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Kathmandu Thursday February 28, 2002 Falgun 16, 2058.
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Licensing
teachers
The Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC)
seems to have already initiated the task of issuing "teaching licenses" to
teachers who have been employed in public schools. The government last October amended the
Education Act, pointing out that successive governments have practised rampantly
discriminatory and unfair means while recruiting teachers in public schools. This
amendment, which recommends a licensing mechanism, has come into force since early
February. The legislation in its new form underlines that every government school teacher,
regardless of current post or qualifications, has to obtain a permanent teaching license
within five years. To acquire this license, a teacher must undergo a written examination.
A large number of government school teachers have been teaching on the strength of fake
certificates. The new licensing system is a bold attempt to curb such practices. But, how
fair, impartial and practical such a system will be remains to be seen. Will it degenerate
into another form of corruption that breeds more teachers with fake certificates than
prevents them from teaching at all? For one thing is already clear. TSC will be hard
pressed to get rid of political interference while issuing teaching licenses, however
determined it might be at the outset. Cronyism, favouritism and nepotism have been rampant
in this country for too long for them to be wished away at one stroke. Any appointment -
be it that of a teacher or an official — is always influenced heavily by the
political ideology of the prospective appointee, especially since the restoration of
democracy.
Any move to terminate the services of teachers
who only have fake certificates is an encouraging step towards ensuring better quality in
our education. But TSC has yet to outline any measures for curbing widespread
discriminatory and unfair practices. A licensing mechanism may also not be as transparent
as TSC claims. And it is not the discriminatory approach alone that has ruined the
education system. It is too poor a system to meet the needs of the country’s
development. The government has neither set up adequate facilities for training teachers
on a regular basis, nor is any institution in place for conducting intensive research into
school curriculum or syllabi, highlighting flaws in the system. What successive
governments have done is establish public schools as recruiting grounds for political
cadres who often come with fake certificates. All attempts to improve the quality of
education in this country have failed to yield substantive results. Every change in
government has affected the quality of our education as a result of poor policies and
ineffective laws. But the government can no longer take education so lightly. It has to
set up institutions where it can train teachers properly and introduce effective syllabi
that are appropriate to the needs of students, teachers, parents and the country as a
whole. Merely raising the literacy rate, while good in itself, will not be enough to help
realise this country’s overall developmental ambitions. |
