After nearly three-month-long closure due to the ongoing agitation in the Tarai districts, many schools in the region have opened their doors for students. After pressure from local parents, the agitating Madheshi Morcha decided to allow schools to run classes in the morning only. But, due to the cold wave and fog, running classes in the morning looked like a punishment."Sir, could you close the window, I am feeling quite cold," Narayan Adhikari, a Teach for Nepal (TfN) fellow, recalls one of his students telling him when he started teaching. Adhikari, who teaches Math at a community school in Dhanusha district, said that only one-third of his students were present in his class. Many students at primary level did not have shoes on their feet and had even brought mat from home as if it would give them some comfort on the cold floor.
In the 21st century Nepal, getting a decent education remains a matter of luxury for tens of thousands of children across the country. Moreover, acute political instability, never-ending 'bandas' (shutdown strikes) and inexplicable apathy among the political class towards the country's education system has made things worse.
The prolonged agitation in the Tarai and 'unofficial' blockade by India has affected almost all sectors of the country including the education sector. Schools in Kathmandu and elsewhere are facing shortage of fuel to run school buses. Children studying in Temporary Learning Centers (TLCs) set up in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the country in April this year are worried that reconstruction of their damaged schools may take longer than expected.
Janak Shiksha Samagri Kendra Ltd, a government-owned entity that prints books for community schools, has said it's unlikely it will be able to print 15 million copies of books in time for the new academic year that starts in April 2016. Remote districts will be hit hard, officials said.
The impact of such agitation on children is not beyond comprehension. A British educationist, Aidan Warlow, warns that such disturbances do short term damage to the younger children struggling to master basic literacy and numeracy skills. "They can have a disastrous effect on Upper Secondary students when every missed day can damage their exam preparation," said Warlow adding, "It encourages bad attitudes among students growing up in an atmosphere where the most minor political grievance is an excuse to stop work—the typical 'bandh' mentality."
In late November, school operators organized a human chain of students in Kathmandu to protest against 'blockade by India' and to call for children's right to education. In response, schools in Tarai organized similar rallies supporting agitating parties' demands. In both events, children were made to leave their classrooms and attend rallies.
More than 500,000 students are preparing for the national exam of Grade 10 called SLC, which will be held at the end of March, but they didn't get a chance to complete their curriculum. The research conducted by the Ministry of Education during 2008-10 showed that the national teaching and learning achievement is going down day by day.
The Ministry of Education has made it mandatory for schools to run classes for at least 220 days in an academic year, but this year due to the earthquake and ongoing agitation, tens of thousands of children have lost nearly half of their school days. This is a national loss of immense proportions.
The state of community schools in Nepal is pathetic, to say the least. More than six million children study in 35,000 community schools across the country. While over 90 percent students from private schools pass the SLC exams, the pass rate of students from the community schools is around 20 percent only.
The government spends billions of rupees (about 16 percent of the total national budget) every year to support community schools. Parents also chip in their own money while sending their wards to private and boarding schools. But frequent strikes and never-ending agitation have posed serious challenges to the country's education sector.
Though there have been campaigns to declare schools as 'zone of peace,' no political party seems committed to uphold such values. As politics gets precedence, people's right to education and health have been put into backburner.
As things now stand, only a strong community intervention and leadership can break such a trap. Unless local people come forth to make politicians accountable, millions of children will be denied their right to education under one pretext or the other.
Teach for Nepal fellow Narayan Adhikari recalls that earlier his students used to greet him with the salutation 'Pranam Sir.' But nowadays they greet him by saying, 'Jai Madhesh, Sir.' It seems politicisation of an entire generation of Nepali children has been complete.
The authors tweet at @bhagirathyogi and @anamolmani
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