Presenting their paper entitled “Unpacking modernist education: donor portrayal of Nepal as an educational problem” at a national seminar entitled “Future of Education in Nepal”, organized by Martin Chautari, Dr Stephen Carney of Ruskilde University, Denmark, said the terms such as ´efficiency´, ´relevance´ and ´decentralization´ have uncritically been borrowed by Nepali policy makers from the West and implanted in the policy document. [break]
Dr Carney, along with Dr Jeremy Rappleye of the United States, is currently researching on school reform in Nepal.
Outlining the history of education in Nepal from 1953, Dr Rappleye said, “No country should import educational system from another culture.” He said that the role of the foreign donors should be limited to financing and advice in the process of development.
Educationalists, commenting on their papers, blamed on ´inefficiency´ of the donors and lack of ownership on the part of the government for the present state of education in Nepal.
Ex-secretaries at the Ministry of Education Chuman Singh Basnet and Dr Ram Swaroop Sinha, however, said the SSRP is in line with the global change in the 1990s and a major departure from the past policy and programs. They, however, acknowledged deficiency in the SSRP.
Educationalits, including Dr Suresh Raj Sharma, vice chancellor of Kathmandu University, Dr Kedar Nath Shrestha, and Dr Kedar Bhakta Mathema, former vice chancellor of Tribhuvan University, also spoke on the occasion.
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