Quality Education

UNDOUBTEDLY, education is the key to national development. Without good and quality education, no country and society can develop and prosper. Global experiences have proved that investment in education is the investment for the country’s sustainable development. It is for this reason why national governments and international development institutions have emphasised quality education to eradicate poverty and ensure social and economic development. Nepal has also realised this fact and accordingly invested a lot in the education sector. However, desired results have not yet been achieved. Among many other sectors, education system of Nepal is also in a shambles. Educational institutes and academic activities both in the secondary as well as higher education levels have been marred by partisan politics. Experts are of the view that our education system has produced more certificate holders rather than the skilled and qualitative human resource needed for the country. Instead of contributing to country’s development this trend has increased the burden of educated unemployment in the country. Ironically, if there is a shortage of qualified and skilled human resources in the country, on the other hand, thousands of people are unemployed. In order to solve this problem, quality of education has to be improved and emphasis placed more on producing skilled human resource. For this, management and orientation of our education system have to be changed, which has also been demanded by people having long experience in this sector.

The Nepal University Teachers’ Organisation (NUTA) organised an interaction programme in which participants stressed the need for taking immediate measures to end the present mismanagement in the educational institutions. In the programme, Minister for Education Amod Prasad Upadhyaya also accepted the fact that the educational institutions are poorly managed and assured that the government would take necessary steps to resolve this problem. It is true that educational institutes have suffered from mismanagement. As a result teaching and learning atmosphere, has been severely affected and the quality of education imparted in educational institutes is gradually deteriorating. Considering this sorry state of our education system and educational institutions, the government has also expressed its commitment to do away with the mismanagement in the academic institutions and take necessary measures to ensure conducive teaching and learning atmosphere in the schools as well as university level. For this, educational institutes need to be made free from politics and politicisation. Hence it is high time to initiate work for eradicating all preversions noticed in our education system so as to maintain good teaching and learning atmosphere for the larger interest of the nation.

Non-Custodial Ways

Most of Nepal’s prisons are inhabitable and suffer from serious administrative and management problems. This common knowledge was reinforced by a report tabled in the House of Representatives by one of its committees a few months ago. After touring Nepal’s prisons, the committee members found that these places were far from functioning as reform houses as they are supposed to be. Many pressing reforms, that would make prisons a little more livable, were long overdue. Though nobody would suggest that prisons should be comfort exemplified, the way they are run at present puts a question mark on the whole rationale behind having prisons. They are supposed to be places where convicts are encouraged to cleanse their mind and soul, and where they stand a reasonable chance of being productive members of society in the future. As things stand now, the Nepalese prison system miserably falls short of that objective. They have been one of the least attended areas of government though many of the present-day politicians in power have at one time or another been residents of these jails during the earlier times. Dilapidated prison buildings are only a physical manifestation of the defects in the prison system. Many management and administrative flaws make our prison system what they are.

Jail problems were brought to the fore again the other day as a three-year plan of action for penal and prison reforms in Nepal was officially launched by the chief justice. The plan outlines specific strategies for reforming the most pressing issues on criminal justice, and penal and prison reforms in Nepal. The plan was a result of a brainstorming done some five months ago at a round-table meeting of penal and prison practitioners, researchers and academics from the government and the civil society. Apart from favouring a more humane treatment of prisoners, the plan contains some forward-looking strategies. Introduction of open prisons or community service for prisoners are two of the ideas that are worthy of more than a cursory attention. Indeed they have been tested and found to be workable in many countries of the world. Under these pragmatic systems, prisoners are less of a burden and more of its productive members. Nepal’s penal and prison practitioners too must cease to think incarceration is the only way to tame the wayward members of society. They must test non-custodial approaches too, not only because they are cheaper, but also because they are much more humane and pro-human rights. Making a start on them is highly recommendable.