Mind the gap: A Brief Introduction to the Status of Education in Nepal

Nepal’s education quality has steadily improved in the last two decades. Throughout the country, enrolment has increased to nearly 97% net for primary schools. The perceived value of education amongst parents, especially in rural settings, has also drastically shifted with more parents willing to send their children to urban centres in hopes of a better education. The education and facilities offered by both private and public actors have undoubtedly improved but there still remains a huge deficit in fulfilling its purpose of creating well-rounded individuals which could have lifelong implications.

The educational inadequacies

Education is a delicate matter which involves creating graduates who are capable of solving contemporary problems through their capabilities. It should be creating leaders that have the capability to solve the issues within our societies now and in the future. There is an inadequacy at every phase of education but Nepal falls short in providing quality education due to poor infrastructure, unqualified teachers, insufficient investment, outdated teaching methods, an un-updated curriculum and less exposure to environments causing an overall erosion of the education quality. This adequacy does not induce a favourable environment for students to pursue education and the higher they go, the more it feels favourable for those seeking education to pursue it outside the country where they learn better and are equipped for the job market.

Less Practicality

Nepal’s education is problematic as it focuses less on a hands-on practical approach and participation, and more on theorising and memorising. The subjects are taught as independent subjects with little co-relation when it could be interdisciplinary and complement each other. A monotonous learning method leaves no room for students to explore and use their creativity and critical thinking skills.

Early childhood development takes into consideration the fact that the early ages since birth make a significant impact in developing a child. Besides nutrition, there are particular stages where the children should involve themselves in different activities. One of these inadequacies is pressurising the children to learn something its due and putting academic pressure since childhood through admission tests when children should be learning at their own pace.

As academic pressure continues, children provide more emphasis on scoring higher marks or grades because of which learning doesn’t happen. This can, in turn, affect self-confidence, motivation and attitudes towards school throughout their development. Growing into adolescence, education continues to be about getting higher marks than gaining the essence of the subject matter. When the decision making time comes and as children slowly transition into adulthood, the stresses placed on academics can cause educational fatigue. Due to parental and societal pressure, young adults often persist with education as a formality.

Building Solutions

Education needs a serious overhaul at the policy level as suggested by many academicians and educational actors. There is a need to update educational methods from the pedagogy, syllabus and curriculum to ease the administrative processes to make it learning-friendly and relevant to the overall market. Public institutions need to work on fixing their reputations by working with due diligence to make sure unnecessary time and effort are not wasted by students to complete their education and get a qualification. But besides that, there are still many facilities that private institutions can offer which perhaps the government takes less into priority that provide the learning experience to promote holistic growth.

There can be educational services for students besides extra tuition and consultancies to help students attain fulfilment in education and further on, in their careers. Services could be anything to ease or supplement the cognitive, emotional, and physical development process such as camps, daycare to study rooms for students of every age group. It could include assisting service providers, too, such as training teachers or creating educational packages that schools and primary educational institutions do not provide but would greatly help the learning process.

What next

Overall, there is much we need to do to improve education but it all starts with recognising the severity of the issue and creating human-centric solutions. Education affects the governance and economy of a country and bringing this overhaul is no easy feat but it is achievable. A proper education system is a foundation for a prosperous country and region and it will solve more problems than just the migration of youth to other countries to make a living. An education based on indignity will prove more effective than those found in the West, ergo it is best to develop the education base according to the local needs.

As for now, there is much to do to close the gap but slowly and inevitably, we will get there!