Reimagining Education

"What is the capital of Gandaki Province?" I asked the students in class 8 of a school in the same province where I was a volunteer teacher. "Pokhara," they replied in unison. "Which city other than Pokhara would make a good capital of our province?" I asked again. The class mumbled but when I asked again for an answer, the class went into utter silence. " Anyone wants to give a try?" I asked. "Will this question appear in our next exam, sir?" a student responded following the class' inability to answer the question. The students were habituated with ideally listening to the teacher believing s/he says with homework involving copying a part of the text in which handwriting was given emphasis that they preferred the same. Therefore, they were very hesitant to speak when I asked the open-ended questions, gave the opportunity to ask questions, and probed to debate my assertions.

A Greek philosopher Socrates says the purpose of education is to examine one's life and to learn to question the authority. Socrates would be disappointed with the classroom setting of Nepal as it neither prepares students to question the authority nor brings about critical skill sets. An examined life would be the one in which one questions the traditional dogmas or challenges conventional wisdom. We cannot expect the students to fight against the social injustice or discriminations of all forms if compliance with the authority is the norm. Students need to be trained to challenge conventional wisdom and to create new ideas to fulfill the Socrates' claim. These skills can only be garnered only if the students are allowed free thought and taught the questioning skills. 

While Socrates’ claim still holds true, Michio Kaku in his book Physics of the Future claims that the recent biggest boon of the education has been the creation of scientists and innovators who have led the world’s transformative development in recent human history. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic Historycites studies that show that ninety percent of income growth in England and the United States after 1780 comes from technological innovation through science and technology.  To that end, a country needs to have a workforce with a higher level of creativity, imagination, and innovation to reach a higher level of science and technology. Since our teaching pedagogy does not nurture these skills, Kaku would be skeptical about our ability to produce top class scientists and innovators who can dramatically transform the economic landscape of the country.

Our students lack abstract reasoning, argumentation, and questioning skills because of two basic reasons. Firstly, our learning outcomes are measured by a student's ability to memorize the dates, names, formulas or the parts of the text without necessarily needing to understand the context or their significance. This method of assessment fosters rote learning and subdues the questioning, reasoning or debating skills among the students. Similarly, our cultural liking of obedience and respect is another hindrance to accumulating those skills. An attribute such as discipline, meaning compliance with the teachers, is pushed for and instilled upon the students, downplaying the questioning skill or open discourse in the class.

Since education is for the sake of students, it should be that they should be given the opportunity to have input most of the time. Socrates famously said that the role of a teacher is akin to that of a midwife, bringing out what is already in the student. As per Socrates’ module or what is currently known as learner-centered teaching methodology, students take an active role in a class and the teacher serves as a facilitator. They do so by engaging in discussion with the tutor and each other, by working in a group, by learning without constant monitoring and by evaluating their own work. By encouraging questioning skills, free thought, imagination, and creativity, this approach fosters transferable skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and reflective thinking among students. 

It is established that learner-centered methodology is ideally an approach our schools should follow starting from very early classes. The biggest challenge we now face is to make sure that those learners, who are to become future leaders, scientists and innovators, pursue higher education, see value in education, and stay or return to Nepal.  Most of my students were unsure if education would lead them towards a satisfying job in Nepal. "My brother completed a master's degree in management but he still has not got a job in his field. He is taking Korean language classes to go to Korea on a working visa. I do not see higher education worth my time or money, which my parents do not have," says Roshan who is vying to become Indian Army after having completed the 12th grade.

The urban private school educated students have a different narrative. Milan recently completed his 12th grade in science from a top private school in Kathmandu. "I do not see the opportunities to optimize my potential in Nepal. The universities here lack research opportunities,” he says. “Even if students study here for a Bachelor’s degree, many bright students leave the country for graduate and postgraduate degree. A few returns. I am not sure if I will return either," says Milan who is now preparing IELTS to go to Australia.

It is not the teaching methodology alone that matters in the schools for an educational system to serve its purpose. We also need to address factors such as demand for educated manpower, quality of higher education institutions and socio-economic status of parents. Learners like Roshan and Milan need to be assured that continuing into higher education in Nepal serves their purpose before hoping that learner-centered teaching practice serves the purpose of education claimed by Socrates and Kaku.

The article was originally published in Republica on 7th July, 2019. 

Why has Sri Lanka Performed Better in Education?

Understanding the history and the development of education is more important than understanding present day educational standards in the comparative analysis of the educational systems. Therefore, let us first examine the development of education in each of Nepal and Sri Lanka, both of which are developing South Asian countries.  Since Nepal was an isolated country ruled under an autocratic rule of Rana, Nepal lacked any form of creative destruction in development till 1951 and the same could be said for educational development of the country as well. The first educational institution in Nepal was established in 1853, while the first university was established in 1959. Only after the introduction of an education plan in 1971, development of educational system seemed to gain momentum. 

Nepal was deemed as an educational miracle by some experts due to  its primary enrollment rise from a mere 10 percent in 1960 to 80 percent in 1990 (Easterly, 2001, p. 73). Nepal had primary school enrollment rate of 98.5 as of 2013 (Data: School enrollment, primary (% net), 2013) and only primary school is free, but not compulsory (Education Policy and Data Center, 2014) in Nepal. Similarly, secondary school enrollment in Nepal was 59.8 as of 2013 (Data: School enrollment, secondary (% net), 2013). According to CIA fact book, Nepal’s literacy rate for age of 15 and above was at 66 percent and that for the age between 15 and 24 was 82.4 percent as of 2011.

Sri-Lanka, on the other hand, had a head start in the field of education. Their expansion in education can be labeled as precocious when compared with other developing countries in South Asia. Present state of modern educational system in Sri- Lanka is due to its integration into the British Empire in the 19th century.  Standard educational system in recommendation of British started in 1836- the time at which neither kings of Nepal even have not had their foot outside of their country .The education system in Sri Lanka was made free following the universal franchise of 1931, while the first university was officially started in 1921. Sri-Lanka has the primary enrollment rate of Sri-Lanka is 93.8 as of 2012(Data: School enrollment, primary (% net), 2013). Public school education till tertiary level is free, and primary and lower secondary school are compulsory (Education Policy and Data Center, 2014). Similarly, secondary school enrollment in Sri- Lanka as of 2011 is 85.4 (Data: School enrollment, secondary (% net)), and literacy rate for age of 14 and above is 91 percent according to CIA factbook. The literacy rate for age group between 15 years and 24 years is 98.2 percent as of 2010.

Case Studies and Qualitative Analysis

Historically, Sri Lanka always had a comparatively better educational standards than that of Nepal. In addition to British influence in education, the provision of Sri-Lankan government to provide free education till tertiary level for selected number of the students and the policy of standardization are important factors for higher educational standard of Sri Lanka. It is undisputed that Sri-Lanka has benefitted a lot form integration of western education, but the crux of the argument is whether Sri Lanka’s educational policy after their independence has an edge over that of Nepal or not.  In the following discussion, we will try to address this question.

Because of the provision of free public education up to tertiary education, it can be argued that the large number of students in Sri-Lanka attend public schools. According to data from the World Bank, 93.7 percent of  secondary students attended public secondary school in 2012,and 96.9 percent of primary student attended public school in 2012 (Sri Lanka Education and Science, 2012).  The literature in this field of study suggests that free public education and lower intervention from private educational institutions provides everybody a chance to thrive in education. According to Easterly, high school education has become a luxury in which students indulge themselves as their parents get richer (Easterly, 2001, p. 81), but the negligent presence of private educational institution cancels out the effect that Easterly describes above. An analysis of data from some countries show that the share of spending on education increases as economic standards of a family increase, meaning “rich children will get more education even if they are not particularly talented, and talented poor children may be deprived of an education” (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011, p. 80). In an  inequitable society, public education would be necessary to make sure that everybody gets equal opportunity to be unequal (Banjaree & Duflo, 2011, p. 81). This is evidence that free educational policy in Sri-Lanka have an edge over Nepalese education policy when it comes to equal accessibility of education.

 The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1971 “to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule” (Root Cause of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka).  The effect was such that Northern Province which was largely populated by Tamils and had 27.5 percent share of the entrants to science based courses in Sri Lankan universities in 1969 was reduced to 7 percent in 1974. The share enjoyed by Jaffna Tamils were proportioned among Tamils in Eastern province, Hill country and Muslims, while the majority of the share enjoyed by Colombo was proportioned among rest of the Sinhalese (Jayasurya, 1981). Although we do not have a data set for this time period for marginalized group of students in marginalized area, it could be probable that the affirmative action might have contributed in penetration of education in rural and marginalized areas of Sri-Lanka.  Although, there is a provision of affirmative action in Nepal, it is not as strict and as effective as it was in Sri-Lanka from 1971 to 1977, and impoverished region of Nepal still remains unfettered by dimensions of education. Research by Lee Jong-Wha and Franciscob Ruth concludes that “countries with higher per capita income, lower income inequality, and lower fertility rates tend to invest more in children’s education, with public expenditure leading to higher enrollment rates” (Lee & Franciscob, 2012).  The takeaway from the research is that developing countries need to choose education systems that can raise enrollment and reduce inequality between genders and among social groups through affirmative action, if necessary. Education policy in Sri-Lanka from 1971 to 1977, the remains of which still dates to this date, in regards to affirmative action again has upper hand over Nepal.

Decentralization is another buzz word in the realm of development- educational development included. Decentralization may not be a panacea to cure problems in education system of developing countries but incentives can improve with decentralization (Easterly, 2001, p. 288) Expert decentralization is necessary if the objective is to minimize variation in quality and to maximize overall efficiency, and political decentralization is necessary if an objective is to maximize local participation in decision making (McGinn & Welsh, 1999, p. 95). A way of expert decentralization is through economic decentralization- equitable creation of economic opportunities throughout the country. Economic decentralization allows economic opportunities for educated human capital to be created not just in the large cities but in smaller towns and villages all over the country through identification of local resources and expansion of infrastructures (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011, pp. 230-233).

When economic decentralization can be achieved, locals in rural and underprivileged areas will be able to realize the importance of education upon seeing the need of educated manpower in their locality. Thus, decentralization of economic opportunities can generate incentives in parents to send children in school and to support in their educational endeavor throughout.  Economic decentralization will also mean a decentralization of educational expertise, resources and technology into smaller town and rural villages, which will in turn improve the quality of education. Though I could not find quantitative index for economic decentralization I have advocated in this article, there are other indexes to evaluate decentralization of a country.  Nepal ranks 116^th, 143^rd, 23^rd and 96^th while Sri-Lanka ranks 88^th, 37^th, 104^{th and} 100^th in decentralization, administrative decentralization, political decentralization and fiscal decentralization index respectively (Shah & Ivanyna, 2013, pp. 34-39). It is evident from above researches that Sri-Lankan Education policies are comparatively efficient in providing equitable education in developing countries. Nepal: 0; Sri Lanka: 3

Quantitative Analysis

We will now focus on trends in educational spending in these countries and the results it has brought in these countries in recent past year. Nepal spent around 20 percent- 22.7 percent in 2010- of government spending in education every year, and spent 60.3 percent of the educational budget in primary education as per data of 2009. It can be inferred from these statistics that Nepal has focused to increase the primary education, primary enrollment and literacy rate over years. Sri Lanka spends only around 9 percent- 8.8 percent in 2012- of government spending in education every year, and spent 57.5 percent of educational budget in secondary education in 2013- which is the highest percentage of spending in secondary education of educational budget in the world (Education and Science, 2013). These data are a suggestion that primary educational system in Sri-Lanka is consolidated, and that the Sri-Lankan government is giving a push for secondary education.

(** % Enrollment Data in Primary and Secondary Education was not available for every year. Graph is extrapolated such that points for known data meet to form continuous graph.)
Source: Education and Science (www.factfish.com )

 Nepal’s primary enrollment has reached near to 99 percent over time, while secondary enrollment over the same period has reached 60 percent. Sri-Lanka’s primary enrollment has decreased over time, but their secondary enrollment has increased to around 86 percent. (Education and Science, 2013).

Even though Sri-Lanka spends lower than that of Nepal in educational expenditure, it has spent higher share of its educational spending in secondary education and the gap in primary and secondary enrollment of Sri-Lanka is also narrower than that of Nepal. If recent data from World Bank are to be compared, Nepal has surpassed Sri-Lanka in terms of primary educational enrollment, but Nepal has lagged far behind in net enrollment in secondary school.The thesis of a research in 2012 which emphasizes on the importance of secondary and tertiary for higher human development reads as follows:

Emerging Asian economies have made strong progress in improving educational capital in the past 40 years. High educational attainment, especially at the secondary level, has significantly improved emerging Asia's educational achievement. …For sustained human development, Asian economies must invest in improving educational quality and raising enrollment rates at the secondary and tertiary levels. (Lee & Franciscob, 2012)

That is to say that higher rate of spending in education does not directly correlates with the higher human development, neither does the higher primary enrollment in the school correlate with higher economic growth of the country, but higher enrollment in secondary or tertiary education can potentially do. Both literature and quantitative analysis suggests that Sri-Lanka has adopted better educational policies for better human development of the country, but an assumption that better educational standards of Sri-Lanka contributes to policy alone is misleading as Sri-Lanka had a vantage point in educational development  due to the influence of British while Nepal was devoid of it on its own.

I would like to end this article with concerns that the governments of developing countries like Nepal needs keep in mind. The first problem is associated with secondary enrollment. Since youths who do not attend secondary schools are more likely to get married early, have offspring early in their life for whom they are unable to care and be unemployed, they may indulge in political and social unrest and conflict. Addressing the full range of youth needs to be a prime concern of education ministries, service organizations, employers and school (Williams & Cummings, 2005, p. XXIII). The second concern is that of quality teachers. According to an article published in the World Economic Forum, Nepal’s secondary and tertiary enrollment is expected to grow at a faster rate (Brown, 2014).  With higher enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education comes a higher demand for quality teachers and educational necessities. Brain drain to foreign countries, migration of educated manpower to bigger cities, an attraction of job seeking educated human manpower into technological field who could have potentially become teachers, and a lack of incentives in being a teacher creates problems with creation of quality teachers in educational field particularly in rural areas where their need is the highest. Thus, it is imperative that governments in developing areas create incentives for investing a career in educational field and create an environment for educated human capital to remain in the country or to return back to the country.

 On a final and different note, while it is important that people like Malala Yousafzai, a sassy educated girl from an educated Pakistani family who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, advocate for (girls') education in conservative and developing areas of the world, it is equally important that families in developing areas themselves understand and witness the value of education first hand. In my opinion, the last point, along with local entrepreneurship and economic decentralization, is crucial step for improving educational standards and economic prosperity in developing countries.

References:

(2014). Retrieved from Education Policy and Data Center: http://www.epdc.org/country/nepal#sthash.hd7Cq7Iq.dpuf

Banjaree, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor Economics. New York: publicaffairs in paper.

Brown, G. (2014, September 3). How Can Every Child Get an Education. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: http://forumblog.org/2014/09/universal-education/

Data: School enrollment, secondary (% net). (2013). Retrieved from The World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.NENR/countries/1W?display=default

Easterly, W. (2001). The Elusive Quest for Growth. Cambridge, Massachuttes : The MIT Press.

Fischer, P., & Berger, N. (2014). A Well-Educated Workforce Is Key to State Prosperity. Washington DC: Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.epi.org/publication/states-education-productivity-growth-foundations/

Jayasurya, J. (1981). Education in Thirld World. Pune: Indian Institute of Education .

Jess, B., & Spiegel, M. (1994). Role of Human Capital in Economic Development Evidence from Aggregate Cross- Country Data. Journal of Monetary Economics 34, 143-173.

Lee, J.-W., & Franciscob, R. (2012). Human capital accumulation in emerging Asia, 1970–2030. Japan and the World Econmy Volume 24, Issue 2, 76-86.

(n.d.). Root Cause of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. World Bank. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSRILANKA/Resources/App1.pdf

Shah, A., & Ivanyna, M. (2013). How Close Is Your Government to Its People? 34-39. Retrieved from http://stateofparticipatorydemocracy.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ivanyna_shah_decentralization_index_nov_2013.pdf

Sri Lanka Education and Science. (2012). Retrieved from Fact Fish: Research Made Simple: http://www.factfish.com/country-category/sri%20lanka/education%20and%20science

Wha, L. J. (2014, September 16). Why we must invest more in education. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: http://forumblog.org/2014/09/invest-in-education-income-inequality/

Williams, J. H., & Cummings, W. K. (2005). Policy Making for Education Reform in Developing Countries Volume I. Maryland: Scarecrow Education.

Education and Development: Scholarly Perspectives

Development of a country is a complex phenomenon, and it depends on multitude of factors. The extent to which a country can make best use of its economic resources for economic prosperity is affected by--but not limited to--political centralization and administrative decentralization, political and economic institutions, political stability, technology and human capital through education. In this article, I will be dealing with the last term, which, in economics, refers to the knowledge, skills, experience, training, and wisdom possessed by all individuals in a population.

Education has long been viewed as the guarantor of security, status, wealth, and personal well-being.  It is reiterated by researches that a country can enjoy sustained prosperity only when it undergoes large-scale investment in education (Fischer & Berger, 2014). Other research affirms that the return on investment in education in developing countries is twice as much as in developed countries (Pscacharopoulous, 1994, pp. 1325-1343), and, for this reason, education may perhaps be more important in developing countries.

Surprisingly, there is a wide range of literature dealing with education and economic prosperity of countries, some deny the relationship while others reaffirm it. Academic researchers prior to the twenty first century are inclined to reject the claim about the correlation between higher educational attainment and the increases in the GDP per capita income of the country, William Easterly being the major one. However, there is an agreement among contemporary researchers and experts in the claim that education plays a key part in growth of the country.  Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, in the World Economic Forum assert that education is very important for today’s world in which human capital is as important as physical capital and assets (Brown, 2014). He is one of the many to point out the imperative of education in an industrialized and knowledge-based world.  As to the issue of educational policies in developing areas, continuous adjustment in education policies is seen and researches do not have a vocal opinion on as to what educational policy can work best in developing areas.

There has been a massive expansion in access to education throughout the developing countries in last four and a half decades. The median primary enrollment rate increased from 80 percent  in 1960 to 99  percent in 1990, and the median secondary enrollment rate increased from 13 percent to 45 percent in 1990 (Easterly, 2001, p. 73). 

Similarly, between 1999 and 2006, the primary school enrollment rates in East and South Asia increased from 75 percent to 88 percent and from 54 percent to 70 percent in Sub Saharan Africa; while -between 1995 and 2008- secondary gross enrollment ratios increased from 44 to 51 percent in South Asia, from 44 percent to 51 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and from 64 percent to 74 percent in East Asia (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011, p. 74).

Despite the massive educational expansion in poor countries, the median growth rate of poor countries has fallen over time:  “the growth of output per worker was 3 percent in the 1960s, 2.5 percent in 1970s, -0.5 percent in 1980s and 0 percent in 1990s” (Easterly, 2001, p. 74). Several studies show the lack of association between growth in schooling and GDP growth. Easterly (2001) in  The Elusive Quest for Growth -standing on the research by his contemporary scholars- argues that investment in education in developing countries has  not helped them grow economically. The study by Pritchett (1999) constructs a series of research on the growth in capital and can find “no positive association between growth in education and growth of output per worker” (Pritchett, 1999, pp. 223-239). Similarly, studies from Benhabib and Spiegel in 1994, found no co-relation between level of schooling in laborers and increase in GDP per capita (Jess & Spiegel, 1994, pp. 143-173) , and  Klenow and Rodriguez- Clare (1997) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) also found no relationship between growth per capita and the change in secondary schooling and higher schooling years.  An empirical evidence that the average growth decrement from the 1960s to 1990s despite the increase in education levels supports the claim made by these researchers. What could explain these results? It is argued by scholars that expanding education resulted in large school systems of low quality in many developing countries.  School facilities were of poor quality, teachers were incompetent, and learning materials became insufficient in number. High proportion of children enrolled in the school, but there was a low, if any, competition among the students. It was evident that provision of schools and high enrollment were insufficient for quality education (Williams & Cummings, 2005, p. XVII).

However, Economist Gregory Mankiw of Harvard, revising on an earlier work by Barro, Sala-I –Martin and himself in 1995 and by Romer, Weil and himself in 1992 suggested that income in long run is determined by saving in form of physical and human capital. He had used the percentage of children in secondary school as his measure of human capital. In his research there is strong evidence to suggest that “as much as 78 percent of the per capita income differences among countries is due to human capital” (Mankiw, 1995, pp. 275-326).  There are several contradiction to Mankiw’s proposition though. For instance, nine times higher per capita income of USA in 2000 over Ukraine in same period does not comply with the 97 percent secondary enrollment of United States to 92 percent secondary enrollment in Ukraine (Easterly, 2001, p. 74).

In what was a counterargument to claim about poor correlation between education and development in poor developing countries, the 1997 World Development Report of the World Bank attributed that the commitment of East Asian countries’ to public funding for basic education was the basis of their economic development (Easterly, 2001, p. 72). What could possibly explain different end results in different countries with different economic standards? Acemoglu & Robinson (2013) make a claim that implementation of policies and courses of action are problems associated with political and educational institutions. In their book, Why Nations Fail, they write:

 Implementing meaningful changes is a difficult task when institutions are the cause of the problems in the first place. It is not always the corrupt politicians or powerful business undermining institutional reforms, but rather the local administrative officers and teachers who were able to sabotage development economists’ scheme… Attempting to engineer prosperity without confronting root cause of the problem is unlikely to bear fruit. (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2013, p. 450)

Researchers on the field of education propose two prominent theories which may explain root causes of failure of implementing good educational system, in addition to institutions. Demand theory asserts that demand for education emerges and supply follows only when there is a real demand for the skills generated from education. When there is a supply of educated labor and no demand for it, there will be a decrease in quality of education as parents will not care about their children’s education because they know that the benefits from education are low (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011, pp. 72-76). In a milieu where there is no demand for educated human capital, and thus no incentive for being in school, “students will goof off in the classroom or sometimes not show up at all, parents will often pull their children away to work on the farm, and the teachers will spend their time away as overqualified babysitters” (Easterly, 2001, p. 82). Furthermore, the lack of demand means that country will “have highly educated taxi drivers”, or that country will faces a problem of brain drain through immigration of educated human capital to rich countries where they can get better value of their education. Conversely, incentive theory tells us that “having the government force [students] to go to school does not change [students’ and their parents’] incentives to invest in future” (Easterly, 2001, pp. 72-73). But when there is a demand for educated human capital, an economy with incentives to invest in the future will be created. Then, the enrollment in school will go up, parents will show interest in their children’s education and teachers will have better incentive to teach well.  Government should facilitate an environment in which investing in business requiring educated manpower is made easier (Easterly, 2001, pp. 72-82).

References:
Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2013). Why Nation Fails. New York: Crown Bussiness.
Banjaree, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor Economics. New York: publicaffairs in paper.

Brown, G. (2014, September 3). How Can Every Child Get an Education. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: http://forumblog.org/2014/09/universal-education/

Easterly, W. (2001). The Elusive Quest for Growth. Cambridge, Massachuttes : The MIT Press.

Fischer, P., & Berger, N. (2014). A Well-Educated Workforce Is Key to State Prosperity. Washington DC: Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.epi.org/publication/states-education-productivity-growth-foundations/

Jess, B., & Spiegel, M. (1994). Role of Human Capital in Economic Development Evidence from Aggregate Cross- Country Data. Journal of Monetary Economics 34, 143-173.

Lee, J.-W., & Franciscob, R. (2012). Human capital accumulation in emerging Asia, 1970–2030. Japan and the World Econmy Volume 24, Issue 2, 76-86.

Mankiw, G. N. (1995). The Growth of Nations. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1, 275-326.

Pritchett, L. (1999, April). What Education Production Function Really Show: A Positive Theory of Education Spending. Economics of Education Review 18.2, pp. 223-239.

Pscacharopoulous, G. (1994). Return to Investment in Education : A global Update. World Development 22, 1325-1343.

Wha, L. J. (2014, September 16). Why we must invest more in education. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: http://forumblog.org/2014/09/invest-in-education-income-inequality/

Williams, J. H., & Cummings, W. K. (2005). Policy Making for Education Reform in Developing Countries Volume I. Maryland: Scarecrow Education.

Bleak Picture of Education in Nepal

Photo Courtesy: Wise Initiative 

Quality education is the modern day tool to shape young potentials into future scholars and leaders of a country. However, providing the primary education has become a prominent concern for developing countries let alone the equitable and the quality education. It is estimated that seventy five million children, half of whom are female, are deprived from attending primary education institutions in developing countries (Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, Germany). Poverty, gender based discrimination and warfare are primary constraints to access to education in these countries. Similarly, economic disparities, rural-urban connections and public- private education systems seem to hinder the equitable education in these areas. .  Let us  examine the comprehensive overview of educational system and its impact of one of the typical developing country-Nepal- through this piece.

Nepal is a small landlocked South Asian country sandwiched between India and China. The first education institution was established in 1853 and the first university was established in 1959, around eight hundred years after establishment of Oxford University. Nepal was an isolated country-quite like modern day Myanmar and Bhutan- and its educational sector was dawdling until 1951. The code of life-DNA- was discovered, technological gadgets such as television and telephone were invented on leverage of the educational institutions, but Nepal did not even have a basic framework for higher educational institutions till then. After the educational plan in 1971, development of educational system seemed to gain a momentum. Two distinct educational institutions emerged: public and private ownership educational institutions. Particularly after 1990, private educational institutes flourished in the urban areas of country, where kin of elitist, rich, and educated people enrolled.  Similarly, public institutes were left mostly for the kin of people of poor, uneducated, proletariats, marginalized and indigenous, whose main concentration was in rural area. A massive discrepancy in the educational standards in public and private institutions was thus created in these educational institutions.

Photo Courtesy: Etra Association

School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination, also considered as Iron Gate to further education, is the tenth grade equivalent of American System and is administered by the education board of Nepal independently. Every year less than fifty percent of students pass the School Leaving Certificate. To break it down further, approximately three in four students from public schools fail in the same examination every year. While the pass rate for public schools is recorded at just 28.19 for year 2014, it is over ninety percent for the private schools (Sharma).  This is testament to poor educational standard in public schools of Nepal, the reasons of which have been linked with apathy from parents and teachers, party politics in schools, poor educational and economic background of students in public schools, lack of education conducive environment which sees perpetual value associated with education, among many other reasons. Teach for Nepal (TFN), an organization working to improve the educational standards of Nepal, claims that most of the public educational institutions are under resourced and that these institutions struggle to get and retain qualified teachers. The other reason for predicament of education is that teaching profession is regarded as the profession to be taken care by the people on the bottom half of academic aptitude.

The consequence of this educational system is that it has created a viscous circle of brain drain to western countries and labor drain to Middle Eastern countries. The brightest student who get an opportunity to attend good private school tend to migrate for education endeavors to western countries like Australia, United States, Japan and United Kingdom.  A statistics shows that staggering 28,216 students went for abroad studies in the 2013/2014 fiscal year, of which 1456 came down to the USA (Facts). As a matter of fact, around 9000 students are enrolled in educational institutions across USA and Nepal is the largest country to send students per capita to the USA as of 2013 (Anderson).It would be a fairy tale ending if these students could return to the country, but the bitter truth is that most of them settle down in these countries for better standards of life.

On the other hand, inefficiency of entrepreneurs and government to create jobs at local level has created inevitable flow of public school educated rural youth to Arab countries. About 1,500 Nepalese, in average, officially left for jobs abroad each day in the 2014 fiscal year excluding those leaving for India, which is the largest destination for Nepalese migrant workers (Harris). Nepal is the largest country in terms of population to earn its greatest source of its GDP from emigrant workers with around forty percent. However, a recent article published in the New York time claims,” While foreign jobs have eased Nepal’s endemic poverty, they may be creating a vicious cycle that forces more and more people to leave by keeping the country’s currency and inflation high while hurting domestic production” (Harris).

It makes me to wonder what alternative does the Nepal government have to spending nearly a billion dollar in educating students in rural areas for the menial jobs in Middle Eastern countries, the ramifications of which seems to hurt the national economy on long run. What purpose do the private institutions serve when they essentially prepare the brightest to leave the country and when the country does not seem to be ready to welcome them back? If you ask me, there is a massive flaw in educational policy making of Nepal which the developing countries need to heed. But, my mind boggles over the question of how these mishaps in education sector are to be cured in developing countries, the typical example of which seems to be Nepal.

References

Anderson, Nick. "The Wahington Post." 27 August 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/howard-us-kathmandu-connection-nepal-emerges-as-top-source-of-foreign-students/2014/08/27/4cd70376-2a20-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html>.

"Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, Germany." n.d. Education in Developing Countries. <http://www.bmz.de/en/what_we_do/issues/Education/hintergrund/bildungsituation/>.

Harris, Gardiner. "In Nepal a better Life with Steep Price." The New York Times 14 August 2014.

Facts. 22 July 2014. Facts. <https://www.facebook.com/factsnepal/photos/a.601603456529911.1073741825.461353277221597/822088927814695/?type=1&theater>.

Sharma, Nirajan. 28.19 pass in public. 14 June 2014. <http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=77105>.

The Philosophy of Life

                                                                  

Wavering layer of water glimmered golden by the diminishing shafts of sunlight as the sun paced to hide behind the lake. Ephemeral rays of light shone on my eyes, just as the floodlight focuses the protagonist of a featured drama, and these waves of light swept the banks of Lake Pontchartrain leaving traces of darkness behind. The sun looked like a semi-circle dipping behind the lake as the color of the sky changed from orange to red to blue, and the sun soon disappeared from mauve sky like a deflating balloon. The sun has rose and set exactly for twenty years since my birth, but today it has invited me to contemplate fundamental question of purpose of my life which still hovers over the horizon. 

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

Mark Twain quotes that the two most important days in our life are the day we were born and the day we find out why. However, finding the purpose is not one time eureka moment; thus, it needs a thorough and continuous introspection. Emily Griffin in her book Where We Belong iterates that the purpose of the life should be the life of purpose thorough self-actualization. A step further, as Simon Sinek in one of his TED talk suggests that our purpose should be contemplated in question “why” rather than “what”, here I am, at the banks of Lake Pontchartrain, reflecting on my eclectic life.

My current state of life is the result of series of events and coincidences, and my present day beliefs are amalgamation of the beliefs of people I have come across on real or virtual front. From the high hills to the sea level and below, and from conservative Sanopakha to liberal-lewd Bourbon Street, I have seen destitute and affluence of many aspects comparable. In having lofty dreams and in being sunk to smell the dust with bitter disappointment, I have become both a freak and have tried to become a sage, or that is, at least, what I reckon. I have lost people close to me from life and have lived in isolation for a considerable time. The family for me has become what Matt King describes in film The Descendant: “All part of the same whole, but always separate and alone and drifting apart like an archipelago.” These experiences have treated me to form two basic realization in which, I think, I need to base my purpose. 

The first realization is that happiness is an essence to living and that our happiness comes through validation and through happiness of people whom we care. The second realization I have made is that our life is a message, and that it is not the destination but the journey that is more important. I have figured that riding Mercedes in 200 km/h in I-20 lane will not give me happiness, when my relatives have to struggle to buy a pair of slippers with a daily average income of less than $2.00 a day. Getting good GPA, having good connections and finding a job with a steady income is not a perpetual source of happiness, when students of the same academic aptitude have to toil in Middle Eastern countries for living. It is easier said than done, but “an attempt”, I emphasize “an attempt”, to change the lives of around thirty millions people every day can be a greater source of happiness than a paycheck of some thousand dollars which may give no validation to my life.  I am aware that life is not lived in rhetoric and that it is not idealistic, but there is a so much in our system that needs an improvement, and my inner conscience seems to lead me to fixation of same.

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Mahatma Gandhi said that the only tyrant we have to accept in this world is the “still small voice” within us even though we may be in a prospect of a hopeless minority. Similarly, Herman Hesse in Novel Siddhartha describes most people as falling leafs that drift and turn in the air, flutter and fall in the ground  and few as the stars which travel one defined path where no wind reaches  and which have within themselves their guide and path. I am not sure if I am a leaf drifting on the wind, carried away by an impulsive thought, or the star on its own path, what I know for sure is that I have the “still small voice” budding inside me. It may take few more walks to Lake Pontchartrain to validate the voice, but I am patient and hopeful, not only patient in the “still small voice” gaining the shape, but also patience in waiting for my purpose to become vivid. And I am hopeful because, as the theme of Shawshank Redemption depicts, fear holds us a prisoner and only hope can set us free –beyond this horizon into new beginning.

Happy Birthday, Birthday Boy!