Most Significant Changes Stories

Education through radio

Community Radio Madan Pokhara has launched an initiative to help students pass the SLC exam. Through the radio, students receive extra classes in math, science and English.

By Malene Lærke

20. June 2007

Shanti Thapa sits in her room under the tin roof hunched over her notebook carefully writing down the lesson of the day in the glimmer of a small oil lamp. She listens thoughtfully to the words from the radio and carefully notes down the answers to last weeks homework. She studies at class 8 and lives with her parents in ward no 1, Rajai Pokhari in Rupse VDC, Palpa district. She likes going to school; however often it is too noisy in the classroom and she finds comfort in the solitude beneath the tin roof with her small radio.  

“At school there is so much noise and it is difficult for me to concentrate because there are 54 students in my class but here in my room I feel comfortable and I can concentrate fully on my studies,” she explains.  

Often Shanti Thapa has to skip school because she has to take care of her mother’s duties in the house minding the cattle, chicken and goats and take care of four younger brothers and sisters. In addition, she does not go to school during harvest time. This means that she cannot attend school regularly. The radio programmes are her opportunity to learn what she did not have the opportunity to learn in school. She is struggling with the English grammar but she is determined. Her current dream is to pass the SLC exam in first division.    

“I am confident and I strongly hope I will pass the SLC exam. These programmes help me because I can study at home quietly which I cannot do at school. I also discuss the subjects presented in the programmes with my friends,” says Shanti Thapa.  

She tells that from the English programme she has learned to spell new words in English and that her pronunciation has become better. Slowly she spells f-l-o-w-e-r which is the most difficult word she knows in English.  

Her mother is very eager to support her daughter in benefiting from the radio programmes knowing that her daughter has to skip school often because of duties around the house.  

“I encourage her to study hard,” says her mother Narishara Thapa. “I make sure that she has eaten her dal bhat before the programme begins at 19.20 so she can go upstairs and listen to the radio programmes without being disturbed. It is important for her future that she passes the SLC exam.”  

The percentage of students in Nepal failing the SLC exam is high. Annually between 60 – 70 percent of the students do not pass the exam. Generally it is mathematics, science and English there are the difficult subjects for the Nepali students.

Shanti Thapa goes to school at Shree Karnadhar Secondary School. This year all students from the school failed the SLC exam. Last year two students passed the exam.

“Our school has many problems and I am definitely not proud of our result. Our main problems are there are not enough teachers, the village cannot raise enough money for salary and there is no educational environment in the village,” explains Lokendra Thapa who teaches English at the school and in addition is the host in the English programme.

Another problem is that in the rural area the children do not have access to private tuition classes like students in the city because private tuition is too expensive for many parents in the rural area. Private tuition monthly cost around 500 rupee. 

“I hope the programmes can replace private teachers and give the children from poor families a good opportunity. If they listen carefully and learn they can learn just as much as if they took private tuition. The radio is the cheapest mean of education and gives all families the opportunity to learn,” says Lokendra Thapa.

“We have talked about in the community that the teachers at school are bad. We believe that these programmes will be good for our children and will make a difference. Unfortunately, in our situation, it is impossible for us to pay for private tuition. I have no pension and we are a poor family. We simply cannot afford it,” says Narishara Thapa and adds that in the community the opinion is that the programmes should be broadcasted every day. Today the programmes are sent once a week for half an hour.

Three schools have been chosen to be pilot schools where the radio after a year will monitor whether the SLC result has improved at the schools since the radio programmes began.

“It is too early to judge the impact of the programme but the hope is that there will be a 10 percent improvement of the students passing the exam,” tells Lokendra Thapa.

Shanti Thapa dreams about what she will become if she can pass the SLC exam and continue to study at university.

“I would like to be a doctor so that I can help the sick people in the community, I would also like to become a Nepali singer but most of all I want to stay here in the village,” she tells.