KATHMANDU, Aug 17: Government-owned and community-run schools, mainly the ones that operate classes up to primary and lower-secondary levels, on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley are facing existential crisis, creating pressure on the Ministry of Education (MoE) to merge them. Nearly two dozens government schools, mostly on the periphery of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts, have been closed down over the last few years. Many more schools are on the verge of closing down. The reason behind closure of one government school after another in the Valley is a bit surprising. It is not due to lack of support from the government to build schools, buy text books or hire teachers. Instead, it is the lack of students that is forcing the government and community managed to schools to shut down. So, why are government schools not getting enough students to sustain themselves? Baikuntha Aryal, district education officer (DEO) of Kathmandu, points out multiple reasons behind the crisis facing government schools in the valley. According to Aryal, more families have migrated to core city areas from the outskirts of the valley in recent years, diminishing the number of students in all government schools. "This is the most visible reason," says Aryal. Other reasons that Aryal pointed out are long-held criticisms against government and community managed schools. "Growing popularity of English-medium schools and decline in the quality of education at government or community-based schools have turned parents against them," says Aryal. "In short, people no longer trust government schools." According to Aryal, two community-based schools of Kathmandu -- Yudhisthir Primary School at Gagalphedi, and Balkumari Primary School at Pharping -- failed to attract even a single student this academic year, forcing them to close down. Along with these two schools, the number of schools that have closed down in lack of students has reached 10 in Kathmandu district. Aryal says over a dozen other government and community-run schools in Kathmandu are on the brink of shutting down. "Their closures look imminent as things stand now," he says. "They have very few students at present and it is certain that they will lose even those students in a couple of years." The permanent teachers serving the schools that were closed down have been transferred to other nearby government or community-based schools. In some schools where there were too few students they had to be transferred to other nearby schools. Although many government schools are not in operation for the last few years, registration of none has been cancelled by the government. This means that they can reopen in any academic year if they manage to attract sufficient students again. Aryal says the MoE does not cancel registration of schools for some years keeping in view the possibility of their revival. "In some places, local communities are still struggling to revive the closed schools," says Aryal. "This is why the MoE has not cancelled the closed schools´ registration until now. But, their registration will eventually be cancelled if they are not revived within a few years." In Kathmandu, two community-based schools, Chalantar Lower Secondary School of Danchhi and Kshitiz Primary School of Sankhu, were closed due to lack of students. But, a couple of years later, they were revived by local communities, boosting confidence of other communities that are struggling to revive their schools. Situation of government and community-based schools is worse in Bhaktapur district. According to Shankar Bahadur Gautam, District Education Officer (DEO) of Bhaktapur, as many as six schools closed down in this academic year after failing to attract students. Narakeshwor Primary School and Manokamana Primary School are among the ones that closed down due to lack of students this year. "These schools did not get a single student this year," said Gautam. According to him, number of students has drastically diminished in as many as 10 other schools of Bhaktapur this year, heralding signs of their closures in the next few years. In Lalitpur, two schools were closed this year for the same reason. Biwom Primary School and Dhanardevi Primary School in Laltipur did not get even a single student. Two more schools, Nagdevi Primary School and Swotantra Siksha Sadan, have also had too few students, facing existential crisis. Last year, as many as 15 primary schools with low enrollment rate had been merged with other schools in Lalitpur. Schools with less than 10 students must be closed Roj Nath Pandey Assistant spokesperson, Ministry of Education (MoE) Why do you think government and community-managed schools are closing down? Too few students in government schools, mushrooming private schools in every corner, poor infrastructures at government schools and lack of teachers are the major reasons behind the closure. When does the government decide to close a school? If a school has less than 10 students then the government has to either close it or merge it with another school. The management committee of such schools informs us about their condition and the ministry of education either closes or merges such schools. Does the MoE have any plan to tackle this problem? Yes, we are planning to take strict actions against teachers who are not regular in the school. Likewise, improvement in the quality of teaching, better facilities like library and other materials in the schools are some measures that we are considering to tackle this problem. What kind of action will be taken against such teachers? We will replace those teachers by new ones. We will not give them a second chance. Do you think the plan will serve the government´s purpose? Definitely. Today, people want good education at affordable prices. We will provide students with good education with good facilities.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 08:49:13 +0000
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