Ensure Quality Education To All

There is no doubt that education is very important in any individual's life, male or female. It is no different in Nepal, and it is an encouraging indicator that almost everyone knows the importance of education to make life fuller for a person and for him or her to make it better. The government is fully aware of this need of the nation and the people, and the guardians also fully know that their children should get good education to get better and more opportunities later in their life.

But to delve into the downside of this important sector, it must be admitted that first of all, there are not enough schools for everyone. It may sound unbelievable, but many students in different places still have to traverse in difficult terrain for hours just to reach their schools. For this, sometimes they have to put their lives at risk while crossing rivers, especially during the rainy season. Then there is also the poverty factor, which dominates day-to-day lives of the masses, which also curtails the parents from sending their wards to school, because they cannot afford to pay school fees and buy other compulsorily needed accessories like books, copies and school uniforms among others.

Poor performance 

Those who can afford it, send their children to more expensive schools, which they feel gives better education. They are right in some ways, because the results of the SEE examination which used to be called SLC or school leaving certificate till the recent past, have shown those studying in private schools have done much better than those who studied in community schools. In fact, several schools in difficult areas had zero number of students passing the SEE exams. But blaming only the students for their failure wouldn't be fair. Some blame must go to the management of such schools and the teachers must also be held accountable for the fail grade of these young students, which could be a major factor in what happens in their future when they have to find jobs and fend for themselves, if not their family members.

What sort of responsibility should the government take for its inability to provide better education and thus, better opportunities to these young citizens of the country from whom the nation looks forward to guide it in later days when this generation holds the reins of politics and other sectors? All understand that the government takes this issue very seriously. This has been reflected in the decisions of different governments to allot a huge amount of its budget in the field of education. Furthermore, the teachers of the community schools also get good salaries, that also on time and other perks exactly like any civil servant, which include government holidays and pensions after they retire. This is a far cry from the sad reality being faced by more qualified teachers in the private schools, who are not only poorly paid, but exploited in other different ways as well.

When there has been such positive response from the government and when children really want to have better access to good education, why did this not reflect in the ground reality in the community schools?  This probably was due to the slackness seen in the strict monitoring of the management side of the government schools, where teachers were and still are employed because of their political connections and beliefs rather than on merit. And also in these teachers giving more priority to politics than to education and also the habit of teachers in not showing any accountability for failing to properly teach their students. These factors also are equally to be blamed.

Add to this the absence of physical infrastructure and also the under-staffed situation that exists in many community schools, these also act as catalysts for the poor performance of such teaching institutions, many of which have been built with the insistent demands of the local people and also the monetary help received from them. At this juncture, we can say that there is a 'dual system' of education existing in the country now. It is not only physical infrastructure, the huge gap in the fees charged by private and public schools, but also the extra activities offered by the private schools and more importantly the expensive books prescribed by them, which allows such a system to flourish further. 

This is an unfair and unacceptable educational scenario that divides this least developed country, which is also burdened at present with several other serious problems. No one can also afford to ignore the fact that such a situation will bring some unfortunate events in the future, while guiding the younger generation, who will be making important decisions for the country one day when they hold the reins of the country. The government must hold consultations with experts in this field and then only make long term policies in the educational sector. The Ministry of Education, must introduce strict regulations, so that students, rich or poor, are not exploited while trying to receive quality education. 

Disheartening performance

It is true that some private schools are charging huge amounts of money in one pretext and the other, and on the other side, the community schools have failed to properly educate even brilliant and hardworking students. This has been clearly reflected from the results of the SEE exams and the disheartening performance shown by the students of public schools. The time has come for the government to deal with this irksome issue, through some long-term and stable policies which will be fulfilled no matter who becomes the Education Minister or which party he or she represents. 

Just like the consistent manner by which most nations follow their foreign policy, Nepal must consistently adopt the trend to follow a firm policy in education, which shapes the future of not only individual students, but also the entire nation. It may take some time for this pragmatic policy to have any impact in the performance of the students right now, but it will surely bring a positive outcome for the whole education sector and allow it to grow without any political intervention or exploitation.

(The author is former chief editor of this daily.)