on practical learning. 

A total of 1,240 students graduated from various disciplines like arts, education, engineering, medicine, science and law. Of them, 73 were from four foreign countries-- Benin, India, Sri Lanka and the United States of America. With numerous universities in operation nationwide, Nepal could be an important hub for education in numerous fields like information and digital technology, environmental science, medicine, among others. Established 32 years ago, KU has become one of the reputed academia dedicated to promoting research-based education. The university is praised for bringing out inspiring outcomes from researches on green hydrogen, artificial intelligence and agriculture.