Reform Public Education

Education is considered a key means of empowering citizens. It equips an individual with the necessary knowledge and skills to cope with life's challenges. The development of any society is measured by how educated, civilised, and talented its citizenry is. There are examples galore in which the nations have achieved mesmerising transformations on the back of educated people, even if they lack natural and financial resources. South Korea is a fitting instance of this kind. It rose from the ashes of wars to become an advanced industrial society within a short span of time. However, the state requires adequate investment in the education sector, with an effective policy framework and structures. This is where the importance of public education lies.  

Public education ensures equal access for all students to schools and colleges free of cost or at minimal cost, irrespective of their economic and ethnic backgrounds. It fosters common citizenship and social cohesion, which is not possible in the expensive schools and universities that are afforded only by rich families. When families can afford quality education for their children without denting their hard-earned savings, it leads to improved living standards. More importantly, an educated workforce contributes to economic growth through the development of entrepreneurship and innovation. However, Nepal's public education system is in the doldrums due to the state's misplaced 

priority. It has been highly politicised and commercialised, with the common people finding it difficult to get their wards enrolled in good educational institutes.  

Public education and employment generation bear a symbiotic link. A productive workforce becomes the instrument of prosperity. But our country has been reeling from a dual dilemma. On one hand, a large number of youths are leaving the country to pursue their higher education abroad after completing their plus two or bachelor's level. On the other hand, those who have completed their studies here are struggling to secure the job of their choice. These students have seen no option but to move to foreign countries for lucrative opportunities. The youth have perceived the entrenched corruption and bad governance as primary factors behind their plight in their own country. This gradually fuelled discontent that spiraled into violent revolt last September. 

Following the Gen Z revolt, the youth have been brainstorming the social, economic and education discourses as the country is gearing up for the general elections in March this year. The other day, the Gen Z youths interacted with experts with a view to carrying out reform in public education. The speakers called for ending the two types of education system – public and private-, while underlining the fact that political change would not be sustainable until the public education system is restructured. The Gen Z representatives have struck the right note when they urged making public education reform an election agenda.

It has become essential to reform the education sector to overcome social inequality. These days, according to the educationists, social cohesion is missing in public education. In the past, the children from all social strata enrolled in public schools but these days, only those hailing from the low-income families study in the state-funded schools. Some Gen Z youths have shared that traditional structures have posed an obstacle to launching meaningful reform in the education sector. The Gen Z youths have raised the right issue at the right time, which must resonate in the poll manifestos of the major and minor political parties.