MS-Nepal Newsletter 2002 Issue 1

Assessing the educational need

-Dr. Prem Khatry

A social assessment was carried out by this author in five districts of Nepal during early 2000 with the cooperation of the Asian Development Bank. The districts covered mountain/remote, hill and Tarai regions for the field survey of 16 ethnic minority and disadvantaged communities to design a proposal. The main objective of the Project was to recommend ways to increase the enrolment, retention and achievement rate of females, ethnic minority and disadvantaged children by improving the quality of primary schools through regular and specific (e.g. gender/culture sensitization) teacher training, training and deployment of minority/female teachers, local level planning and community participation and improvement of physical facilities.

The definition and concept of ethnic minority and ‘disadvantaged’

According to the Ordinance (Gathan Adesha, Nepal Gazette) 2054, the term ‘disadvantaged’ (or dalit in Nepali) means ‘’those oppressed, deprived and downtrodden people making their living on traditional occupation; deprived and oppressed because of social-economic reasons and listed in His Majesty’s Government’s gazette as such." (Manav Maryada, HMG Ministry of Local Development, National Committee for the Development of Oppressed and Down-trodden, vol. 1. no.1, p.2). For the purpose of this project the term ‘disadvantaged’ meant-

a) Minority groups with extremely low social-economic indices and
b) Communities living in remote areas without equitable access to services and resources such as basic education.

In Nepal, the term ‘ethnic minority’ is used to denote "nationality" (janajati) with its own mother tongue and traditional culture and yet does not fall under the conventional four-fold Varna system or Hindu hierarchical caste structure (National Committee for the Development of Nationalities Brochure.). The government of Nepal has constituted two national level commissions as umbrella organizations to work for the development of the janajatis (nationality or ethnic minority) and dalits ((oppressed)—two important pillars of Nepal’s population.

The following were the general criteria outlined for the selection of ethnic minorities and disadvantaged groups for the social assessment survey:

• Socio-economic deprivation and discrimination in public life
•  Low level of literacy rate, school enrolment and achievement
• Lack of equitable access to economic resources, incentives and facilities
• Low contribution to their own social-cultural and economic development
• Remoteness as a factor for cultural-economic backwardness
• Non-Nepali mother tongue

Main Issues of Survey

1. The issues of equity
The project’s major strength was its well-formulated concern for ethnic minorities and disadvantaged group’s access to basic education. This concern therefore highlighted the main focus of the social assessment component – Enrichment of Basic Education for Ethnic Minorities and Girls. Despite free and compulsory Primary education in Nepal the rate of participation by ethnic minority and disadvantaged group children is 30%. The District Education Offices in all 75 districts have also prepared plans to encourage the disadvantaged children to enroll. The equity programs have thus played positive role in this regard.
The Basic Education Project of His Majesty’s Government has given emphasis to the following equity program packages:

a) Recruitment, training and deployment of 2,500 minority/disadvantaged group teachers (with the target of 70% females) to schools with concentration of minority communities.

b) Caste and gender sensitization training program for non-disadvantaged group teachers as well as local officials, social workers and community members

c) Infrastructure support to selected schools with concentration of minority population to improve the quality of teaching learning situation in primary schools, and

d) Formation of Support Groups and organization of advocacy and school support activities.

2. Status of community participation
Community participation has now been a vital issue in the primary education system management in Nepal. There is a wide gap between the School and Government on the one hand and community on the other. There are several reasons for such an undesirable development - the worsening economic condition of family, school’s indifference toward community and the partisan political nature of the composition of school management committees.

Major findings
1. Main causes of non-participation:
With 30% of school age children out of school nationally and 38% in the communities under review here, the participation rate cannot be called satisfactory. Respondents pointed to various factors responsible for non-participation as follows:

a. Cultural constraints

• Several communities have no tradition and/or background history of education
• Negative attitude toward women’s role in decision making and overall development of women
• Early marriage of girls without education
• Dependent thinking, lack of confidence in their own capacity
• Children, especially girls as source of income for family
• Lack of social mobility – stigma such as untouchability in the remote areas of western Nepal.
• Fear the ‘world’, not ‘face’ the world, psychology

b. Lack of a female and/or teacher with same or similar ethnic background as majority of students

Female teacher as a source for motivation of small, early grade children and families was a need strongly felt in sample regions with ethnic minority concentration. In some of the districts female teachers were concentrated in urban area schools, while in others female teachers were transferred to safer areas for security reasons.

In many areas where minority participation is gradually increasing the need for a female teacher or a teacher from same or similar ethnic background becomes a strong promoting factor. Such a demand had strong base and logic: First, newly enrolled children coming from non-Nepali language group have difficulties in communication with an outsider teacher and therefore their learning capacity deteriorates often resulting in dropout. Second, in some areas high caste teachers are not sensitive to socially deprived children. Parents and children in these areas are concerned about teachers’ different treatment of low caste children and other students even in the classrooms. Few examples in this context would be relevant here:

c. Unattractive and unfavorable school atmosphere
Parents and village change agents mentioned the following main factors for the current lack of adequate interest in children’s enrolment in primary schools:

• Teachers are not regular and committed to their responsibility
• The teacher/student/class ratio is very imbalanced and unnaturally high.
• Schools run under inadequate physical facilities such as classrooms, sanitation, play-ground, drinking water, and sports
• Quality of teaching is not satisfactory because teachers are not well trained, or their training is not seen in their performance. and
• High percentage of children’s repeated failure in class/level also discourages parents to enroll their children.

d. Low economic status of the family
Despite government claims otherwise, primary schools do have costs for the family. Discussion with parents drew the following observations:

• Families do not have adequate income to meet the regular cost of schooling – such as stationery, dress, books, etc. - an average amount of Rs. 2,500/- to Rs.4,000/- per year for stationery, dress, and other dues.
• Children’s economic contribution in family, specifically girls’ contribution was also a factor to keep them from enrolling.
• Parents therefore feel hard hit by the expenses. A high rate of expense-related dropout cases was found mostly in the disadvantaged (dalit) communities.
   

Study showed that the economic factor, specifically the school expenses was the main hurdle in the way of enrolment and retention of children.

e. Awareness related factors affecting enrolment
There have been no or very rare occasions of enrollment related awareness programs in general and female participation in particular. Sherpa mothers of Sindhupalchok informed about occasional campaigns organized by schoolteachers. But these programs have not been effective. The survey indicated that:

• The awareness comes from the general pro-school environment created in the atmosphere. Such an atmosphere is lacking in remote areas.
• There is a strong need to give continuity to awareness programs in more collaborative way-involving not only school teachers but also village elite, women and children.
• Awareness in the field of female education becomes very significant.

f. Teacher related issues affecting participation
Acute lack of trained teacher in school, lack of teacher’s regularity and commitment, teacher’s understanding of and assimilation in the community, lack of culturally sensitive approach in teaching were some of the main issues raised by guardians. Reasonable teacher/school and teacher/student ratio also figured as main problems in primary system. The problem was acute with adverse effect on quality education even in conveniently located district such as Sunsari in eastern Tarai.

g. Ranking of Needs
What is it that the parents feel as the main need at school? The survey focused on assessing the perceived and felt needs of the local communities under review. The table below presents ranking of the needs according to the respondents:

Ranking of Needs