Empowerment Of Women

WOMEN constitute more than half of the country's population. It is the women who play an instrumental role in the family, society and economic sector of the country. The role of women is very important and crucial in the country's overall development. However, this role has hardly been recognised in our male dominated society. Women are exploited and discriminated in every sector of the society. They are denied and deprived in many respects, despite legal and constitutional provisions of equality and protection against any form of discrimination. Nepal has already ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United Nations Convention on the Eradication of All Forms of Discrimination against Women thereby making its commitment to protect and promote human rights of women. Accordingly, it has enacted laws concerning women's rights and taken a number of measures to protect women from any kinds of exploitation and discrimination. The formation of the National Women's Commission is a solid step towards empowering women and fully protecting and realising the rights of women. All these efforts indicate that His Majesty's Government is fully committed to ensuring equal rights and opportunities to all citizens irrespective of caste, creed and sex. Against this background, Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand underlined the need for moving slowly but steadily towards empowerment of women and fully recognising their rights guaranteed by the constitution and other laws of the land. Speaking at the ceremony organised to present the draft bill concerning National Women's Commission, Prime Minister Chand said that it was necessary to create a conducive environment for the empowerment of women in the country towards fully realising the rights enshrined in the constitution and other international human rights instruments. In fact, the majority of women in Nepal are illiterate. The first thing that all concerned sectors need to do is to focus their attention on properly and adequately educating women. Only the educated and informed women can understand their rights and accordingly enjoy them. Likewise, the age-old social attitude and cultural bias against women need to be changed. A new culture and attitude must be developed in which women are recognised and regarded as equal partners and players of the society and given equal share and opportunities in all sectors. The global experiences have shown that the real development of the country and society can be achieved only through equal endeavour of both men and women. Thus, the emphasis must be given to empower women politically, socially, economically and culturally. This alone would ensure sustainable development of Nepal.

TU's Challenge

DURING the general meet of Tribhuvan University's Senate held under the chairmanship of the university's Pro-Chancellor and Minister for Education and Sports Devi Prasad Ojha, the august members were informed that the varsity, as per a news item carried by this daily the other day, produced a total manpower of 39,388 from its various faculties and institutes in the fiscal year 2001/2002. That the nation's oldest and still the premier university has managed to produce such a large number of manpower should be indeed very heartening to both the government and the people. The more so when this laudable achievement is viewed against the backdrop of the problems and challenges that this varsity is currently going through and facing. While the problems are mind-boggling, the challenges are no less daunting. If the problems range from the glaring lack of adequate resources to improve the varsity's existing physical infrastructure to finding the wherewithal to continue fulfilling its financial commitments to, among others, its large number of academicians and other professionals, then the challenges range from meeting its yearly academic schedules for its various institutes and faculties to re-structuring its curricula to equip its products with the knowledge, skills and expertise required by the nation. In other words, Tribhuvan University (TU), if it is ever to solve and surmount the numerous problems and challenges facing it, is definitely in need of additional infusion of resources. And, more importantly, of fresh inputs in the form of ideas so that it is enabled to keep on producing for the nation the required manpower.

However, this is not to say that the TU is lagging behind in this regard. The very fact that its products are currently at the helms of many governmental, non-governmental, educational and industrial organisations is there for all the varsity's well-wishers and detractors alike to see and mull over. Notwithstanding this, that TU is in dire need of fresh appraisal of its overall academic performance, direction and vision can be gleaned from the large number of graduates passing through its portals every year remaining unemployed. Though TU alone cannot be fingered out for this unemployment problem existing among its graduates, what also simply cannot be glossed over is that the odds against its graduates remaining unemployed would be great as long as its curricula are not structured to impart in the graduates the knowledge, skills and expertise needed by the nation.