Chiranjibi Niroula

“Education is not only for life, but education is life itself”. This is what John Dewey had once said about education.
We can also add that a nation cannot move ahead without imparting education to all of its citizens. Almost nine million school goers have stayed at home for more than five months now. In fact, the school goers have been abruptly cut off from their life-long education essences.
The feelings, emotions, creativities, critical thinking and ways of development of all school students have been held captives into the box of COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. The students will unquestionably suffer through long term consequences that cannot be gauged by a simple mindset. Furthermore, the nation itself has been losing out the vivid pictures of pillars of nation, too!

Ministry's Myopic View?
Wearing myopic glass, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) has abysmally been undermining the overall education system in the nation. Soon after an immature announcement of the closure of schools in 18 March 2020, institutional schools (ISs) started to advocate for enhancing alternative education through online mode, for which many educationists threw their weight. However the MoEST kept on turning its deaf ears for several months.
Despite all this, the ISs operated the online teaching-learning activities. The government didn’t only warn them not to collect fees from the parents, but it even proclaimed that the fees of the last academic month of last year were not to be taken from the parents. However, the government has been silently gesturing that all the expenses of the ISs were to be taken into account themselves. Truly, it is not justifiable by any constitutional and humanistic norms.
In a hilarious spirit, the MoEST decided to provide virtual classes through television and radio for covering out the lacking, though the practice appeared ineffective in the remote and the poor households of the nation because of the lack of infrastructure and systematic requirements.
Now, it seems the education system in the nation has completely been knocking down into the ground. Nonetheless, in the other part, the MoEST couldn’t witness that almost teachers and employees of the ISs, 250-300 thousands in number have been remained unpaid or partially paid till dates. It consequently forces them to seek alternative means for their livelihood.
Here, it is a pity to say that teachers, the most important apps of the education, are literally being thrown out as if they had no value, which eventually leads to an end of education of almost school-aged children for an indefinite time in Nepal. It is indeed a grave issue.
The Way Forward
It’s vehemently accused that all the owners of the ISs have earned abundant amount of properties from schools. Before keeping this issue into a single basket, it’s imperative to have a look into the provision in Education Regulation (ER), which manifests the ISs are to be in four different categories- A, B, C and D.
According to PABSON and NPABSON records, there are more than 8000 private schools in the country, out of which hardly 7% schools are labelled as the category A, whereas the schools in categories, B, C and D form the parts of 33%, 40% and 20% respectively having different fees structures set in the ER provisions.
In real sense, the schools under categories C and D have been scarcely sustaining before the COVID-19. But now all of them have been quivering much in reality. The tax provision for the ISs is same in the nation, which is to be distinguished as per the earning of the schools. A few exorbitant schools are also to be legitimately investigated and regularized through the system.
The governments therefore can’t use the same eye for measuring all schools in a same bag. We evidently say that the ISs immensely bear one-third shares of the total education in the nation. In these regards, the governments not only have to take spectacles of an impartial evaluation for all, but they also have to support the ISs by providing a soft loan at 2-3% interest for covering the expenses of at least one academic year in an urgent.
In spite of COVID-19 pandemic challenges, the institutional schools conspicuously have trained their teachers and employees for conducting online education. In return to pay the governments’ contribution and well-recognition, the ISs through PABSON and NPABSON can share and support their technical and intellectual properties to cope up the education system in nation for supporting governments’ proclamation in its Policies and Programs of 2020/2021.
Besides, the governments can immediately curtail unnecessary administrative procedural expenses, and transform the saved budget for developing required infrastructure; tools and technology for imparting online education throughout the country soonest or else country will doubtlessly remain in immeasurable graveness ahead.

Teachers Prime Apps
It is here imperative to acknowledge Confucian education that if a teacher flies, students can run, if a teacher runs, students can walk, if a teacher walks, students can just crawl, if a teacher crawls, students just can sleep, if a teacher sleeps, students will die. Now, we have a condition that teachers are not on slumber bed, but they are virtually dying off! Indeed, teachers are prime apps of curriculum. If such apps die, how the education goes forward?
So, it is the time to value and inspire all the teachers in the nation. For this, the governments can make the policy to pay a 50% salary from the fund of governments, and make compulsory for the ISs to bear remaining 50% salary to pay to respective teachers and employees during this very pandemic situation undeniably!
It is not a plain argument, but it is the need based utterance as the teachers and employees have also been paying taxes to the governments for number of years. In addition, the governments have to manage the system to provide free internet facilities to the school-goers during the time of COVID-19 pandemic such that all schools can operate online education in the nation, and vis-a- vis required technologies and development works for education are to be extended day and night right now.
Thus, save the teachers; extend the education!

(Niroula is principal at KU City School, Chabahil)