Educational Reform Plan : Opportunity And Challenge

Devi Prasad Bhattarai

The Ministry of Education and Sport (MOES) has introduced a Three-year Interim Education Policy in the school system in light of the changing landscape in national and global education. The policy attempts to bring changes in the school education system to meet the recent policy gap after Jana Andolan II. The policy is crucial because of its response to the existing problems in education, in particular, and the transitional period the nation is undergoing, in general.Since the establishment of democracy in 1990, with the soar in people's aspirations, the education system has been criticised for its standard, said to be poorer in comparison to that of other countries, especially the SAARC countries. Indeed, the new policy tries to address the fundamental issues of education. But implementing it may be a challenging endeavour.

Future outline

The policy has attempted to revisit various aspects of school education. It has introduced some significant changes for pursuing the educational plan for the next three years as an interim and transitional plan. The policy has not only addressed the present needs of the country but also sketched the future outline of the education system. The policy has been prepared to respond to a sustainable and progressive education system commensurate to a democratic society. For this, it has prepared a long-term strategic vision, which is a continuation of the vision of the 10th Plan in education. Under this long-term vision, it will continue with the policy of devolving public schools to the community. Furthermore, it has sought an improvement in the existing school structure to make the system more relevant with the prevailing school systems of the world.According to the proposed structure, basic and primary education encompasses eight years (1-8) and secondary education four years (9-12). Therefore, total schooling will be of 12 years. For the effective implementation of the programmes, the proposed interim plan has introduced a strategy on curriculum development, teacher training, examination and quality improvement. The policy has introduced a system that will allow students to shift from non-formal, technical and vocational education to appropriate grades in the formal education system and vice-versa.

Overall, the major strategies concern: decentralisation of education, inclusion of ethnic and disadvantaged groups, integrated implementation management, capacity building programme, application of information technology, improvement in school investment and grant system, curriculum development and implementation process, and student evaluation and validation. To execute these strategies, the draft has mentioned various programmes and schedules. These programmes are to be implemented by focusing on the ongoing and special programmes. They include Literacy and Income Based Programmes, Alternative School Education (Distance and Open Learning), Pre- Primary Education/ Early Childhood Education, Basic Education, Secondary Education, Vocational Training and Technical Education, Higher Education, Quality Development in Education, Sports Development Programme, Youth Development and Scouting Programme, Physical Construction and Re-Construction Programme, And Educational Management. Depending upon the distribution and volume of these programmes, it has allocated estimated expenditures for their implementation for each of the years.

On the downside, the policy is less aware of the possible hindrances to implementation. The striking challenge is the possibility of a stern lack of professional expertise in curriculum designing, materials development, and monitoring and evaluation at the local level as the policy proposes handing over part of these responsibilities to the local level. Effective implementation of the policy will largely depend on the technical, administrative and academic competency of the local people. Therefore, the problem of capacity building at the community and school levels could lead to strategic failure in action. As the proposed structure in education demands improved and upgraded physical infrastructure, the proposed policy in this regard is insufficient. For example, a primary school that provides education up to Grade 5 needs to improve its physical and human resource to cater to an 8-year primary education. On the other hand, managing education widely in the mother tongue is praiseworthy, but its success largely depends on effective teacher education programmes based on the native languages. The policy is not clear about curriculum development in the native languages.The programme of providing scholarships to all the disadvantaged groups is noteworthy, but simply providing them to the communities may not always attract them towards schooling unless the parents of the children can change mentally. For example, scholarships are misused by the parents, and the money is used for purposes other than education.

In higher education, the policy has given continuity to phasing out the intermediate level in Tribhuvan University. The policy is not new because such efforts were made in the past. Unless initiatives are taken to effectively phase out the intermediate level from the university, it will only hamper the educational programmes to be implemented for improving higher education. Absence of a fixed policy in higher education in the past has resulted in the dual system in education at present - higher secondary education and the intermediate level of TU serve the same purpose. On the other hand, developing an umbrella act for universities is praiseworthy, but the policy of providing autonomy to the campuses will be a challenging task due to the extreme politics that take place in the campuses. So a strong commitment and respect by the political parties and their sister organisations are desirable at the campus level. In higher education, the government has been providing budget for the teacher's salary and not sufficiently funding research and professional development so important to sustain higher education and enhance quality education.

Impediments

It is, thus, desirable to analyse and envisage the possible challenges and impediments to implementing the policy. Donor nations and agencies should be asked to assist in the country's transformation in education. The policy should not be rigid so that changes can be brought from time to time to address any lapses. Similarly, there must be strong commitment to policy implementation on the part of the government. For this, there must be motivation among the stakeholders, continuous monitoring, supervision and evaluation in running the programme. Based on the feedback, there must be effort to improve the policy and programmes. Should this happen, the policy will be a watershed in the history of education.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 18, 2007

Oil crisis: Management of financial resources

Raghab D Pant

It is now clear that the occasional shortage of oil and oil products in the market followed by the long queues at the petrol pumps is due to the inability of the government to adjust domestic price to a change in world prices as well as its hesitation to release adequate funds to the concerned institution to maintain such artificial domestic price, fixed by administrative whim, rather than by market supply and demand. As a result, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), a government-owned enterprise with monopoly on oil import, is virtually bankrupt with no resources to import oil except on credit that one creditor, namely the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has refused to provide without part payment of past dues — a reasonable, if not very soft, demand.

This means, in effect, there will be adequate oil in the market if (i) the import trade is only on cash basis; (ii) the import payment is made in accordance with the agreement reached between NOC and IOC; (iii) the domestic price is adjusted regularly to meet import price, and (iv) the government reduces the tax it has imposed on import of oil and oil products by NOC. In the latter two cases, NOC will be able to run its operation with huge profit.Unfortunately, the government has decided not to change the domestic price of oil before the election to the Constituent Assembly or to take any other measures on the domestic front — there have been customary long talks of involving private sector in the import trade of oil — to solve all the current problems once and for all. The government, on the other hand, has unnecessarily provided the issue a “cover of national crisis” and, as expected, the PM called the Indian ambassador for his help “in getting full supply of petroleum products resumed to Nepal,” though the Government of India has nothing to do with the crisis whatsoever except that IOC is also a government enterprise with a written business deal with NOC.

It is now safe to assume that the intensity of the problem may lessen only if the IOC decides to provide oil and oil products on credit to its bankrupt colleague. It will, however, further deepen the financial crisis of NOC as it is obliged to sell the goods at a price which is substantially less than the cost it has to incur. The Government of Nepal will, of course, benefit, firstly, by solving the current problem characterised by the shortage of oil and oil products and its low national reserve and, secondly, by an increase in government revenue from the tax paid by NOC on the import of oil. The only loser will be IOC and if I were its executive director I would definitely not sell goods to another enterprise that has difficulty making a part payment of Rs 240 million on a loan of about Rs 6000 million.

The government has often used the generosity offered by the Indian government for political purposes, in particular, to maintain the distorted domestic price structure that cannot be sustained in the long run or in the absence of assistance from India. The price of oil and oil products is the current example. Similarly, the exchange rate of the Nepali currency vis-à-vis Indian currency has been maintained at an artificial level by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) by selling its US dollar to the Reserve Bank of India for the Indian currency, for which it has no adequate reserve to meet the public demand at the fixed rate of NRs160=IRs100; in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to press reports, NRB has boughtRs 50 billion worth of Indian currency by paying US dollar. In addition, the import payment of about 91 commodities from India is made in dollar. It appears that such a misuse of the generosity provided by the friendly country has given the false impression to the public with a negative feeling about the concerned country itself.It is difficult to understand the national financial management in a unified method. NOC has difficulty making a part payment on its past dues, as stated earlier. The Government of Nepal, on the other hand, has no shortage of resources — the unused cash reserve of the Government of Nepal at the NRB in mid-April, 2007, totals Rs 18 billion — as its capital expenditure in the first ten months of the current fiscal year totals just Rs 11 billion, or 25 per cent of the allocated budget.

The government’s inability to use available resources for development has been instrumental in creating “stagflation” in the country, an economic situation characterised by stagnant income in real terms and rising price level. In fact, the government, if it so desires, can provide financial resources to NOC to clear the outstanding loan of IOC. There would be no reason to panic if the government managed the available resources with proper coordination within and among the ministries — a rare commodity for Nepal. The whole crisis can be solved with a minimum but intelligent effort.Dr Pant is executive director, Institute for Development Studies

High Time To Sort Out Differences

Prem N. Kakkar

THE country is going through a transition phase, which is considered difficult times by any standard. There are records of other countries having immense hardships on the way to lasting peace and political stability. Yet, the case of Nepal is totally different from other such countries where third party mediation was necessary. It goes to the credit of the Nepalese people that they themselves chose to solve their own problems. If that had not been the case the story would have been different.

Return of democracy

The success of the April uprising proves that the people cannot take brutal rule for long. The bubble has to burst, and it did a little over a year back. It was a time to rejoice at the achievement, the return of democracy and reinstatement of the House of Representatives. Of course, things are different now with various contentious issues coming up in recent times. The eight parties that were instrumental in bringing the country to the present state are once again at the centre stage. The interim government was formed, and the legislature parliament is there. But the past agreements between the Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists have not been adhered to fully. This is quite unfortunate. In fact, the hurried pace at doing many things can be cited as the root cause for many of the problems that we see today.

It has been a long time since the leaders of the eight parties have sat down to sort out thorny issues. In the meanwhile, the legislature-parliament proceeding have been disrupted due to disgruntled lawmakers. The Speaker of the parliament tried his best to get the House proceedings to move smoothly by holding consultation with the leaders of the various parties, including Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, but to no avail. Wednesday's proceeding was adjourned even before it could begin. The next meeting is scheduled for May 24 by when the Speaker hopes matters would be resolved.The other day, too, Prime Minister Koirala had a meeting with the lawmakers from the Terai who have put up many demands. It is reported that the prime minister was positive to the concerns of the Terai MPs. It was just an attempt to break the deadlock. The stalemate in the legislature parliament is costing the country dearly because several bills need urgent clearance, including some concerning the constituent assembly elections. But as the proceeding have not taken place, the delay has only lengthened. The same leaders who want greater speed have actually slowed the process down.

The eight-party meeting has not taken place since the Election Commission (EC) said that the CA polls cannot be held by mid-June. Despite Premier Koirala's meeting with several of the eight-party leaders, nothing concrete has developed so far. It seems that the Maoists are distancing themselves as they want a republic to be declared by the parliament itself, which is not backed by the Nepali Congress. This seems to have created a sense of mistrust, which must be removed at all cost.The unity of the eight parties is very crucial in giving a safe passage to the country. This has been stressed time and again. It is consensus that has made the country rebound in the past several months and that is what is needed at present. Not seeing eye to eye cannot be beneficial to any party, let alone the people. An important thing is that the management of the Maoist cantonments must be undertaken as soon as possible. The living conditions of the Maoist combatants deserves attention if the second phase of the verification process is to continue.

Unity

There are many tasks ahead that need to be addressed so that the eight-party unity can continue. The unity is needed because without it there are dangers that the regressive elements, according to many political leaders, will topple the achievements made so far. The leaders know well that the genuine problems of the various agitating groups have to be resolved so that the political situation is conducive to holding the CA polls. When they all realise this, they should come forward to sit together and discuss the issues and possible solutions. That is the only way out through a consensus. But for this to happen, flexibility is the key requirement as their moves are not for themselves alone but for the Nepali people in general.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 18, 2007

Truly topmost

The newly-formed Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) has said government property worth Rs 5,110 million was destroyed during the ten-year long conflict and that it would take at least three years to rebuild the damaged infrastructure. According to the statistics, the Home Ministry suffered the biggest loss (Rs 2,428.6 million) as police stations and administrative buildings were the main targets during the insurgency. The MoPR along with the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works is now preparing the cost estimates for the reconstruction job.Now that the country has a separate ministry for reconstruction, it can be expected that all rebuilding works would be completed within the stipulated time period. And, for this, the government is preparing to hike the national budget. Donor agencies and nations have so far committed aid to the tune of Rs 320 million to the Peace Fund created for this purpose. The ADB, too, under its Rural Infrastructure Peace and Rehabilitation Programme, has pledged financial support for reconstruction of the damaged rural infrastructure. Unfortunately, however, vandalism and destruction of public and private property worth millions is taking place in the country even today. No reconstruction and rehabilitation work can kick off in a hostile environment and amid ongoing violence. So, establishing a truly lasting peace should be the topmost priority of all the political forces in the country.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 17, 2007

Unacceptable

Prachanda and his rag-tag army committed the first blunder by declaring an armed rebellion back in 1996. Even if we agree on their claim that they raised awareness in the rural areas, the loss of human lives, infrastructures and economic deterioration do not justify the so-called people's war. The compulsion they confronted to join the mainstream politics also proves the point. Thankfully, the obdurate king helped them by not inviting the political parties until things turned unmanageable. The Maoists would have, otherwise, joined the mainstream in much weaker position. Alas! Even after joining the government at equal strength as that of UML, the Maoist leadership has not realized its myopic vision in handling the home-grown goons called Youth Communist League (YCL) which is ruining its political achievements, and also risking the sovereignty of this country. So, the second blunder the Maoist leadership has made is the unleashing of YCL.

Comrade Prachanda and his followers are turning deaf ears to the fact that the YCL activities are not directed at cleaning the society but at cleansing rules, norms, system and civilization of this country. The manhandling of chief district officers, vandalizing of district administrative blocs and attacking on other government officers are nothing but sheer highhandedness, disrespect to the rule of law, and typical to an autocratic and criminal mindset. The YCL cadres have gone beyond control. Not only in Mahendranagar, they have committed such crimes in various other districts and even in Padma Kanya College. Their assertion has been unabated because they have won the psychological war with the leadership. These people are taking the advantage of fissure in the Maoist leadership. Prachanda and Baburam look timid and helpless in controlling YCL because they do not want to lose them to the trio -- Kiran, Badal and Gaurav -- who is growing strong within the party.

If the Maoist leadership has consciously unleashed YCL to do whatever and attack whomever, their strategy is absolutely wrong and will have a detrimental effect on the Maoists themselves. Maybe, they are trying to manage the level of fear that general public had on them before they laid down their weapons. But if they achieve that goal, the CA elections will not take place. If they fail to achieve the goal, they will land on their face in the CA elections. Their acts will also cost the country dear because the feeble administration is simply unable to cope up with the pressure from separatists, fundamentalists and criminals operating in terai. It is high time the Maoist leadership reconsidered its stance and mulled seriously over the future of this country. At the moment, the YCL activities are unacceptable and the Post strongly condemns them.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 17, 2007