Editorial»
School of thought
AUG 16 -
It is not only prospective migrant labourers who are leaving the country in droves. The number of Nepali aspirants for higher education abroad is increasing at a similar clip. In last one year, around 27,000 Nepali students are believed to have left for education in Western countries; and another 15,000 have left for India. The lure of foreign education is costing the country Rs 20 billion annually, a tenth of the total remittance that came in during the same period.
The underlying reasons for such a mass exodus should be a cause for concern—and not just because it is a big drain on the national economy. The last decade has seen huge investment in the private education sector with new private colleges springing up all over the country. But they have not been able to lure many students, largely by no fault of their own. Due to the constant political turmoil of the last two decades, many Nepali youth are simply fed up with the whole system of which they were reluctant participants during their upbringing. Most of them would have had to miss classes and had their exams postponed due to strikes and bandas. It is hard to fault them for trying out a better alternative when one is available.
To get an idea of the malaise that afflicts Nepal’s higher education system, one need only look at the condition of the biggest and oldest university in the country. Tribhuvan University, which is the umbrella institution of most public and private campuses in Nepal, has been crippled by political meddling. It is not experienced educationists who bag important university posts but rather those close to one or the other political party. The university is also the centre of politics by proxy, making TU more a political battlefield than a centre of learning.
In comparison, Western countries offer world-class institutions of higher education free from such troubles. Of course, only a tiny minority of Nepali students end up in top-notch centres of higher education in other countries. Most of those who leave to study in countries like the US, Australia and the UK go through various educational consultancies. And more often than not, the colleges and universities these consultancies send students to are mediocre. At a time when the global economy is in a funk and hiring is thin, the pass outs from such institutions struggle to land good jobs or placements in good universities for further education.
The bulk of the Nepali youth, it appears, is ready to bear the risk that comes with pursing their dreams. With the country destined for at least a few more years of political uncertainty, more and more students are likely to opt for the safer and more secure option. The number of Nepalis who choose to settle abroad is set to increase as well. The worrying fact is not that the young are leaving in such huge numbers, but that the country may lose its most valuable resources forever.
Posted on: 2010-08-17 08:47
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