Put It In Practice

MINISTER for Education and Sports Devi Prasad Ojha said that His Majesty’s Government was working seriously to make the education sector free from politics. Addressing a two-day workshop on the Role of Mass Media in Education organised by the Department of Education in Kathmandu the other day, Education Minister Ojha said that the education sector has been a victim of political intervention and terrorist activities, that have severely affected its quality. Education plays a vital role in the development of the country. Education creates skilled, informed and enlightened human resource, which is instrumental for social and economic development of the nation. Thus, the level of development and prosperity depends on the quality of education. Nepal, on the one hand, has still a large number of illiterate, uneducated and unskilled people, while on the other hand academics and experts have complained that the quality of education has not been raised at par with the international standard. Education means quality and if it lacks quality it is no education at all. The government has accorded high priority to this sector and has allocated a large amount of money from the exchequer for its development. However, the quality of education has not improved significantly. This is mainly due to the heavy politicisation of this sector. Against this background, the remarks of Minister Ojha comes as a sigh of relief for those who are really worried about the deteriorating quality of education, However, it is easier said than done to bring improvement. The education sector is so severely affected that it would need really a hard work and strong commitment to make it free from politics and political intervention. Educational institutes are the place of learning and efforts to disturb and destroy this atmosphere are definitely the acts of pushing Nepal backward. Nobody has the right to play in the fate of thousands of students, who are the hopes and pillars of Nepal’s development in the future. The frequent calls for strike in the education sector has made the future of students further uncertain and bleak. As said by Minister Ojha, education must be free from politics and political intervention. However, this commitment needs to be translated into action. For this, all political parties and responsible citizens need to work collectively for the lofty goal of raising the quality of education by making it free from politics.

Carpet Industry’s Woes

THE Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Mahesh Lal Pradhan, as per a news item carried by this daily the other day, was appraised of the difficulties faced by the carpet industry by a delegation from the Central Carpet Industry Association. That Nepalese carpet entrepreneurs have been facing a slew of problems hardly needs any mention here. These problems range from dwindling sales in overseas markets to having to face charges of polluting the environment and using child labour to manufacture the Nepalese carpets at home and abroad. All this, coupled with decreasing revenues on the one hand and increasing, if not constant, taxes levied on them on the other are obviously giving the Nepalese carpet entrepreneurs a run for their ability to stay financially solvent. This is more so for carpet entrepreneurs who, during the halcyon days of the Nepalese carpets when these indigenous items were going like hot potatoes in the overseas markets, had poured in whatever money that had earned to establish and manufacture the Nepalese carpets. For they, unlike their fellow entrepreneurs who had already made a name for themselves as carpet manufacturers or exporters abroad, are the hardest hit by the current slump seen in carpet export. However, this is not to say that the already established carpet entrepreneurs are not facing problems. They very much do. But still, the recent carpet entrepreneurs, unlike their established counterparts, don’t have any reliable partners overseas to rely on to sell or import their carpets. Nevertheless, the problems facing their common product, sooner or later, are bound to affect the established carpet entrepreneurs. This is all the reason more for both to join hands to come up with ways and means to overcome the crisis affecting this industry which, during its heydays, was not only generating ample employment opportunities for the people but also contributing quite a sizable amount of forex to the national exchequer’s coffers.

Now that this very industry that was touted as a “golden goose” not very long ago is in the doldrums, it behooves upon the concerned authorities to extend a helping hand to it, be it through tax break and other incentives or by exploring more market outlets for the carpet entrepreneurs. At the same time, the carpet entrepreneurs themselves need to do their own homework more thoroughly, especially in delving into the reasons and causes that are hindering in the sales and export of their common product.