Voluntary participation of youths in rescue and relief work soon after the Gorkha earthquake earned them high applause from a wide section of the society. Whether school-goers or those awaiting SLC results, the youths were seen performing tough tasks irrespective of their knowledge or experience.
From helping maintain sanitation to providing food and health care to building makeshift shelters and disposing of carcasses, the self motivated youths set about the task on their own volition.
Govinda Giri, a master’s student at the Patan Multiple Campus, was severely injured at Nanglebhare of Kathmandu district while clearing debris.
Giri, who is also the central secretariat member of All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU), the student wing of CPN-UML, was deployed in the reconstruction campaign launched by his party. He informed that he and four other students had to be hospitalized while more than a dozen students deployed in the campaign have sustained multiple injuries.
Dearth of medicines hits Mahottari District Hospital
"Had we got the proper knowledge on removing debris in safe way and building temporary shelters, we would not have to been injured," said Giri. He complained that he learned nothing about earthquake either in school or college.
Like Giri, thousands of youths have been deployed by major political parties such as UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and several social organizations for reconstruction work. Many of such youth volunteers have sustained injuries.
Over 8,600 died and more than 23,000 were injured in the devastating earthquake in which over 500,000 houses got damaged or destroyed. Over 6,000 schools and more than 1,000 health facilities and hundreds of government offices and heritage sites also collapsed in the earthquake.
The government has still been unable to remove the debris of the collapsed houses even after two months of the earthquake. "Authorities could have mobilized hundreds of thousands students who were waiting for SLC results in the reconstruction and rescue mission had it equipped them with proper knowledge about it," said Ain Mahar, vice chairman of ANNFSU. "Due to lack of long term vision and planning among those who are responsible for forming policies and implement them, the country lagged behind in the effort."
Despite all that youth volunteers have done a great job.
According to Mahar, the ANNFSU has always been pushing for progressive and practical education. Although the CPN UML had agreed to implement the manifesto of its student union, so far the party has shown total indifference despite it being a part of the current coalition government.
Netra Prasad Mainali, another student laments about the education which, according to him, has no use in day-to-day life. "I studied just to pass the exams. I don't know what to do with the degree I have," said Mainali. He complained that most academic institutions in the country have become the factory to produce unemployed youths. The government and concerned authorities have done nothing to correct the situation, he said.
Educationist Bidya Nath Koirala blames our traditions and practice for this kind of situation. "We always salute a person who sits on a chair but does nothing," said Koirala, adding, "But we treat the people who work in furnaces and plough the fields with utter disregard."
He also attributed the situation to lack of will power for change among concerned authorities. "We all try to skip the main task at hand on one pretext or another. Teachers lack confidence to go out of textbooks. Policy makers do not show urgency to make our education practical. And bureaucrats don’t care about implementing policies," he said, adding that all are responsible in one or other.
Koirala asked all concerned authorities to show determination in making the education practical so that the upcoming generation will find it useful for their future.
SLC's results have been unveiled, recently. Hundreds of thousands of students who succeed in the exams are clueless about what careers could be best for them. One misstep at this juncture could ruin the whole life of many students.
Koirala urges the students to pursue their interests rather than give in to their parents’ pressure. Parents, too, should listen to what their children have to say.
"If they do things they love, they will succeed in their lives," said Koirala. He further said that one can succeed in any field, if it is of his or her interest.
