Education is essential for
overall development. It is not only about equipping the students with the necessary knowledge, skills and training and expertise so that they can contribute their share to the
development of their country later on. Rather it is also about ensuring the welfare of a society by keeping the societal
wheel well oiled and its fabric firmly sealed.
Although
educational development is a major concern and educational
institutions of different levels have been established across the country, the quality of education has not improved. This can mainly be attributed to
political interference in educational institutions. Political parties have been using educational institutions as a grooming
ground for their cadres rather than making them ideal places for the acquisition of knowledge. The administration has failed to assure quality.
The management of primary schools seems to have lost competence partly because of an authoritarian top-down system without meaningful community participation. Nepal has been placing emphasis on ''''education for all'''' since the past few years. For this purpose, basic and primary education has been given special preference. However, primary schools, particularly in rural areas, lack basic infrastructure required for classrooms such as proper furniture and teaching as well as learning inputs.
Studies indicate that about nine-tenth of primary schools in Nepal lack one or more of the above-mentioned facilities or inputs. Schools in remote or economically less developed regions are in miserable condition. The authorities have not given proper attention to improve the situation. The teacher-student ratio in many schools is skewed. Our primary schools lack trained teachers. Most teachers are untrained as teachers'''' training and staff development draw inadequate attention. In most primary schools, there is shortage of qualified teachers who can teach efficiently.
According to a previous study, the language competence of primary school teachers was satisfactory for 36 percent only. However, competence in other subjects was achieved by a small percent of primary school between urban and rural schools, and government and private schools in many respects. This has affected quality in school education.
Textbooks that are currently in use are unattractive, uninteresting and unimaginative. The authorities responsible for publishing and distributing books across the country have become ineffective. The distribution system is far from satisfactory. There are complaints about the quality of education of public schools. Despite huge sums invested in the sector, quality of education in public schools has not been satisfactory. Political interference in the local government and thus in school management committees has badly affected the situation.
It is widely recognized that community involvement in resource mobilization and utilization provides ownership control responsibility. This makes these institutions accountable to the community. Considering public schools'''' poor performance, it is essential to increase public participation in education. It is necessary to make communities more responsible for managing and supervising such schools. This will help enhance performance of schools and raise the quality of education.
The government appears to be committed to raise the quality of public schools. In this regard, the Ministry of Education has decided to hand over the management and supervision of public schools to community and civil society with a view to enhance quality.
Time is now ripe to see whether quality of individuals graduating from our academic institutions is comparable to those from developed countries. In addition, university management should fix and strictly implement appropriate schedule for the completion of academic course. This is expected to check outflow of students. Nepal has spent a long time to trials a
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