A Vital Role

WOMEN's role in the society has its own importance and so is the amount of suffering, misery, humiliation and discrimination that they have to undergo quite shocking. Untold number of women have had to face problems like having to work for longer hours as compared to men and despite the fact that the family cannot run without them they are often marginalised in most of the cases. The one important factor that has worked against the women is that a majority of them have not seen the light of education. All the talks of empowerment do not make sense unless the women themselves come forward to capitalise on the available opportunities. But for all this to happen in the way envisaged, education is necessary. The government, of course, has made certain provisions for educating the girl child which is commendable. However, the task requires greater commitment and effort as the society looks for increasing the pace of development in the next decade. As a step towards meeting the high aspirations of the country, the government has always implemented the 29-point educational reform policy. With the target of 'education for all by 2015', the commitment is clear but the whole thing hinges on the sincerity to purpose.

Once the girls are at par in education to that of boys then there will be no such thing like gender inequality. To make achievement in the real sense in this direction much effort and other resources are needed. Though Nepal lacks adequate resources, mainly financial, a judicious use is advisable with focus on making everyone able to respond to the development requirement of the country.
The demand for making the women's representation in the government-Maoist peace talks must be taken seriously if the empowerment of women is what we desire. This means that those who have seen at close quarters the devastating effects of violence too would be able to voice what they think is right. It will be another sphere where the women's role will be seen as important. With the development in the status of women in the country, their exploitation will see a natural death.

Of Schools & Exams

GLIMPSES of queer practices resorted to by some students and teachers during the School Leaving Certificate exams draw media attention every year. News of invigilators being expelled, sacks of paper intended for helping students cheat in the exams found and students locking up the headmaster for not helping the students give such glimpses of the ongoing SLC exams. Going by the large number of students sitting these exams every year, there is a widespread concern that they be made fair and uniform for all across the kingdom. But the authorities find it to be colossal task to conduct the exams in exactly the same way for all those students sitting the crucial test in hundreds of thousands. Allowing minor differences because of the type of individuals involved in conducting the test in many different centres across the country, a strict measure needs to be taken to make the exams truly reflective of the aptitude of individual students. While annual exams alone do not provide a sufficient condition, especially if they are not conducted with a uniform standard for all the students sitting them, to assess as to whether they are the right candidates to go to colleges, the education authorities should also make sure that the teaching and learning environment in all schools are relatively uniform.

The fact that many public schools are running classes without adequate human and other physical resources as opposed the rich private schools is worrisome. Either the standard of teaching and learning in public school has to be upgraded to make them at par with private schools or the idea of applying the uniform exams to all should be re-examined. The report that the students of Bhagawati Sanskrit Secondary School who are appearing this year's SLC from Babai Multiple Campus wrote a litany of complaints like their inability of buying books and their teachers not completing the courses only adds one more reason to rethink our entire teaching and learning in schools as well as the examination system. What counts above everything else in a student is his individual personality shaped by the education system of the country. Only the right kind of environment can shape such a personality. This is obviously a tall order in a country where even the authorities are often heard complaining that they face a number of problems, ranging from financial to administrative, in conducting the annual exams, let alone upgrading the quality of teaching and learning in schools. The government would do well to start a serious homework as to how the discrepancies in school teaching and test can be removed.