Educational Reform in Nepal: An Evaluation

Abstract

IN THEIR QUEST for rapid development, many third world societies have placed great emphasis on expanding their educational systems. Modernization requires skilled manpower which comes from various educational institutions, particularly colleges and universities. But the process of educational development in most of these countries has been uneven. In an effort to increase the educational attainments of the population, schools have been built and staffed with teachers, but the teachers themselves are poorly equipped. Some academic areas are relatively easy to expand and tend to attract large numbers of students. Social sciences and humanities require little in the way of physical facilities other than classrooms and draw large numbers of students, while the sciences and engineering require laboratories and expensive equipment which the developing countries do not have and cannot afford to import from abroad. Moreover, technical fields tend to experience lower enrollment pressures. As a result of this combination of circumstances, many developing countries find themselves faced with a number of problems. University graduates are being produced at a rate that many countries find difficult to absorb in the labor market, at least in jobs that approximate the, skill levels and expectations of the graduates themselves. There is a great tendency to produce altogether too many humanities and social science graduates. Frustrated in their efforts to obtain employment that they feel is consistent with their training, many students and graduates have turned to radicalized political behavior. The quality of education that students are receiving, particularly at the primary and secondary levels, is not very good. At issue, among other things, is the question of what students should be learning at the various stages in the educational process.