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Education Revamp set for Nepal
**The education policy is 'outdated and useless' after the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, by Jan Sharma
KATHMANDU : The new government, expressing concern over sharp decline in educational standards. Is reviewing the education system in the light of new democratic changes in the kingdom.
-It alms to improve university education.
Several thousand Nepali students, enrolled tn university campuses in India. Bangladesh and Pakistan, spend millions of dollars a year while university campuses in their home country are not getting enough income to support themselves.
It Is not only the technical subjects for which Ncpalis prefer neighbouring countries. Even students of Sanskrii language and literature have distinct preference to study in India. Ironically, the Mahendra Sanskrit University in Dang is not finding enough students to run classes.
"We need to get rid of such an anomalous situation." said Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai during a national conference of university teachers association last December.
Dr. Keshar Jung Raymajhi. minister for education and culture, described the existing education policy as "outdated and useless" in the view of the transition from an authoritarian rule to democracy.
He has called for "drastic changes" tn the present education policy to allow university campuses to meet the growing demand for higher education as opposed lo re stricted access to higher edu cation under the previous
regime.
Without doubt, higher edu cation In Nepal has been pass Ing through a critical phase ever since the voice of dissent began to ferment against the previous regime.
The policy goals were de fined by the National Education System Plan (NESP 1971-76). Its main architect was King Btrendra. with a bias for vocational education and science. Bui It lacked full polil leal backing.
When the NESP completed five years. Il did dismantle the previous system without creating a new one. The education, especially at the university level, was virtually left in shambles. An evaluation on its major successes and failure was ordered by the govern ment but the report was never published.
Under mounting pressure for political reforms as well as reforms In education policy, leaders of the deposed one-party regime bowed down to demands for withdrawing some of the basic features of the NESP praised for its rele vance lo Nepal's development.
These included ihe abolition of entrance tests lo gel admission at campuses, com prehensive examination, credit celling, compulsory thesis at Master's level, among others. The students were also given freedom to form their own in dependent unions.
Following bloody clashes be tween government troops and students agitating for demur racy In 1979. the government also pulled down the entire
semester system, rnvatr campuses were allowed.
The students, who used to serve in remote villages under the National Dcvclopmenl Service programme, were seen as main enemies of the prcvl ous regime. The programme was withdrawn to stop slu dents campaign for multi-party democracy In Ihe 1980 na Ilona I referendum.
Since then, Nepal's education has been on extended holiday policy-wise
One of the main Issues reformers will face is the question of access to higher cduca tion which. Dr Kamal Prakash Malla, a former rector al the Tribhuvan University, believes lo lx the most Important single challenge to the manage mcnl ol higher education
There have been tremendous Increase tn the number of graduates joining the university campuses — from 250 tn 1951 lo about 40.000 at present. However, this makes less than 2 per cent of the university-going population In the country
This low percentage figure, in part, is a reflex of Ihe st rue lure of a literate population rattier than a consequence of conservative enrollment policy tn higher education.' says Dr. Malla
Nepal annually produces 60.000 high school graduates Most of them get enrolled In colleges
The rush for university campus should not suggest that Ncpalis have special taste for academic pursuit The university degree brings social
status, political power and economic opportunities.
But the poor standard al secondary schools Is reflected at the campuses where both dropout and failure rates are very high. Tilts Is also because no serious effort has been made lo Introduce entrance tests because of political pressure Lack of such tests makes Investment In university education look wasted.
The problem with us Is that the university is a huge bureaucracy." says Dr. Bharat Sharma. American-educated professor of political science al Klrtlpur Central Campus.
The previous regime misused Ils authority to Interfere In the day-to-day running of the university administration in the form of Issuing "policy directives' which actually were meant to "flush' opponents of the regime out of llw cam-
One such victim was Sultana Pradhan. leader of the Nepal Communist Party (Marxist) who Is now minister for industry In tlic new democratic government. She was expelled from a university teaching job In 1976 for her political beliefs.
Another victim was Prof. Basudcv Chandra Malla, who Is now the vice chancellor of Tribhuvan University, expelled also tn 1976 for hts pro-democratic and human rights views.
University teachers have always asked for academic freedom and have threatened to launch agitation if academic freedom was dented them. -Depthnews Asia.