Social Justice in Education: Quality of Education in Nepal

Introduction

Social justice is the right of humans to have fair access to wealth, health, education, or any privileges in a society, whether it is in developed or under-developed countries. Unfortunately, even to this day, people are still struggling to have their rights as human beings at every opportunity they have. It is even worse for under-developed countries to claim their rights because sometimes their voices are being ignored by the government who accentuates more in other things than the people they lead. One of the most important things that is easily forgotten by the government in underdeveloped countries is the poor quality of education and the need for social justice in education. For example, in Nepal, it is not a secret anymore that Nepal’s most frequently asked question is the quality education for Nepali children. Many children in Nepal face problems that hinder their access to quality education, some of them are unqualified teachers, the same old syllabus, limited subjects, poor online support, most universities and colleges located in the capital city, and the government not focusing on the growth of education services. This essay will dig deeper on how these problems in Nepal have caused a lot of inconvenience for children to find the best education to further their studies.

Teacher Qualification in Education of Nepal

When it comes to education, teachers play an important role in helping students understand and achieve their goals. However, in Nepal, although the quantity of teachers is enough, they do not have what we say as a “qualified teacher”. They considered teacher the last choice when you become nothing after gaining an educational degree. That is why, students may find teachers not passionate enough in teaching and do not care enough in helping them because sometimes the government appointed teachers without checking their qualifications and experience, as long as they have enough teachers to teach students then it is fine. Even the few qualified teachers that are available, they teach students based on textbooks only. They made students memorize the textbook because they believed to pass the exam they needed to follow the curriculum. Sad to say, even the curriculum provided is the same old syllabus. A student in Nepal once said; that the syllabus hasn’t been updated since ages, be it SLC, HSEB or university courses. It shows how the crucial points of what it needs for a good quality of education are being neglected by the government.

Social Justice in Nepal's Education

Within the school’s facilities itself, most of them offered only limited subjects. In Nepal, subjects like arts, economics, physics, chemistry, and math are viewed as a minor. Not a lot of opportunities are available for students who want to pursue their masters in such subjects. That is why students who cares to look for a job in Nepal would change their preferred subjects to others that are considered reputable, like engineering, CA (Chartered Accountant) and MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery). Students are not given much choice to study what they want, they must follow what the nation’s and parents’ told and give them to be. A nation cannot be developed if the future generation, the children’s within the nation are not given the resources to develop their thinking and pursue what they want so that they may one day continue the work of the nation's leaders. It seems that Nepal has not grasp the importance of giving the younger generation the best quality of education. One thing that is also overlooked by the government is the poor online support, schools are lack of central online support system. Even at Tribhuvan University, one of the biggest institutes of higher education, they did not provide computer facilities for students. With the lack of library and other important facilities in the university, the internet would be much helpful in gaining information easily but sadly, the university does not even have it. This makes students cannot even get their syllabus or any educational materials from the school online.

Aside from that, most excellent high schools, colleges, and universities in Nepal are all located only on the nation’s capital city, Kathmandu. It is such an inconvenience for students from other cities to spend money every day for transportation and even if they stay at the dorm, the lifestyle of the city is not cheap and lower and middle-class students cannot afford it. To study in a good school comes with a price and if it is added with living in the capital city, they need to have a huge amount of money to pay, which is beyond the wages that their parents have. Schools should be fairly located so that every child can attend a good school without a problem. Not only that, for the past 20 years, although Nepal has made growth in school quantity and enrollment and literacy rates, the government is still not focusing on the development of education services. They know how the syllabus was old yet still intend on using it, the old curriculum was written poorly yet still insist students learned and memorized textbook if they want to pass the exam which do not help students to learn out of the box and think creatively at all. The government still thinks a proper education focuses solely on studying from textbooks when it is not. Alumni in Nepal once said; The government didn’t really care about running the school because the management at school was terrible. Despite putting supervisors and training staff, there was a nonappearance from both parties. Even with the funding available, the government seems to have no knowledge of what is a good quality of education. Nepal’s government is still stuck with the thought of their own terms regarding a good quality of education, they don’t want to learn more and acknowledge that the growth of a nation includes the growth of quality of education.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Nepal’s poor quality in education is not only the fault of one party. Developing a nation is the job of every person within the nation. The government, the teachers, and even parents should be involved in creating a better future for the younger generations, which starts with the education they deserve. Governments need to start by acknowledging the faults of the system and gradually fix the problems within the school’s system. To train and provide a good teaching staff and supervisors who committed and understood the importance of education and who are passionate about it. Teachers should instil a morale that will make the students happy and eager to learn and study. Parents should know about what’s happening at every school in Nepal and help in guiding their children to learn and think about new things other than what’s in textbooks and to vote for ministers who cares and values about the quality of education for children. They must resolve this social justice issue with the help of the society itself because the power of a society that intends to change and developed every aspect of the nation is invincible.  

Works Cited

1. Kopnina, H. (2014). Cultural relativism and universal human rights. Human Rights Review, 15(2), 187-198.