Kathmandu Post

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Mind the gap

JUN 21 -
The annual ritual, where students wait for the results of the “iron gate” that is the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam, culminated yesterday.  Out of 4 lakh 54 thousand 22 students, 55 per cent passed the test. They can now go on to study in colleges and universities. The rest, 2 lakh 14 thousand five hundred and one (44 per cent), failed to pass. Those who failed in one or two subjects will re-take the test in August. Others will wait another year and perhaps drop out of school forever. We do not have the statisitics yet, but past analysis shows that students who fail, overwhelmingly, went to public schools and reside in rural areas. In addition, those studying in Kathmandu valley passed with higher grades than those outside the valley.  More girls failed SLC than boys.

Nepal has made more progress in health and education than any other country in the world since the 1980, according to UN Human Development Report. But that is because we started so low. History tells us that for 100 years the Rana rulers forbade opening schools fearing that education will empower the people to overthrow their iron rule. There was a concerted effort to open schools during the 30 years of Panchayat dictatorship with an education policy of centralisation and building state nationalism.  After the democratic movement of 1990, the education industry was liberalised, mimicking the neoliberal trend in global political economy. Private “boarding” schools mushroomed overnight. These days, well-to-do families will not even consider sending their offspring to a public school. 

No wonder, then, that schools are highly politicised grounds.  In the early period of modern transition that began in 1950, education was the surest path to social mobility. Everyone went to public schools and those with education were absorbed by the bureaucracy.  Of course, it is foolish to expect government jobs for all these days.  Instead, the majority of students eventually work for the private sector whether inside or outside the country. These workers require different skills than their parents, skills which the current education system does not teach. Tests like the SLC reward rote learning at the expense of analytical skills.  The entire evaluation method used in SLC exams is problematic. How is it possible to evaluate a year of learning in a subject with a three hour exam? Most private schools, at least the good ones, have realised the inadequacies of the curriculum and supplement them with their own.  Again, unlike public schools, Information Technology is heavily emphasised, because increasingly digital literacy—the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information—is a pre-requisite for employment. The impacts of the digital divide are already here. These days, it is next to impossible to find a private sector job without good computer skills and some grasp of the English language. Public schools cannot compete with private schools in this regard. As a result, those who get the best education are usually the ones who can pay the most. Once again, all the SLC numbers conveniently mask the inequalities in our society.

Posted on: 2011-06-22 09:11

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