 |
Kathmandu Thursday December 20, 2001 Paush 05, 2058.
|
Technical skills over bookish knowledge: 15 self-help schools coming soon
By Kiran Chapagain
KATHMANDU, Dec 19
– In keeping with the policy of gradually introducing technical and vocational
components in the existing education system, the Education Ministry will be beginning such
courses in 15 secondary schools, three from each development region, from mid-February.
Minister for Education
and Sports, Amod Prasad Upadhayay, said on Monday his Ministry has already received
applications from interested schools from the five development regions. And a team of
experts from the Centre for Technical and Vocational Training (CTVT) is visiting the
schools next week to study their infrastructure situation and finances.
"The government
will bear the installation costs," said Minister Upadhayay. He also informed that the
running expenses of the schools will be decreased by 10 per cent every year and finally
will be run by a "block fund".
The government in last
July’s annual budget had announced that a technical and vocational education
programme will be introduced in 15 government secondary schools using the infrastructure
of the schools within the fiscal year.
Although now the CTVT
and four private schools impart such skills, many say they are not effective and only a
few have access to such institutions.
"The government is
taking this step so that more and more can have access to such skill-based
education," said Minister Upadhayay.
The Education Ministry
has already called for applications from teachers for the course, the Minister added.
He also said that the
government is talking with donor agencies like the Asian Development Bank and the
Department of International Development (DFID) as well as with the Government of Japan to
seek their support for the programme.
"We have asked the
donors to change the definition of assistance, we have asked them to support programmes
like this which will promote technical education—this is the present need of
country," said the Education Minister.
As the emphasis is on
"self-help", the Minister said there are no plans to increase the number of
"general schools".
The Ministry is also
looking into the aspect of poor performance of secondary-level students in subjects like
Science, Maths and English. Upadhayay said that a special programme is on the agenda to
improve the quality of education in these subjects.
He also revealed the
Ministry’s plan to monitor the government schools across the country. "We are
going to set up supervision teams in all 75 districts which will evaluate education
activities. This is because the school inspector’s role has not been effective,"
he said.
The team will comprise
of a government official, a resource person, and a senior teacher from the respective
district. The number of teams will differ from district to district depending on the
number of schools in each. The team will study the weaknesses of the schools, their
management, and the teaching quality.
Presently, secondary
school inspectors and lower secondary school inspectors are responsible for the monitoring
job.
Other Stories
|
