Education in a Nepal Federal State - Problems and Opportunities

Education in a Nepal Federal State

Problems and Opportunities

President of Nepal with PABSON Members and International Guest Speakers from the Education Conference

My recent trip to Nepal was one of the most remarkable and memorable weeks in my life. I was an

invited guest of Lachhe Bahadur, President of the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation Nepal

(PABSON), and a guest speaker at the PABSON organised conference in Kathmandu on the theme of

“Education and Federalism”.

This was my very first visit to Nepal, a country which is currently undergoing a critical political and

societal transition as its Government prepares a constitution to establish a Federal state. Education is a

fundamentally important component in the determination of any country’s future and the conference

was a focal point to influence and shape opinions about education strategy and the relationship

between public and private education.

Professor Franz Josef Radermacher addresses the Rotary Club on Globalisation, Sustainability and Future

The background to my invitation was that I was involved in a European Project called Global Society

Dialogue (GSD) led by Professor Franz Josef Radermacher of Ulm University in early 2000 along with

representatives from around the globe, including Lachhe Bahadur, a school teacher from Nepal. The

GSD project focused on the impact of technology on society and how to build an equitable and

sustainable future for all of the world. Professor Radermacher had developed a Global Marshall Plan

strategy that argued for balanced growth between developed and developing nations.

The week began with an evening meeting of the Rotary Club where Professor Radermacher outlined

some of the problems faced by the Globalised Society and the implications for a country like Nepal.

Professor Radermacher is an expert on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data and, like myself, has seen the

impact of these technologies on society, especially on knowledge professionals whose jobs have been

either threatened or totally transformed by technological developments which make computers a

cheaper and more effective option than a human being. He cited examples of how computers have

evolved to become better chess players, able to diagnose cancer more consistently and accurately and

make investment decisions in fractions of a second.

Through my own work on Learning Technologies, I have long argued that teachers are no longer the

subject matter experts whose role is to disseminate knowledge but rather they are vital guides, coaches

and mentors whose essential role is to develop all round active citizens, healthy in mind and body with

an ability to think critically combined with a commitment to collaboration and inter-dependency.

Nepal’s Minister for Industry with PABSON members and Prof Radermacher at the LOTUS Sports Day

The following day I was invited to attend a school sports day in Kathmandu where the guest of honour

was Nepal’s Minister for Industry and it was here, watching the students perform marching displays and

sing and dance to traditional music, that I began to develop an understanding of the value of culture and

education philosophies, not only in Nepal, but in Society as a whole. There is a great focus in Nepal in

the role of education in developing fit, healthy bodies and minds in children who are encouraged to

honour and respect their families, schools, communities and nation.

Education and Federalism Conference

The Conference Panel including Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education

The conference on “Education and Federalism” held on Feb 20th was a remarkable and packed event

with senior Government representatives including the Deputy Prime Minister as speakers who not only

attended the event and shared their views on Govt policy but also stayed to listen to a good part of the

conference. The President of PABSON, Lachhe Bahadur, made an impassioned plea for financial support

for the private education sector and cited many examples of how private and public sector could work

together to provide a better education for all children in Nepal. His own school, Suryodaya Jyoti

Secondary Boarding School is an example of one of the many private schools that deliver high standards

of education but have to rely on community and parent funding and the commitment and passion of

their teachers. Lachhe argued for more financial support from the Govt and prior to lunch I was invited

to a private audience with the President of Nepal along with Professor Radermacher and his colleague

from Germany, Professor Estelle Herlyn and members of the PABSON team. The President invited us to

offer our recommendations on the key actions which Nepal could take to develop its education strategy

and these will be summarised in a personal email to him.

In his keynote presentation, Professor Radermacher re-iterated the global challenges faced by all

countries in developing education strategies in an age of disruptive technological change. He argued

that a good education and degree level qualifications are no longer any guarantee of a good job because

technology is replacing knowledge professionals in almost every area. However, without education,

there is little or no chance of a job but, because human capabilities of the physical body and the “soul”

still give human beings an advantage over technology, vocational training will play a very important role

in Nepal’s future. This was also the focus of Professor Herlyn’s presentation later in the day.

Audience with the President of Nepal

During the lunch break, I was asked by one of the local speakers how I would define and measure quality

education. It was a very difficult question because the traditional metrics that we have used for

thousands of years to measure retention of knowledge and an ability to apply it are becoming less

relevant if we want to build a sustainable future. With information rapidly changing and accessible via

the internet, the transfer of knowledge by human beings is becoming redundant. My own belief is that

quality education can only be measured by the extent to which it can fulfil the human potential of each

and every individual whilst building a sustainable, equitable and inter-dependent society. Professor

Radermacher observed that many societies around the world are developing into a “two-track” state in

which the “haves” and “have-nots” co-exist but have very little human contact between each other.

My presentation on Collaboration and Virtual Classroom Technologies gave examples of how such

technologies can be used to build bridges between the private and public sectors but, although

technologies to enhance learning could and should play a part in Nepal’s education strategy, the key

issue really revolves around strong, united leadership, especially in a federal situation which could all

too easily lead to conflicts and demands on very limited resources. This scenario would present a very

bleak picture for Nepal which has so much to offer from its greatest asset, its human capital.

Vegetable sellers in Patan City

The people of Nepal are very warm and friendly and have a great tradition in crafts but Kathmandu has

many infrastructure problems. There are no railways, limited and crowded public transport in very old

polluting vehicles, a massive use of motor scooters on overcrowded and poorly maintained streets and a

badly polluted river. The health of the population in Nepal must suffer badly from these problems which

also present severe obstacles for investment in infrastructure and commercial potential.

The Technological Fest at the Institute of Engineering Pulchowk

Students working on Driverless Car Technology

It was by accident that my hotel was only 200 yards from the Pulchowk Institute of Engineering where

an organisation called Locus were running a 3 day exhibition on modern technologies, with various

competitions for student innovators and users of technology. It included a “Hackathon”, Coding

competitions, “Fastest Texters”, “Fastest Googlers”, “FIFA Football contest” and showcases of student

projects which included virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics and the internet of things. This

came as something of a shock to see amongst the poverty in the back streets but, in reality, I should not

have been surprised because I have witnessed and spoken about the way in which technology can

empower people in extraordinary ways everywhere in the world.

One of the young people I met was Krishnant J Rana, Founder and Managing Director of “The Platform”,

a location with facilities for technology start-ups and human resources to help young technology

entrepreneurs build new businesses in a kind of creative cluster similar in concept to the Serious games

Institute I helped to found in the UK.

Kishnant J Rana, MD of The Platform

I met and talked with many young innovators and entrepreneurs keen to share their projects with me

and listen to some of the work we did at the Serious Games Institute on smart buildings, virtual worlds

and augmented reality. These young people were competent, passionate and determined. I received an

email from one of the students, an extract from which I have shared below :-

“Hello Sir,

I am one of the many students that you met today at the LOCUS Science Exhibition held at Pulchowk

Campus (near Hotel Himalaya), where we had talked about the prior need of technological

enhancement in Nepal to meet the global standards.

I wanted to highlight some of the major problems that I had faced during the making of our project;

the Phototactic (Light Following) Robot.

1. The materials that were required to build up the project were either not readily available or too

expensive to afford.

2. We being the students of Grade XI had very less knowledge over the topic and had no excess to any

learned/professional for guidance.

3. As per the narrow mindedness of our society, many people contradicted our willingness to

participate. We lacked moral support.

Despite of all these problems, we worked hard and came up with our project. Even though we didn't

win today, we do not see anyone worthy of the blame of our failure. Though we had made our minds

before hand, there are many who get easily demoralized and stop working in these fields after facing

failure.

I can see a clear solution to this. We can create a website, which would be completely dedicated

towards the technological advancement in Nepal, and not only encourage people to take part in

competitions, but also to encourage them to invent technologies for the global market too.”

These students show the kind of determination and active citizenship that has the potential to transform

Nepal whilst protecting its precious cultural heritage and I would love to find people and organisations

willing and able to help me work with Nepali people to build their resources and capacity.

The Suryodaya Jyoti Secondary Boarding School

Students at the Suryodaya Jyoti Secondary Boarding School

My final revelation was a visit to spend the morning at Lachhe Bahadur’s school in Kathmandu. The

Suryodaya Jyoti Secondary Boarding School provides education for students from Kindergarden to 16

year old. Its’ Principal is a passionate social entrepreneur who has devoted his life to developing the

potential of his young students. I was very moved by the welcome they gave us and by the quality of the

students we spoke to. They were confident, polite, motivated and committed to the values of the school

and the culture of Nepal.

Principal Lachhe Bahadur with his IT Teacher in the Computer Lab

This school was a wonderful example of what education can achieve when harnessed to a vision of a

better future and attention to the individual potential of each individual student.

I have posted images of my visit to Kathmandu and the conference on my website Flickr page at :-

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwortley/sets/ and have posted a video of this school visit on my

slideshare page at http://www.slideshare.net/dwortley/suryodaya-jyoti-secondary-boarding-school-

visit-in-kathmandu-nepal

Problems and Opportunities - Conclusions

The Shanty Homes on the Bagmati River

There is no doubt that Kathmandu faces many challenges, especially in a high technology society of

disruptive change. To compete in a global economy, it needs to harness its natural resources to

maximum effect from a position of weakness in finance and infrastructure. In such circumstances, there

will always be a “brain drain” problem in which the brightest and best are tempted to leave the country

for a better future for themselves and their families.

Despite this challenging situation which Professor Radermacher articulated as “You have no chance –

take it”, there are many examples in history of nations being transformed by a common vision, most

recently South Korea, Germany and India where technology and community engagement played big

roles. It is also true that this age of disruptive change can allow countries to “leapfrog” each other by

avoiding investment in technology legacy infrastructure and jumping to technologies such as 4G wireless

broadband that can offer faster provision and cheaper access to the key mobile and portable

technologies used today.

The other opportunity which Nepal has is based on its human capital, culture and traditions. Societies in

developing nations often have a community and collaborative culture that has been diluted or lost in the

developed world and as we enter a period in history where collaborative technologies can make “the

whole greater than the sum of its parts”, Nepal has some advantages it can build on. Vocational

Education could also make a big difference to the economic development of the nation.

Nepal has now occupied a space in my heart and I would love to do all within my power to help its

people fulfil their potential. I have many international contacts with expertise they could pass on to

these wonderful people and I hope this article will encourage anyone who would like to contribute to

working with me to contact me at [email protected]