Coronavirus and Nepal’s education By Manoj Kumar Karna Like many countries, Nepal is facing the deadly effect of COVID-19 or say coronavirus. Nepal is also facing the continuous lockdown since March and is likely to be extended more in the future. India, the immediate neighbour of Nepal, has, on 14 April, extended the lockdown until 3 May. Every walk of life has been stricken with this disease around the world. The global economy has hit very adversely – business, industries and educational enterprises have been closed. In such a hard time, financially poor Nepali citizens are facing many, many challenges. Industries have remained closed, all economic activities have halt and citizens are locked down within their home for weeks.

EDUCATION

How is the economy of India, one can assume from an incident that the HDFC, one of the biggest home loan providers for the Indian companies, has allowed the People’s Bank of China one percent capital investment for survival of its economy. It is against the desire of the Indian government and people. To note, Nepal is virtually India dependent nation, from which, we can assume the Nepali economy. Be that as it may, Nepali people expect the government should ensure necessary health services including smooth supply of basic things such as PPEs, other medical equipment and medicines including supplies of essential commodities. Meanwhile, while coping with the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the government cannot undermine its responsibility for maintaining educational calendar. Some M. Phil. and Masters Degree classes in TU and other universities are virtually running but not everywhere. For example, in the Patan Multiple Campus, Patandhoka, the department chief answers the assistant campus chief that his staffers have no knowledge where the students are these days and they will not come on virtual class due to lack of computers and skill to operate them! In such a case, the computer and other science and technical classes, one can suppose, may run with their skill and equipment pre-requisitely available in their class. What about other classes? We cannot say that other classes than science and technology are useless but their management in our TU’s context is a far cry in the coronavirus crisis. The ministry is unable to address the problem of plus two level, the SEE examinations and the bachelors level classes. It is being heard that some private institutions are managing virtual classes where our TU teachers are taking classes. The irony is here. The very TU teachers escape virtual classes in the TU but running classes in the private institutions! The Education Ministry and TU give permission to the biology departments to conduct research on coronavirus ignoring the chemistry department! It traces out the mindset of average university teachers in Nepal towards the government institutions and also the incapability of the government machinery to trace out where the problem is, how to handle such double-standard human resources legally. The registrar’s office in TU has name list of those who go to the private institution also. The government can learn the situation of their private operating classes and can compel those human resources to do same in TU or, wherever they work in the public and government institutions. In India, the main examinations such as SEE (Matriculation) and other final examinations are to be conducted is not conducted at school level. There the students are to be promoted by basing on their class other evaluations in the “portfolio”. The “internal evaluation” of the student is the continuous evaluation and the full one also which includes some steps in the classes during six months or one year. They may be at least regular and punctual attendance of class, class presentation, lively group discussion, project work, field visit, term paper/research article writing of certain length with some works cited/references as per the level, mid-term test/internal examination, proposal/thesis writing, viva-voce, regular writing works in the class and so on. These all are not necessary for a class but these are the criteria the university fixes for bachelor’s and master’s classes. Indian universities may promote the students from one class to another class at same level (at bachelors or masters but will not allow certificate without final examination) by basing on such internal assessment of the students by their sincere teachers in the academic session. There the dedicated and fully professional honest teachers are supposed in the government system rather than the party’s cadres because they have very hard and fast criteria even to select for temporary/contract basis of job. The case of Nepal is a tragic when we analyze these things and compare with ours case. In Nepal, where the permanent and contract teachers and average mass of the students oppose and go against those professional teachers who try their best to “evaluate” the students regularly and punctually in the class through maximum parameters, there promoting the students as capable in other class at same level like India will be as “free distribution of certificates” to them. Hence, the columnist sees that the government’s confusion on the course material (an intention to change the course material based on “socialism” and to make the stakeholders unstable mind in future) is not good. We are in such situation today where our TU classes have prescribed the vivid processes of internal evaluation, again we cannot recommend the government to promote the students to the next class  without an examination because  more than average student and teachers have been “unethical” and “dishonest” in their duty. Therefore, it is highly advisable to the government to implement firmly the educational plan, internal evaluations, and courses in the institutions without a compromise. We can evaluate students as per their “portfolio” also in such hard time. By learning all these, if the government is again lamenting the in-cooperation of the monitoring officer and other government bureaucrats to trace out the problem and their solution, they must be fired from the responsibility terming as “incapable”. (The writer is the lecturer in the  Patan Multiple Campus, Lalitpur, TU)