Nepal's inimical education system: Leading the country sans progress

Chinese philosopher Confucius said “If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate humanity.” This saying emphasizes the importance of long-term planning and education investment. A wise ruler will focus on creating sustainable policies and investing in their people’s education, rather than short-term gains. Last week, the Nepal Government presented the policies and programs for the fiscal year 2080/081. The government’s promises are similar to that of the last year and have little chance of fulfillment. The government’s annual policy and program states that it will restructure universities and colleges by merging and/or splitting institutions as necessary. This parliament session was expected to pass the Federal Education Act, which has already been delayed, to delegate power to provinces and local-level governments.

The present education system has several problems here outdated concept of education and the human resources cultivation and training model, students are weak in innovation and practice. We have irrational distribution of resources, irrational and irrelevant educational structure, and layout, and unbalanced development of the urban, rural, and regional areas. There is a great disparity between supply and demand. Some Himalayan and hilly regions have difficulty for students to commute to school due to weather geographical difficulties as well inadequate schools and absence of transportation. We have an unsound education system as well as inefficient policy and framework, elitism on education, privatization and classical liberalism on education. In recent years, we ensured that people could go to school, but we have not ensured that people can go to good schools. There was a time when people believed that they could change their fate by studying hard. However, nowadays students increasingly believe that only power and money rather than their own efforts can change their fate. This prevailing attitude has led to a new idea that study is useless. Those who are Undergraduates, or Postgraduates are unemployed, and their certificates are not being sold in the market. And many of them are forced to do blue color jobs in the Gulf countries. Many of the problems facing students in higher education have their roots in basic education. It’s necessary to reform the entire education system. The government’s annual policies and programs state that it will restructure universities and colleges. However, unless and until top-down reform is not combined with bottom-top reform it cannot be an effective reform. There is a great shortage of quality education. The education system, once considered a beacon of hope for the nation’s future, now seems to be leading youth down a path with no light at the end of the tunnel.