Authors: Binayak Krishna Thapa, Shreda Shrestha

Is our education our common good or a matter of just a few interest groups’ flourishing? If the earlier case is true, then we need to spend more time wondering about our collective flourishing through public education. In line with this question, and walking down the memory lane of the educational history of Nepal, being educated was a matter of interest to a few powerhouses for their growth. The concept of public education and its provisioning for the commons in Nepal is just 80 years old. It is important to dig into history to comprehend the evolution and the trajectory of the public education system. Its evolution and the transformation ties-up well with the major political changes that have shaped Nepal’s politics.

To start with, is the Rana period also known as the dark era of Nepal, a period that lasted for almost a century and was marked by pervasive nepotism and favoritism, not just in the administrative office but also among the children. The dichotomy among children has impacted Nepal to date and this started prominently in 1854 with the establishment of the first western-style school, a private English institution exclusively reserved for the offspring of the Rana family. The term “dark era” for Nepal’s education seems justified given the complete lack of a public education system throughout this time. It was not until 1901, that 200- Nepali medium schools were established for children of the general public ensuring schools for the citizenry.

To cite school Education in Nepal’(ed. Parajuli, Uprety and Onta) there are four distinct waves of public school establishments in Nepal. The first wave is the pre-Panchayat (pre-1960), the second is the Panchayat era (1960-1990), the third is the democratic period (1990-2015), and the current federal transition period (post-2015).  These four periods connect well with different educational policies formulated and implemented during the time. The pre-Panchayat period is considered to be the founding period of community-led educational institutions, however, the education system was not guided by a clear educational policy. The pre-Panchayat period is considered to be the time when most of the community schools were established. It was under the ownership of the community and operated with the resources available within the community. This period was followed by the Panchayat period. During this period, the community schools were nationalized and operated under the National Education System Plan (NESP). The schools were brought under the control of the State, which previously were operated and managed by communities that founded and sustained them. This period was followed by the multi-party democratic system, which favored decentralization of the education system and once again, handed the public school to the community and subsequently rise in the provision of private schools. 

Even though the country was bringing various plans and regulations to strengthen the public education system, some of Nepal’s rural parts such as Terai were still in the extreme dark. The Rautahat district, one of the eight districts of Province 2, has two rural municipalities namely, Durga Bhagwati Rural Municipality and Yamunamai Rural Municipality, which are the selected research sites from which this article draws on pieces of evidence. The children of these municipalities were deprived of education as late as the 1940s. The earliest primary schools in both municipalities were established around 1948-1950, meaning, there was no provision of formal education until then. With the data we have collected, it is clear that only one to two schools were established every decade and even that has completely stopped since late 2000. It could be because primary schools in a few years, transform into basic schools and basic schools into higher secondary schools. All in all, it is important to note that in this part of Terai, many generations were left with no choice but to remain uneducated.

The district still has the lowest retention rate and a high number of children out of school. These two issues are widespread and at an all-time high. But it is crucial to consider how the following generation will be able to understand the value of education if previous generations were bound to be illiterate and uninformed regarding the importance of education. Given this context, the project’s effectiveness and scalability of programs for children who are out of school and at risk of dropping out are currently being implemented, covering these two rural municipalities. The project has three main objectives namely a) Knowledge generation on the current situation of out-of-school children and those at risk of dropping out, b) Examining what programs and practices work to effectively contribute to minimizing the given issues, c) Exploring the possibility of the scalability of workable programs, d) To mobilize the knowledge generated and e) To build up the capacity of immediate stakeholders for sustainable and scaling the potential programs. In doing so, this project attempts to strengthen the public education system and contribute to cultivating sense, imagination, and an ability to think for a common good that is public school education.