Communism, literally?: A take on Nepal Communist Party(NCP)

Source: Nepali Times

After the unification of the two largest communist parties of Nepal, the crucial question of whether the party should embrace People's Multi-Party Democracy or 21st Century People's democracy has surfaced in the discourse of the party. Ironically though, these ideologies are a far cry from 20th-century typical communist maxims and there is not a significant difference between these ideologies. At present, Nepal Communist Party (NCP) embraces none of the typical communist features—one-party system, centralized government, command economy, state-owned means of production or shared wealth based on need rather than contribution.  For better or worse, these parties had morphed from a communist-inspired force to a liberal democratic force. In the process, they have conformed to the basic capitalist tenets such as the right to property and market economy and have embraced democratic values and civil liberties. Although the communist ambitions of these parties may have been compromised, the voters gave them an overwhelming majority to stand up to their socialist and democratic promises. Therefore, the NCP led government need to emphasis on shared prosperity and treat democracy as its core principle, irrespective of the semantics of their name or their official political ideology.

Democratic Values

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Karl Marx envisioned the communist system to be the dictatorship of the proletariat. The communist regimes formed after the death of Marx gave little to no respect for personal liberties and established centralized authoritarian states. Nepalese communists shed blood like the most communist, but they fought against the undemocratic state institutions of Panchayat and King Gyanendra's rule to establish the democratic values of pluralism, press freedom, and personal liberties.  The communists are to be commended for their fight for democracy, but the signs are telling that the NCP led government is burgeoning in the scale of authoritarianism.  

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In addition to bringing different departments under the Prime Minister Office’s (PMO’s) direct supervision, the government has stacked its loyalists in most state and non-state institutions, skewing more power towards the already powerful government. Meanwhile, NCP has tightened the freedom of speech within the party and NCP-led government has needlessly imposed politics into academia, has brought the media bill to hurt the freedom of the press, and has tabled a bill to curtail political independence and economic resources of the National Human Rights Commission. On top of that, the tabled Information Technology(IT) Bill can be to criminalize reporting on government misconduct and expression of critical opinions by civil society and citizens by levering the vague provision of protecting national sovereignty. Similarly, some ministries have barred their staffs from criticizing the government or party or commenting, liking or sharing posts to that effect on social media. At other times, it has deflected any criticism aimed at its workings. It appears that the current government does not like the idea of ideological feedback or the political debate as it gets offended by the customary criticism from media, civil society or intellectuals. The communist government is weakening the very the institution it fought to establish.

Equitable Economy

Before the Oli government took power, the economic growth rate of Nepal was one of the lowest among its peers in Asia—landlocked or otherwise.  Yet, Nepal had significant progress in income inequality reduction and poverty rate reduction in seven years and fared better than fast-growing economies like India and Bangladesh in this respect. The job, however, is far from over for the current government. The current K.P. Oli government has prioritized economic growth and has set a goal of economic growth as high as eight and a half percent. To this end, economic growth of over six percent has been achieved for the last two years. The trend of the economic growth also looks good, but emphasizing on the economic growth alone has its pitfalls. For example, the average income of the people in the bottom 50% of income bracket decreased in real terms from 1980 to 2010 despite an almost four-fold increase in the GDP per capita of the USA over the same period.

 

Source: Al-Jazeera News 

Therefore, as much as the government’s success will be measured by economic growth and their support of entrepreneurship, it will be most gauged by the economic empowerment of the poor and marginalized people who are the communist party's core political base. If the larger share of growth is disproportionately shared by those in the upper-income bracket, the end goal runs counter to the communist ideology. As such, the government should look at ways to maintain the balance between growth and its distribution. The researches show that countries can improve both economic performance and equality without a tradeoff with the right system and policies. Rampant cronyism and corruption are not the ingredients of such a system, however!

The Takeaway

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At present, Nepal is the only country to be ruled by a democratically elected communist party at the central level. While democratically elected communist parties, at times, have turned into a one-party system as in Czechoslovakia, these parties, at other times, have held into the government for considerable time as in Cyprus, Guinea or West Bengal. While the first avenue seems unlikely, whether the party in Nepal can prolong their hold of power depends on two distinct entities. The voters are the first entity. The government has made laudable steps by introducing the social security scheme and progressive tax system for their political base. However, if the government does not address the day to day expectations of the people such as more jobs, better roads, lower corruption, increased wage, rule of law, good governance or affordable cost of living, the frustrations may manifest in the next election. The second important entity is the political actors outside of the parliament. It is not to be forgotten that communist rose to power by tapping in the public frustration on the issues of exclusion, inequity, and unemployment. The last bit of their political success came about by inciting the masses against the authoritarianism of the then King and Panchayat system.  The communists must solve, not systematize, these problems ranging from inequity to authoritarianism if the country is to achieve the goal of happy-prosperous country.

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. 

Economic Prosperity: Scholarly Perspectives

Modern day prosperity is a very intriguing subject.  The world today has tremendous inequality in that human beings in different nations of the world have completely different standards of life.  People in some part of the world have reached the moon, while people in the different location struggle to get two meals a day. Geographical areas that were separated by mass of water, by lay of land or by an imaginary political border had different resources to use, culture and political system to follow which accounts for different rate of economic growth and for a country’s position in terms of development.  Institutions, culture, geography, resources and impact of colonization are important determinants of modern day prosperity (The School of Life, 2014). The importance of good institutions is placed above all other factors for the prosperity of a country.

Authors of literature in this field of study agree on causes of modern day prosperity or deprivation. No scholars disagree that poor countries are poor because of their poor geography, poor institutions, the scanty amount of resources of economic values and economic policies. However, there is a debate on what factor is of highest importance in determining the prosperity of the country. Similarly, scholars do not have a unanimous opinion about the ways in helping to bring poor people out of it.We will explore the importance of geography, institution and industrialization in this article.  Let us first start with the importance of geography in prosperity.

All the landlocked countries in Africa and Asia are developing countries. Landlocked countries have a disadvantage because they have to spend around thirty to fifty percent extra in raw or manufactured goods including oil than non-landlocked countries have to spend (Sidaway, 2011). This fact proves that landlocked countries will have a comparative disadvantage in trading with other countries. A research by (Paudel, 2012) reveals woes of landlocked countries– the conclusion of which was that, all else being equal, landlocked countries experience economic growth of six percent less than that of non-landlocked countries.   (Banjaree & Duflo, 2011) in their book Poor Economics quote Jeffrey Sachs, an advisor to the United Nations, in mentioning that “countries are poor because they are hot, infertile, or often landlocked” which impedes their  productivity and [economic growth] (p.3).

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

The second explanation for prosperity is given from institutional perspective- that of extractive and inclusive institutions. Extractive institutions are meant to benefit the selected few by extracting from many, and these institutions are unable to provide incentives for growth which may lead to stagnation and poverty. Inclusive institutions, on the other hand, distribute power in a pluralistic manner, achieve some amount of political centralization, enact rules of law, provide property rights and encourage investment in new technologies and skills which are conducive to economic growth (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013). Some scholars- prominent of which are Acemoglu and Robinson-assert that inclusive economic and political institutions are very important because economic growth and prosperity are associated with inclusive political and economic institutions. They claim that geography and resources alone cannot determine prosperity of the country, but it is upon economic and political institutions of the country which leads the country into greater economic growth.  The United States being richer today than geographically well suited and resource rich Mexico or Peru (Ibid, p. 42), the contrast of economic development of South and North Korea (Ibid, p. 75) and rapid economic development of countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Botswana despite having a very hot climate (Ibid, p.49) are arguments in favor of institutions over geography and economic resources.

Policies a country adopts are also an important constituent of economic growth of the country. Good policies emerge with inclusive elements in politics; conversely good policies cannot be formulated and corruption will be in rife without pluralistic elements in politics (Banjaree & Duflo, 2011, pp. 235-265). Good policies, in turn, can also help break the vicious cycle of low economic growth by paving a way for creative destruction, technological advancement, and higher revenue collection, investments in the country and boarder participation of individual in the policy making process.

Unlike Achemoglu and Robinson, who advocate for good institutions, Erik Reinert in his book How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor shows that the technology and mass production of industry are more important than capital, property rights or the rule of law to economic growth.  He writes in his book that “economic growth is the synergy of a large division of labor, increasing returns, [diversified economy] and new knowledge” and that “creating and protecting industry is creating and protecting democracy” (Reinert, 2009, p. 76). Industrialization is the result of new knowledge, while increasing returns the result of it.

Most of the work was driven by muscle power in the seventeenth century. When people had started to believe that all that could be achieved was through human muscles, industrialization completely changed the outlook of the world. Industrialization, unarguably, is the major component of modern day prosperity, and inequality is the consequence of no or different rate of economic progress. Industrial Revolution leveraged the economic growth to lead billions of people into modern day prosperity (Deaton, 2013, p. 4). Proliferation of the manufacturing sector with industrialization paved the way for the economic principle of increasing returns ,which means a decrease in the cost per unit because of an increase in production, breaking the vicious circle of economic principle of diminishing returns ,which means an increase in the cost of production due to an increase in one variable of output (Reinert, 2009, p. 74). Through industrialization, England, followed by the rest of Europe, North America, and some Asian countries embraced higher efficiency and productivity in manufacturing sector, leaving the rest of the world behind -which has created a huge gap between the western countries and the rest of the world that is increasing even to this date (Deaton, 2013).

Photo Courtesy: humbolt.edu

The question we are faced to ask is why some countries abstain from inheriting new knowledge or new technology, which Reinert proposes as the factors of development. The answer again lies in the types of institutions. While inclusive political institutions in England laid the framework for inclusive economic institutions that would start the first industrial revolution, it has still not spread to Africa because the continent has experienced negative “vicious loop of the persistence and re-creation of extractive political institutions” which shield creative destruction in fear of losing political and economic control. For this reason, industrialization in African and other developing countries were not possible “either because the country was under an absolutist regime or because the country lacked or had a weak political centralization” (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013). 

Economic and political freedom are as important aspects of development as  sound economic and political institutions, for freedom ensures that an individual pursues economic activities independently on his/her rational interest to trigger the causes of development.  Amatya Sen describes development as the “removal of substantial un-freedoms” such that aspects such as “economic opportunities, political freedoms, social facilities, transparency, and protective security” are guaranteed to an individual to pursue economic activities of his/her choice to be an agent of development (Sen, 1999).  Similarly, French Statesman and political writer Alexis de Tocqueville in 1855 -in seeing consolidating civilization, manufacturing sector and democracy in Europe- in line with what, Amatya Sen would imply in 1999, said: “I do not know if one can cite a single manufacturing and commercial nation from the Tyrains to the Florentines and the English that has not also been free. Therefore, a close tie and a necessary relation exist between those two things: freedom and industry (Reinert, 2009, p. 87).” 

I had earlier mentioned in the article in earlier posts that inclusive institutions and economic freedom lead countries towards greater economic prosperity. Against this argument, I would like to ditto information from last post of Kazakhstan.  Resource rich countries such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela have achieved satisfactory economic progress in spite of what we would earlier describe as extractive institutions and restricted economies. This phenomenon has led Thomas L. Friedman to devise the first law of Petro politics, which states that democracy and oil- an important economic resource or perhaps the most important- do not mix (Friedman, 2006). Other research suggests that oil wealth impedes the democratic transformation in authoritarian states and that “oil wealth lengthens the tenure of authoritarian rulers, although this result is somewhat fragile” (Ross, 2008).  Moreover, “Gabon, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are unlikely to lead to a fundamental transformation of these authoritarian regimes towards inclusive institutions, for growth is generated by the increase in the value of the natural resources of respective nation” (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013, p. 445).

Though it is not in the scope of the article to delve into detailed analysis of economic theories and policies, there is an interesting perspective set forth by Reinert.  He counterintuitively sees being poor in natural resources as one of the opportunity to become rich. In his theory, a poor country has to imports raw products and export industrial products which helps country to avoid diminishing returns (Reinert, 2009).

I will explore more on this topic in upcoming posts. 

References:

Banjaree, A., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor Economics . New York: Public Affairs in Papers.

Deaton, A. (2013). The Great Escape . Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

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

Friedman, T. L. (2006, May 1). The first law of petropolitics. Retrieved from Foreign Policy: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2006/04/25/the_first_law_of_petropolitics

Reinert, E. (2009). How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor. New York: Public Affairs in Paper.

Robinson, A. J., & Acemoglu, D. (2013). Why Nations Fail. New York: Public Affairs in Papers.

Rodrik, D. (2003). In search of Prosperity. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Retrieved from New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sen-development.html

Sidaway, R. (2011). Land Locked Countries. Retrieved from British Council: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/magazine-articles/land-locked-countries

The School of Life. (2014, November 24). Retrieved from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k&list=PLwxNMb28XmpehnfQOa4c0E7j3GIj4qFEj

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.

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