Education
Tailoring It To Workplace

By Mukti Rijal

LAST week, this writer happened to meet a young man who was on his way to Saudi Arabia to join the job he had been taking up for the last two years. He had come to meet his relatives back home on a leave. Being a young man with some level of education he was quite articulate and analytical. Regarding the plight of the Nepalese working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia he said the people from this Himalayan country are lowly paid, badly treated and harassed to the hilt. There are, according to him, some reasons for it. Among the several reasons he cited was the lack of marketable and employable skills in the Nepalese workers which are responsible for poor wage accompanied by hazardous working conditions. In several cases, Nepalese workers are turned down or not accepted in the job market. The areas they are generally absorbed include the informal and domestic sectors where the terms and conditions are very poor. They are employed as shepherds, construction workers, agricultural labourers and other jobs demanding much more physical strains and bodily hardships. The young man was very critical of the education imparted in the Nepalese schools and colleges showing differences of status of the Filipino workers Vis a Vis we Nepalese ones. The Filipinos are offered high profile jobs because they are skilled whereas we Nepalese regardless of our level of education have to accept the poor working terms because we have no employable skills. Our energetic youths confront difficult situations because education we get in the schools and colleges is not skill based. He added, "Our education has cheated us."

This shows where change and reform in our education system is needed. Our education creates a brigade of youths in hundreds of thousands completely detached from and indifferent to social realities. They are meant for the white-collar jobs in the public sectors. Even in the public sectors certain skills such as operating computers are needed for which our school and college products are not trained. So our education is producing people who are misfits for productive and growth sectors. The social unrest and discontent we are having today stem, among others, from the impractical and non-technical education being imparted at our schools and campuses. Educated people demand jobs and employment benefits, which we are not in a position to cater to. This gives rise to frustration and disenchantment.

Education should impart employable skills and techniques so that an educated person would find that he or she is absorbed in the marketplace as a productive human resource. On the basis of studies and empirical investigations educationists have developed ‘correspondence principle.’ They argue that the very nature of employer-employee relationship in marketplace demands a particular type of useful education characterized by a general acceptance and willingness to obey to the employer’s decisions about how the work will be done, what will be produced and how the product will be used. The nature of work at the market place demands the teaching of new basic skills in order that the learners become an useful and a productive workforce. The work at the marketplace demands such traits as the ability to work in groups and solve problems. Educationists, therefore, advocate that education-both in its content and form-correspond to the needs of workplace.

Education should prepare a man to be productive and useful. It is said that there must be a correspondence between the organisation of the workplace and the organisation of the schools. It is also remarked that there should be correspondence between the organisation of schools and organiation of political life. Similarly, the structure of education has important implications for the strengthening of community. The schools are widely viewed as developing citizenship and providing the values that are the basis of social cohesion. The impact of schools on community depends very much on how a school system is organised and the extent to which it is integrated with community. Another aspect of the schools—community link is the extent to which members of the community are directly involved in the governance of the schools. Most school reformers believe that when students, parents and members of the community take active roles in various aspects of school’s operations, the quality of education is sure to be improved.

Literate Population

It is accepted that the country’s literate population is progressively growing. Schools are established in remote areas of the kingdom and women are better educated now than in the past. However, we should seriously examine about the utility and usefulness of education in the light of the fact that whether the education we are imparting to our children enables them to survive in the competitive job market of the present day world. We should prepare our curriculum, schools and teachers in a way that the education is relevant, useful and productive. The seventh amendment to the Education Act seems to have taken some aspects of school-community relations into account but there are several areas to be reformed. The government should be careful enough for it.

Kind Kaviraj Of Dhankuta

By Anantayatree S. Khanal

THERE was a very kind Ayurvedic medico in Dhankuta. He was Kaviraj Nara Pati Pokharel of Kachedey. More than five decades ago, there was no hospital in the district. The people of Dhankuta and other adjoining villages got medical treatment from Kaviraj (Ayurvedic doctor) Nara Pati Pokharel. I met him in 1974 at Kachedey, Dhankuta where late king Birendra had camped for a month. The late king had made a routine of visiting five Development Zones each every year. I was also taken as a journalist in the royal team that year. I stayed in the royal camp at Sallery for a month and got the opportunity of meeting several persons of various professions there. I was particularly attracted by Kaviraj Nara Pati Pokhrel who was the only medical officer in Dhankuta spanning from the time of the Rana regime to Panchayat System. I went to pay a visit to him at his residence. He warmly welcomed me and gave me all the information about Dhankuta. He let me know why there were no Marbaris in Dhankuta proper. He told me that the people of Dhankuta were scared of them. They were regarded as very clever Indian businessman who dominated Nepalese traders everywhere. They sold goods at a very large profit and sent the money to their families in Rajasthan, India. So, the local people did not allow them to enter Dhankuta and conduct business since the Rana regime. I could not cast doubt on his version as I did not see a single Marbari-shop in Dhankuta while I remained there. But the Kaviraj was very sorry that the persons were so much narrow minded. Pokharel was a very kind physician. The health institution in Dhankuta was very poor for a long period. Due to lack of transportation and government negligence, there was acute shortage of medicines. Kaviraj Pokharel managed to threat the patients with his own collection of herbs. He did not make charge any thing to the poor. His soft heart was touched even by his enemy’s grief. He never spoke high sounding words and did not shout. He explained the history of Dhankuta to me since Dev Shumsher being dethroned by his brother Chandra Shumsher came to stay there. He was the first Rana administrator of Dhunkuta. Pokharel regarded the dethroned Prime Minister as a liberal Rana who was devoted to enhance the reputation of Dhankuta socially and economically. It was Dev Shumsher who made the farmers grow big cardamom, orange and tangerine in Dhankuta region. Kaviraj Nara Pati told me, the spice and fruits could be grown and cultivated in larger areas and exported to foreign countries. They could bring considerable amount of foreign currency to Nepal and sustain the country’s economy to some extent.

One morning, when I went to his residence far consultation, I came to know that he was going to Dharan for a few days. Dharan was more than a thirty kilometres far from Dhankuta and he was reaching there on foot in three days. I did not like to miss him long. So I made an arrangement of taking him in Royal helicopter. The chopper was taken to Dharan for refuelling. I had good relations with the pilot. He accepted my proposal of taking the old man to Dharan and bring him back in his helicopter. The pilot got royal permission for the task and by honourable friend got the opportunity of riding a royal helicopter for the first time. That he could go to Dharan and return to Dhankuta the same day was also the first incident. Although it was a minor service, the kind man was very much obliged to me. When I met him in the evening, he took hold of my hands and softly whispered that he will never forget my benevolent conduct. Not only this, he mentioned this event in his book that he published a few years later. In his reminiscence, he praised me for the kindness that I bestowed to him in a critical moment. He also expressed grief that he could not do me some favour in return. He was so big hearted and gentle. He is no more today but I remember him. Whenever I meet his son, the ophthalmologist surgeon Ram Prasad Pokharel who is kind to his patient I bless him to be the worthy son of a worthy father.