Impact of Education within the context of Nepal

Introduction Emerging social, economic and political challenges in Nepal have all contributed to the change in people’s perceptions and have raised their aspirations for better education. Equally, the global and regional contexts and trends have also triggered the process of change in education. In this context leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. Successful leadership in education makes the educational institutions doors of knowledge and wisdom, centres of attention and centres of excellence. Such leadership inspires the people, parents and pupils to engage in producing evidence - based educational planning and pathways of development that is expected to provide opportunity, prosperity, security, mobility and sustainability. In particular education can lead to enhanced productivity and greater scope for employment, individual creativity, innovation and change ensured by quality assurance mechanisms judged by international standards. What we can earn is often dependent on what we can learn and how will we can apply what we learn to the workplace. All of these depend on how educational system is organized and leading to improvement of human capital. Such an assumption is reflected in the quote by President Clinton (as quoted by Halsey, 1996) that the higher an employees credentials the higher her or his rate of productivity and sustainability. Thus, the UN urged that The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD 2005 to 2014) should develop new models of education to address real needs of the children and produce the new meaning of change to attain excellence, wisdom, and engagement. However, in the absence of effective leadership the role of education seems trapped with several questions unanswered in terms of greater work place democracy, democracy in the classroom, learning and social justice. Relevancy and efficiency remains a promise. Educational leadership in Nepal In this situation, the role of education remain in question as seen in Nepal where leadership is failing to deliver the promises made several times. Nepal is known as a fragile nation where people started to ask questions due to the economic, cultural and social transformation and threatening the power of the nation by overly politicizing the governance and education on the one hand and the development of a global economy on the other which is posing further questions and contradictions. In the present situation which is considered to be outmoded and inefficient, it would be difficult to achieve the four pillars of education envisioned in School Sector Reform Plan (2009-2015) which is popularly known as access, equity, quality, efficiency. However, these outcomes are not going to be achieved due to the political conflicts and disputes. Is it possible of keeping politics out of education and how to harmonize the localization and globalization issues of education, economics and development.

Such contradictions in the education system are being blamed for social and economic problems. In this situation it is difficult to build up new consensus on both the left and right of the political spectrum which has defined education as the key to future economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital and sustainability. It is only possible when responsible and efficient leadership have shared values, beliefs and ownership. The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD 2005 to 2014) develops the new models of education to address real needs of the children. However, in the absence of efficient leadership, the role of education could be compromised. Nepal’s four pillars of education envisioned in School Sector Reform Plan (2009-2015) aims to achieve developmental goals and targets. However, it faces a number of challenges including keeping politics out of education and harmonising localization and globalization issues. Major challenges One of the major challenges for Early Childhood Education Development (ECED) implementation is to obtain the services and retention of qualified and competent facilitators. Incorporating the provision for regular technical support to facilitators is also a challenging for ECED. It is a major challenge for the government to coordinate and manage ECED programmes run under different modalities and arrangements. Formal mechanisms are yet to be established to utilize and recognize these practices and replicate them for ECED expansion and improvement. Similarly, a major concern for ECED is to secure quality in the ECED programme. Although the quantitative growth of ECED centers has been remarkable, quality issues to ensure minimum standards are yet to be addressed. The creative aspects of ECED appear to have been buried under the content load of ECED curricula. The ECED expansion has largely been limited to well off areas and urban centers. For this, there is a need for concentrating on poverty pockets with targeted distribution and interventions. A major concern is also related to reliable reporting of enrolment, with the lack of an institutional mechanism for verification of data, meaning that the real proportions of the age group of children actually enrolled may not be authentic. Enrolment in private (institutional) schools has increased over the past decade, possibly because of their managerial and teaching/learning situations, which are different from the community school system. Children with disabilities and marginalized children and the construction of disabled–friendly school buildings as well as collaboration with civil society and NGOs at the local level have yet to seen in practice. Student progress Grade One repetition is still very high and retention is low. It was found that there was a big difference between the enrolment and attendance rates. Comprehensive baseline data on school infrastructure development, including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, is limited at present in schools.

Student progression with the Continuous Assessment System grade 1-8 and effective implementation remains a challenge, partly due to the perceived resistance by parents, teachers and school communities of the liberal promotion policy. There are schools without effectively functioning School Management Committees (SMCs) and Parent Teacher associations (PTAs). It was agreed that capacity for SMCs to undertake flash reporting, prepare and implement School Improvement plans (SIPs), maintain school accounts and to carry out financial and social audits is essential. Leadership from the school supervisors and resource persons to ensure regulatory functions and technical back stopping support in order to identify priorities, improve the performance and increase accountability is inadequate.

Trust and confidence is deteriorating and as a result delivery of education services and quality and relevance of education is decreasing. The literacy rates for ages 15 years and higher has seen a marginal increase from 55.6 percent in 2008 to 57 percent in 2011. However, gender and regional disparities remain a source of concern, with urban areas having 77 percent and rural areas only 57 percent literate among 6 years old and above. Population differences regarding men and women, urban and rural areas, and different regions, based on the Nepal Labour Force Survey of 2008, shows women’s literacy rate of aged 15+ is very low (31%) in the mountain region, compared to hill region (50.2%). The survey shows that female literacy rates are consistently far lower than those of males across all dimensions of disaggregation in the mountain region. Similarly, as regards Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT), not much progress has been achieved under the School Sector reform Programme (SSRP), except for a piloting exercise with a new curriculum in grades 6 -8 in 100 schools. 1 However, there is no mention in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) of TEVT. The provision of “soft skills too has not yet implemented in the absence of National Technical Advisor (NTA). Expansion and consolidation of TEVT programmes require a large financial investment associated with technical capacity and the necessary physical infrastructure, including equipment and teacher preparation. Teacher appraisals Importantly, the absence of a strong and transparent teacher performance evaluation system means that an institutional mechanism to link majority of financing under the SSRP—teacher salaries account for three fourth of the SSRP expenditures—with SSRP outcomes, is missing. Substantial variations in pay structures, perks and privileges, opportunities for career advancement and professional development further compound the issue. Teacher management and professional development are increasingly regarded as critical for improvement in classroom performance and internal efficiency. With the structural changes and decentralized management, around half of all teachers are recruited at the school level. Teacher management has become more complex and politicised with different types of teachers supported by the central government grants (Rahat, PCF, temporary- and permanent teachers). Given the above types of teachers, there is a need to ensure an inclusive career development and benefits system for those recruited at the school level. Proper and complete record keeping of the teachers remains a problem. The redeployment of teachers from over-staffed schools to under-staffed schools is a critical problem. Though the government has the information on over and under-staffed schools, it has not been implemented for a variety of reasons. The SSRP has raised the minimum qualifications for teachers at Basic and Secondary levels. Educational costs

The cost of the SSRP in its current form is estimated at US$ 4.040 billion over the seven year period. The estimated funding available from the Government of Nepal amounts to US$ 3.148 billion or 78%, leaving a funding gap of US$ 892 million over the seven years’ period. As a result it is being challenge for smooth implement of SSRP programs. SSRP has been greatly constrained by the delay in the amendment to the Education Act.

Problems in school quality have been a perennial problem. The 2009 joint evaluation of the predecessor project EFA 2004-2009 found that progress on quality had been “disappointing” (NORAD, 2009). The design of SSRP paid inadequate attention to the measurement of quality and to the though quality, as indicated by their educational qualifications, remains problematic. The pre-service classes are reported to be crowded, following traditional chalk and talk methods, with a lack effective practice teaching and characterized by high absenteeism of students and teachers (Shikshak 2010). However, the effectiveness of this training in terms of learning achievement is questionable. Reporting against the Minimum Enabling Conditions (MEC) and the various standards identified in the SSRP for quality assurance is on selective indicators only and details on libraries, minimum students in schools and Head Teacher selection processes and performance are not available in the Flash Reports. The fact that approximately half of all students who sit the SLC fail is a worrying feature of the present school system. Accountability and transparency Poor coordination the prevailing structure, perks and privileges, opportunities, performances and accountability further compound the issues. Furthermore, by all accounts, teachers are a political segment of the education system and issues of corruption, nepotism arise in various fronts. So handling educational problems are being political issues as much as it is governance one, yet there is a tendency to sidestep any effort to find a political solution rather than a bureaucratic one. Targeting of schools by armed political groups and government security. Strikes and violence made division of teachers, non-teaching staff, community people and even parents along political lines, it is being impossible for children and teachers to attend schools. Schools have often been at the centre of political struggle these days. Public accountability and transparency in Nepal is low, as may be judged from its low ranking (150th out of 185 countries). The governance and accountability framework (GAAPF) actually indicates the need to engage with teacher unions, but with the MOE officials, a distinct hesitation to engage with those representative bodies was evident. Resolutions in the offing for this deep seated and lingering problem is long overdue. Educational change depends on what teachers do and think- it’s as simple and as complex as that. It would all be so easy if we could legislate changes in thinking (Sarason as quoted by Fullan 1999). The SSRP reform initiatives force to enhance the qualification and pedagogical training for enough teachers remains problematic because of delaying in approval of proposed legislation. Because the existing stuck of teachers are so accustomed for following traditional chalk and talk methods, with a lack of effective practice teaching and characterized by high absenteeism of students and teachers (Shikshak 2010). It is recommended that a detailed study is made of how to reform pre-service education to overcome these deficiencies by linking teacher motivation. Teacher management is devolved to School Management Committees (SMCs) however SMCs have become highly politicized and relatively poorly educated that made counter-effect in managing teachers why because School has become a locus for politics, as political parties can put forward their cadres as local teachers.

Weak incentives Current structures revealing several problems that create difficulties for teacher accountability not linked with the human resource management of teachers. Performance benchmarks for teachers and several types of teachers’ temporary and contract basis being used, called recruitment of rahat (relief), causes frustration among specially PCF teachers. Due to resource limit, government has not been able to provide the full calculated amount for each school leading to further frustration of teachers’ because of decreases in salaries of PCF teachers. Unless the present situation of teacher frustration is resolved and making the teacher profession more prestigious, the quality of education along with full implementation of SSRP and beyond can never be made possible. Teacher satisfaction comes from students success and achievement, influencing the growth, character, and attitude of students, subject matter taught and developing curricula, working with young people, rapport and relationship building, feedback from students at the end of the year and after graduation and more importantly fulfilling teacher expectations. It seems clear after decades of research into classrooms that teacher expectations have a strong impact on pupil performance. So it is essential to try to decrease the stressful aspects of being a teacher, like time demands, excessive marking, lesson preparation, administrative datelines, discipline, attendance problems, students confrontations, students lack of motivation, apathy, lack of administrative support, poor administration, colleagues negative attitude,, poor working climate, lack of equipments, large and small class sizes, Ministry directives, changing curricula, course content, lack of public and parent support, negative attitude towards teaching profession and public education and prevailing discriminatory policy towards teachers and more importantly, in the name of autonomy, pushing this profession in autonomous isolation as identified by Fullan (1999). In this context it needs rich professional dialogue to identify the motivational drives of teachers to enhance the poor performance of students and to enhance the quality in education. Linking Quality with Teacher Motivation From the above research we can conclude that progress on quality had been disappointing (NORAD, 2009; MTR 2012). Inculcating the above requisites for good teaching and learning must be done to improve teacher motivation. Different study reports have suggested that there is no monitoring of changes in how students are learning and why their learning achievements are so poor, what factors and variables affect their achievement and how teachers are providing guidance and support. It had been said that "Education is guidance; guidance is education," meaning that good teaching and guidance are synonymous. The guidance concept (in sharp contrast to the traditional "teacher‐as dictator" concept) should pervade teaching, and teachers should practice "guidance" all of the time (NNEPC, 1956). So SSRP and the Mid Term Review (2012) should have reported not only in terms of budgetary allocations for teacher capacity building, but also in terms of improving the quality of education recommended for specific interventions under the Governance and Accountability Action Plan (GAAP) Furthermore, it has also suggested that there needs a series of policy dialogues and debate on how teacher management can be improved. In this context, it is essential to think of how to streamline managerial functions performed by teachers as and also how to make SMCs perform management functions more efficiently so that teachers start to transform their acquired knowledge and skill into practice So in this crucial while making changes that it should be realized that teachers are teachers first rather than managers (Fullan, 1999).

Tackling Educational Learning Challenges through Teacher Motivation The reform which we are going to made on above potential aspects should be psychologically rewarding (Kubey & Csikszentmihalyi, 1981) to the teachers making teaching profession so competitive with other professions (NESP 1972) only after that it is possible to convert existing low levels of learning achievements into high levels of learning achievements and contribute sharply to reduce high drop-out, repetition rates and certainly enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the education sector. All the above mentioned things are only possible when teachers are motivated otherwise it would be day dreaming. Building trust and confidence happiness and satisfaction of teacher that made them involved fully at the peak of their abilities to enhance learning of the pupils. To safeguard the rights and interests of the teachers and to guarantee their jobs, as they are the backbone of any educational system. To underline the responsibility of the teachers towards the students as teacher have a vital role to play for scholastic accomplishments. It require the teachers to keep away from active politics in order to foster a non‐partisan academic atmosphere; To stimulate interest in carrying out diverse activities designed to contribute to the physical, mental and emotional growth of all students (NEC, 1992). It is crucial to analyze what factors determine to increase teacher motivation. In this context Greenwood & Soars (1973) described that less lecturing by teachers and more classroom discussions relates positively to teacher morale and learning of students. The Midterm evaluation concluded that while designing the SSRP inadequate attention was paid to quality of education because without directly addressing the professional needs of teachers quality is difficult to be achieved. In other words teachers have not been given comprehensive training of on how to implement the curriculum and how teaching and learning is carried out in ordinary classrooms under the Program and are not being monitored systematically through classroom observation. Quality assurance can be guaranteed by ensuring Minimum Enabling Conditions (MEC) in the school. A new program of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) has been launched for further development of teachers’ capacity. The training brought in under the TPD has facing several drawbacks because, in general, teachers are not in a position to perform what is expected of them to perform without considerable support and motivation. Importantly, it is the absence of a strong and transparent teacher performance evaluation system and ensuring opportunities for career advancement and professional development that further compounds the issue (MTR 2012). So TPD would fail if it did not prepare and encourage teacher to implement new initiatives. It is essential to work further to adopt TPD by linking with the other initiatives drives and making it relevant (practical plus need), ready (Capacity plus Need) and resourced (Availiability). Only after that has been achieved can TPD gather momentum. As Fullan (1999) said, implementation is where the action is. Action can be ensured only when teacher motivation is ensured. The Threats to Teacher Motivation

From the above descriptions it has been proposed that the causes of low teacher motivation are Workload and Challenges of teachers, poor remuneration and Incentives (Teacher salaries are generally low and irregularly paid) Recognition and Prestige ( Social respect for teachers has fallen), Accountability (Teachers often face weak accountability and little support), Career Development (Teaching is frequently a second-choice job with few opportunities to grow),Institutional Environment (Teachers face unclear and constantly changing policies as well as poor management), Voice (Teachers rarely have an opportunity for input into school management and ministry policy), Learning Materials and Facilities (Teachers have few or poor learning materials and poor facilities) along with due teacher competence, vocational commitment and teachers heavily involved in party politics in Nepal are some systemic problem working as key determining factors of teacher de-motivation Conclusion; what should be done? Therefore, to improve teacher motivation, it should be given top priorities by giving better incentives for teachers as well as ensuring improved conditions of service; provision of good quality housing with running water and electricity to attract talent to the teaching profession, retaining teachers at hard-to-staff rural schools, attractive career structures package is essential In the absence of teacher accountability continue to receive poor quality education by the students so accountability framework is urgently needed. Furthermore, there is urgently needed to introduce regular promotion system based on clearly specified and transparent performance-related criteria, having accelerated promotion and/or preferential access to qualification upgrading opportunities those help to inspire the teachers who like to perform in a diversified situation and continuous learning. So at the end, teacher motivation is pivotal to make the school - centre of attraction and excellence through which our dream of achieving four pillars of education like equity, relevancy, quality and efficiency can come true and also successes to accomplish national and international goals within the MGDs/ EFA/SSRP period and beyond.. The existing discretionary practice and unfair judgments about teachers must change The lack of capacity in terms of systems as well as skilled people especially at the school and district levels is a major handicap to effective implementation of the Basic Education component. The process of developing School Improvement Plans and undertaking Social Audits seem to have atrophied into rituals with neither incentives to do well nor penalties for failure to deliver satisfactory products in the form of feasible SIPs and useable Social Audits. The restructuring of secondary education has stalled on account of the absence of amendments to the Education Act. The above problems of education have been occurring and posing threats on the educational reform initiatives. These problems repeatedly hamper the achievement of the four pillars of education. At this point of time education is at the crossroads with confusion about whether to go and what to achieve. So there is need of leader as John Maxwell (2002) said once: a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way to get rid of confusions and achieve the four pillars of expectations.

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