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Police have arrested Khagendra Sapkota, officer at the Land Revenue Office, Tulsipur with Rs 2.6 million from the Nepalgunj Airport.

DSP Narayan Dangi, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Banke said that Sapkota was apprehended with Rs 2. 6 million undeclared money during a regular security check while he was about to board a flight to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj.

DSP Dangi said that Sapkota was taken under control after he was found carrying a huge amount of undeclared money with him.

Further investigation into the case is underway, police said.

“Why do many students fail in the national level examinations?” This question repeatedly gets prominence whenever the boards—be it National Examinations Board (NEB) or Tribhuvan University (TU)—publish the results of examinations of different levels. Yet, the issue remains unsolved and thus, resurfaces every year.

With just a 50.91 pass percentage, three points higher than last year’s, with their tails up, NEB published the results of grade twelve examinations. Despite dismal results with close to half the students failing, to get the narrative in its favor, the NEB may bask in the glory of its minuscule improvement, compared to last year’s results. But this falls into the shadow of the lives of 49.09 percent of the total young minds that have been put to a halt, disqualifying them from enrollment in the university.

Issues

Such a high share of academic failure is indeed a national tragedy and as well as a bloody blow to our educational system. This isn’t the first time to have such depressing results. Over the years, NEB results have been hovering around fifty percent; the story is even darker in the case of TU, the oldest university in the country.

In Nepal, there’s a tendency of labeling students as ‘failures’ when they fail to get the minimum threshold in the standardized tests. In a true sense, the students never fail; technically, they just get the answers wrong. It’s indeed the parents, teachers, schools, curriculum designers, textbook writers, question paper setters or the entire education system that actually fail.

There is a chronic issue with our education outcomes. Behind this, there are scores of reasons, including inappropriate student-teacher ratio, lack of teachers' training, lack of community-school partnership, lack of school-university partnership, teachers’ affiliations with politics, politicized teachers’ recruitment process, and inadequate monetary & non-monetary incentives for the teachers and so forth.

In rural settings, there is a chronic shortfall of teachers to teach core subjects like English, Science, and Maths. This may be one of the reasons why 1,09,527 students failed in English alone this year. Even the existing teachers are bound to spread over multiple, crowded classes of different levels. Added to this, owing to nepotism in the teachers' recruitment process, the quality of the teachers has been questionable; also, due to a lack of training, and professional development workshops for the teachers, they aren’t up-to-date pedagogically. 

In the urban areas, most of the teachers work on a part-time basis and they are bound to moonlight. With divided minds and efforts, the outcomes become dismal. Added to this is, the gap between the curriculum designer, textbook writers, question paper setters, examiners, and teachers, contributes to chronic education outcomes; if this gap is bridged, the failure rates can be curbed, to some extent. Currently, there are 3,522  under-resourced community schools to run the classes for grades 11 and 12; the government doesn’t provide enough funds, except salaries of 6,000 teachers hired in temporary positions.

Consequences

While TU has already made a call for merger applications from its constituent campuses owing to an already surfaced student crunch, with close to half of the examinees who failed to meet the requirement to have access to higher university education, it’s quite easy to predict that the Nepalese universities will be thrown into a deeper level of student crunch and thus, results in fewer number of graduates. This will further lead to a more extreme level of workforce crisis in the country. The learning centers are already facing the brunt of an acute shortfall of teachers, and according to a study conducted in 2018, there is a requirement of 7800 additional teachers to teach in grades 11 and 12.

In addition,  a yearly trend of 60,000-70,000 students flying out of the country, an estimation of the conservatives,  for better economic and educational opportunities will add fuel in the fire- less passing rate; the Nepalese universities will be hit-hard with extreme levels of students-dry. With the exodus of teenage students, the country will not only lose youth power and energy but will also lose at least $1.5 billion that flies out of the country with them.

The ministry’s statistics show that about 400,000 students flew out of the country in the last one decade, until last year, and there has been geometric growth after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions by the developed countries. The statistics show that as many as 110,000 students received No Objection Certificates (NOC) last fiscal year to study in 72 different countries. This exodus of teenage students is a great loss for the country from economic, and as well as the perspective of the youth power.

Furthermore, forty-nine percent of the students who have been put into the non-graded category, will not only lose their self-confidence but will also have to face the brunt of psychological ailing. While many of them may drop out of academics forever, others may choose to fly out of the country for physical work or others may unfortunately get indulged in wrongdoings; either way, it’s a threat to the country.

Way forward

Such a high share of failure is a national tragedy. The poor education outcome is the reflection of our poor, flawed education system.  The government, including the wider fraternity has to pay attention to resolve this grave issue; otherwise, the nation will have to bear irrecoverable losses in the future. 

The depressing results have not only posed a question about the life of young minds, but also challenged the letter grading system that was introduced six years ago without much preparation, strategy, and investment to pull it off. It’s also the reflection of the politicized teacher recruitment process and successive governments who turned their deaf ears and blind eyes to refine or restructure our existing flawed system.

To curb the failure rates, teacher recruitment must be done through a more competitive, healthy, and transparent process. In addition, to maintain professional conduct among the teachers, they must be discouraged to have political affiliations. For the same, Kathmandu Metropolitan City has recently enforced new regulations across the valley to discourage teachers from having political affiliations. With such enforcement across the country, schools can be made more autonomous and apolitical yielding better learning outcomes. 

Similarly, in rural settings where there is a shortage of qualified teachers, through school-community partnerships, the issue of poor learning outcomes can be resolved. For this, through the initiation of the local government, health or banking professionals from the local community, for example, can be tapped into to teach subjects like Science, Maths or perhaps, English in the morning. Moreover, in the urban setting, teachers’ recruitment must be made on a full-time basis with adequate training, monetary and non-monetary incentives.

The ax that is not sharpened for a long time, fails to chop the woods efficiently. So, it’s imperative to brush up on the skills and knowledge of the teachers to enhance overall learning outcomes of the students. For the same, a local government can forget partnerships with the universities to launch teachers’ development workshops or pursue higher university degrees through the arrangement of scholarship schemes. Also local governments can partner with the EdTech companies for expertise and knowledge sharing to make the teaching-learning process more fun, engaging, and productive through the implementation of multimedia in the classroom to improve the overall learning outcomes.

In Nepal, there is a tendency of launching the courses or programs without much preparation; this should bring to an end in the future. The boards should ensure the teachers across the country go through the rigorous training on the curriculum or new course before it’s launched or implemented; this may aid to yield better results.

49.09 percent—that’s not the figure that students failed; they never fail. So, to ensure the success of our education system, we need to work in-hand-hand to strengthen it. With this, not only can the future of young minds be secured in particular, but also of the future of the country at large; together, this is feasible.

The author is Kathmandu-based teacher 

Pawan Alok, 70, is a poet and essayist from Bhojpur who has received numerous awards for his works, including the ‘Pallav Rastriya Samman’, ‘Satyamohan Joshi Satabdi Mahoutsav Puraskar’, ‘Bangladesh Maitri Sang Samman’, ‘Yogmaya Srishti Samman’ and many more. Babita Shrestha from ApEx caught up with Alok to talk about what fuels his love for writing.

What inspired you to write?

My main source of inspiration is my rural hometown. Back during my high school days, one of my teachers encouraged me to hone my literary skills and since then, I’ve been immersed in literature. We used to have many literature events every year and I used to win most of the competitions. My passion grew, and I eventually began submitting my writings to newspapers. My first published work was ‘Prem Ko Abhivyakti’. After moving to Kathmandu, I attended literary events and worked at Nepal Pragya Pratisthan, where I met notable writers such as Balkrishna Sama, Madhav Ghimire, Siddhicharan Shrestha, and others. Meeting them made me want to write even more.

Is there a particular literary form that you prefer?

I started off as a poet. ‘The Poison Tree’ was published in Bangladesh, while ‘Pawan Alok ka Kehi Kavita’ was published in Nepal. Additionally, I’ve also written a travelog, two travel novels, and three essay collections. I enjoy writing travelogs the most and I find myself indulging in that ever so often. So far, ‘Europe ko Jhajhalko’ has been launched, followed by ‘Arun Express’, ‘Kehi Samjhana Kehi Sirjana’, and ‘Pahad Ra Lamatanna Samudra’. I’m now working on two more books that will be published soon.

Can you run us through your writing process?

I’m a travel enthusiast and so far I have visited 30 different countries. I don’t travel to write, but wonderful experiences prompt me. A travelog, to me, is not a lengthy description but rather a subtle flow of emotion and perception. When I travel, I always take a diary with me. I keep track of things that have an impact on me. Later, I’ll attempt to express that in words. Typically, I work on drafts and then go over them multiple times until I’m satisfied. It takes days and sometimes even months to edit my work. I send my manuscript to other travel writers for feedback and criticism before publication since I believe that modifications are vital for good writing. Also, I try to write clearly and simply so that readers are able to understand the real tone and message.

 When did you realize you had an interest in travel writing? Can you share some of your favorite travel memories?

I completed a degree in the United Kingdom, and while living there, I had plenty of opportunities to explore the city. I used to plan trips during the weekend. I had never considered writing about my trips till I read Tana Sharma’s ‘Belaet Tira Baralida’ at the time.

Following that, I began writing other travel memoirs and even travel novels. ‘Pahad Ra Lamatnna Samundra’ is one of my most significant writings which narrates my travels around Nepal and even to other nations. It covers 15 collections of travelogs from my trips to Janakpur, Bhojpur, Bara, and Parsa, as well as foreign nations such as Switzerland, England, the US, Belgium, France, and others.

 In the book, I’ve also included my trip to the lake district where  English writer William Wordsworth grew up. The authorities have preserved his home furnishings. Seeing that, it struck me that we had outstanding Nepali writers as well, but the government has never given them their due. In order to draw attention to that, I have incorporated my sentiments about the issue as well.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a travel writer?

To be honest, not everyone can write or has the drive to do so. Also, it has always been difficult, particularly for Nepali writers, because our government invests little in the promotion of Nepali arts and literature. Publication and marketing are difficult endeavors, and writers frequently face financial constraints. Given the circumstances, I strongly urge the administration to implement comprehensive response plans. I’ve formed my own organization, ‘Yogmaya Rastriya Naari Srasta Samaan’ at my own expense, to pay respect to Yogmaya Neupane’s contributions. This prize recognizes Nepali women authors who continuously contribute to Nepali literature.

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to become a travel writer?

Travel writing is not only about descriptions of a place but also about the flow of emotions. Don’t be in a hurry to get published. Make sure you get feedback from other writers or readers and work on polishing your draft. You have to be able to make your readers feel like they are there in that place with you and for that, your writing will have to go through many revisions.

The curfew order that had been in effect in Malangawa, the district headquarters of Sarlahi, since Saturday, was lifted at 8 am on Sunday. However, the prohibitory order remains in place, according to Chief District Officer Indra Dev Yadav.

With the removal of the curfew order, life here has started returning to normalcy. Markets have reopened and transport services have resumed. A large number of security personnel have been mobilized in different parts of the city.

According to Sarlahi's Police Chief Naresh Raj Subedi, during the period of the prohibitory order, all forms of protest programs, demonstrations and mass meetings have been banned.

The curfew was imposed at 5 pm on Saturday to ease tension after two groups clashed, using rocks, while returning after immersing the idol of Hindu deity Krishna on Friday evening as part of the celebration of the Krishna Janmashtami festival. 

Subsequent demonstrations and clashes took place in the city on Saturday, prompting the local administration to issue the curfew order.