By Manoj Kumar Karna
Referring to the interview taken by RSS in the last week of Nepali Falgun month, many newspapers published the educational policy of the Education Minister Girirajmani Pokharel. He is the pro-chancellor of the Tribhuvan University and other many universities also. His interview concerns over education policy in Nepal broadly at three level age group students in his language which are upto lower school level, upto class 12 and for campus level students who pursue the higher education. The interview focuses on principally how to appoint teacher in the school, how to make effective teaching to produce the salable Nepali student product in the market, what to do about teacher’s license in the huge demand of teacher at school level, the recruitment of volunteer teacher at school and so on. He claims that he has proposed a far better system of evaluation of the students than the grading system of Kedar Bhakta Mathema and he further denies that the government has done anything careless in the evaluation pattern of the educational bodies to increase the pass percentage of the student. Over these matters, the education minister counts the acts National Education Policy 2076 BS, Free and Compulsory Education Act 2074 BS, National Science & Technology Act 2076 BS, the ten years plan of empowerment of the community schools 2076-2085 BS and so on.
While reading the minister’s interview as a critic, his all ideas seem better but mixed with politics. He has talked, for example, recruitment of the volunteer teachers at pay of 24-30 thousand rupees allowance per month for the Bachelor’s Level candidate and 32 thousand allowances for the Master’s level candidates. It is controversial to his own argument that he needs to ‘rethink’ latter on the matter of teaching license. The government’s system is not giving chance to the fresh candidates to participate in the competition regularly every year on the one hand which is adding the jobless number, but the minister’s plan seeks the quality education with salable product of Nepali institutions globally by relying on the completely the raw volunteer teachers who are themselves very young, inexperienced without teaching, having no license and politically motivated ones. It is remarkable that educationist Kedar Bhakta Mathema is himself a well known figure and trusted by different ideological universities’ teachers with sound experience in the education field but his policy became unsatisfactorily for the minister. The other things are that Minister Pokharel, does not give satisfactory answer why and with how many reasons he dislike Mathema’s policy, why he wants to recruit volunteer teacher crossing his points that demand of teacher will be supplied through the service commission by annually as per the demand of the local bodies and why he did not feel to publicize in democracy the integrated education policy before proposing to the parliament. Despite all these, he expects full favour of media blaming that they always pin point minor weaknesses of the government. This article does not aim to reply his interview rather it aims some scientific and purely academic suggestive points.
I do think that the country’s policy must not be influenced with party politics and such ideology. I have not understood his frequently used term ‘socialism oriented education’ and how to bring a drastic change from 80 percent only theoretical teaching and course nature to maximum practical and student-centred with his proposed plan. I am still confused on remarks that the minister seeks ‘finishing’ of politics while recruiting the authorities of universities in the light of he and his party leaders only see their politically coloured all professors only ‘eligible’ for vice-chancellor, rector and registrar, say, in TU and at other universities also. This is nothing but ‘capturing’ the fort in their so-called People’s War of the guerillas which this columnist and other do not need to blame rather he has clarified in the plan and his interview for a sharp reader. To be really rational, the columnist invites the minister to rethink on these points.
Performance of the student will be better and they will be salable in the market not by forming non-standard and unreliable question paper in the examination and pressurizing the examination body to re-check the answer sheet and to ‘pass’ the claimers. This will be distributing the certificate institutionally which our institutions are doing now-a-days without caring quality education rather depending on quantity education. The country cannot progress in science and technology and cannot develop by providing job or skill for business to the citizen in the current pattern of foul student’s politics in universities where they have to do all activities of the course prescribed by the central department and the dean’s offices. The government must address this ‘disease’ first to make an environment of teaching-learning. Likewise, the monitoring personalities of universities about teachers’ regularity, punctuality and effective teaching are near about all collapsed because they need frequent monitoring but in our case to ‘monitor’ only those who are ideologically different teachers. The monitoring figures are purely politically motivated, themselves never seen the face of classroom and unfamiliar with the course nature and their teaching methods. How to monitor, who to monitor, what to monitor are many basic questions to be re-defined in TU and in other educational entities. Regarding the students’ politics, the government must set an academic and fearless environment for the genuine students and the honest teacher for they must not feel foul pressure and hindrances in their jobs. The minister’s policy to such ‘jobless’ youths from campuses should not influence the concept of the volunteer teacher. These so-called student leaders either should raise the genuine agenda of the student like book, library, dispensary service, CCTV camera in the class, practical materials in the laboratory, projector, cozy classroom, safe and sanitary rest room, hygienic canteen, fund for student exchange programme from one campus to another, international standard journal and their access to them, free Wi-Fi and internet in the campus for related work and so on or they must be vacated from the university premises terming as loggerheads. In this short article, I do want to appreciate and critically judge him rather than merely criticizing the minister, if he pays attention to the scientific demands. If the minister’s plan is not to ‘capture’ the country to make a communist fighter, he must revise his plan and policies and like to talk in the media with the stake holders in the democratic and fearless environment.
(The writer is the lecturer in the Patan Multiple Campus, Patandhoka)
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