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VOL. 03, NO. 14, Dec. 11 2009 (Mangsir 26, 2066)
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Exclusion and Human Development: Measure to Design the Inclusive Education Policy in Nepal
By Mohan Das Manandhar
Rojan Bajracharya
Social exclusion has evolved as the leading discourses in development practices. The development practices that exclude an individual or a community and society from the mainstream process give birth to inequity and disparity so the century old social exclusionary practice prevailed in the contemporary world is blockade towards equitable growth and sustainable development. The UN’s Human Resource Development 1997 highlights social exclusion and discrimination as the leading causes of the unequal development and wealth disparity. As there are inequalities and these passed on from generation to generation, one can speak of incipient in the formation of discriminatory society and state. In state and society where inequality persists due to discrimination and social exclusion, there is high chance of evolving conflict due to the anger and grievances of the excluded groups.
Social exclusion and discrimination exist in various forms in the world, namely: racial, caste, ethnic, spatial and others. Specifically, the caste and ethnic based social exclusion that persist in South Asia can be seen in the institution that has been structuring and maintaining for centuries relations of power among different communities.
Nepal, also a South Asian state, is a culturally and ethnically mixed and geographically diverse. There are more than hundreds of caste and ethnic groups in the country and allied language dialects. Being Hindu dominated country and Hindu ruler, the ancient Malla ruler of Nepal adopted Hindu based caste hierarchy system in which Brahmin (Priest) and Chettri (Warriors) are highest in level respectively followed by Baishay (Trader, Farmers and Other Skilled and Unskilled worker) and Sudra/ Dalits ( Untouchables and Menial and Slump Worker). The kingship of all era adopted same caste hierarchy system with minimal amendments which result social exclusion of last two caste groups. Brahmans and Chhetris, the most privileged among all caste and ethnic communities, have remained in positions of power since the ancient past and used such privilege to shape the social value system which consequently diverts the available opportunities and resources in favor of their own communities. A famous Anthropologist of Nepal, Dhor Bahadur Bista, claims that this type of perception is the metaphor of what has been commonly termed as hegemony. In term of spatial distribution, the extreme harsh climate of mountain causes limited infrastructure development than Hill and Terai. Whereas, the original residence of Terai – Tharu and Madhesi - has limited access to resources as the elite class of Hill dominate the state ownership and political power. Further, the country has also been divided into 5 development regions namely- Eastern, Central, Western, Mid Western and Far Western –and the last two of them lag in term of overall development process.
The social exclusion persists in the country leads to rampant poverty and less human development in excluded and suppressed communities. Specifically, the access to Education which is one of the important factors to pull out the deprived groups and communities from poverty and deprivation is vulnerable in the excluded and deprived communities of Nepal. The literacy rates of Dalits, Madeshi and Janajati are far below than national average of 49 percent. The backward trend of these social groups and communities is similar in other educational indicators. Thus, there is an emphasis on promoting enrolment from all segments of the society
In term of government support program, the primary education had been designed under Basic Primary Education Project from 1999 to 2004 period and Education for All (EFA) for 2004 to 2009 period. The six components of the EFA (2004-2009) plan are as follows: Expanding and improving early childhood development; Ensuring access to education for all children; Meeting the learning needs of all children including indigenous peoples and linguistic minorities; Reducing adult illiteracy; Eliminating gender disparity; and Improving all aspects of quality education. Likewise, the secondary education was designed under Secondary Education Support Program for 2003 to 2009 period which again is based on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper’s policies of increased community participation, decentralization, cost sharing, recognition of regional diversities and institutional strengthening. It also takes into account the essence of Secondary Education Perspective Plan 2001 including the lessons learnt of the earlier education projects.
In term of scholarships, the current provision are: Full scholarship to all Dalits (Untouchable Caste) at primary level; NRs. 500 scholarship per year for each Dalit at lower secondary and secondary level; and few limited scholarship to Dalits, Indigenous Communities and Girls at Grade 6 and 7 level. The Government of Nepal is committed of free primary education which covers grades 1 to 5 and is to be extended up to grade VIII from 2010. In this arrangement, the private sector and other trusts also come into the picture in owning the schools and sharing the cost of school education.
In term of decentralization, prior to 1972, Nepal used to have educational institutions with the direct management control of the communities with some institutions directly being run by the government. Some of these public educational institutions received financial grants without direct control of the Central Government while some public educational institutions were under direct control of Central Government. In 1972, Government of Nepal introduced Education System Plan which nationalized all the community schools and this changed the modality of school management and financing. However, the government belatedly realized it to be a disastrous policy which killed the local community (especially suppressed and deprived initiatives) in education development. The government attempted to address this situation and made amendment in education act in 2002 which initiated the transfer of school management back to the local communities through School Management Committee (SMC). These SMCs are consisting of representative from: Teacher’s Association, Parent’s Association, Local Community and nominees from GON. The aim of decentralization was also to encourage the local suppressed and deprived communities in education activity which will have countervailing impact on enrollment of their children.
However, these policies are not able to address allied form of discrimination prevailed in education system of Nepal. Specifically, distribution of education delivery institutions (viz. schools, technical school ) are highly concentrated in urban area resided by upper caste and dominant ethnic groups and the excluded and suppressed groups have limited geographical access to these institutions. The economic status of excluded and suppressed group is poor which restrict them from having access to educational institution despite of having some degree of relief via scholarship. There is limited participation of excluded group and suppressed communities in the delivery of education (as teacher and head teacher) so there is limited inter- caste and inter- ethnic motivation between various caste groups perpetuating limited use of basic service. There is limited use of local languages in campaigning for the education program so the minority language speaker might not get rightful message on education. There are limited provisions on mother tongue education in Nepal despite government has brought out some policies measures in 2002. This seriously lags the interest of minority language speaking children from formal education. As per caste based discrimination, Dalits being impure are restricted from educational institution. The indigenous knowledge is not incorporated in formal education system and such knowledge is not recognized by modern health treatment which partially contributes on limited interest of indigenous in education. There is not gender sensitive infrastructural development in educational institution and the leading issues on it is separate latrine for girl student. There is limited infrastructural development on extra curriculum which substantially impaired the excluded and poor communities because the elite can afford it even outside the educational institution. Summing up, various forms of exclusionary practices persist in delivery of education which is the prime reason for inequity in poverty and human development.
At present, there is a growing pressure upon the government to make the secondary education up to grade XII free and even compulsory especially to poor and deprived. Hence the government’s financial obligation in the school education is ever increasing, and the studies show that the government has not been able to meet even the current level of its commitments to the students and schools. The additional fund can be allocated to school education, if any additional public investment on school education will significantly help reducing the poverty incidence. On the other side, there should be provisions of mother tongue education which encourage minority language speaker for education. Government should provision quota in schools and colleges for the children from suppressed communities. The local language should be used to campaign educational development program so that minority language speakers are well alerted. There should be reservation for suppressed communities in service delivery of education. There is general practice of such reservation being transfer to other (specifically dominant group and communities) due to unavailability of eligible candidate from suppressed communities. Such practices should be discouraged and the measure should be brought out to motivate suppressed communities to participate in the reservation. The formal education system should also encompass the traditional religion and indigenous knowledge based educational institution so that the respective communities are also motivated in formal education. There should be good infrastructure of education rural/ tribal areas.
Mr. Manandhar and Mr. Bajracharya are engaged with Social Inclusion Research Fund. The views presented in this article are those of authors’ own.
Mother Tongue Education & Inclusion: Contemporary Fact of Limbu Mother Tongue Education
By: Ambar Jang Limbu
Language is one of the most effective mean to communicate opinion, experience and knowledge. Language cannot be judged in term of superiority or inferiority for the communication. Nepal is linguistically diverse country. It has the dialects from four language families, namely: Indo-European (15 Languages), Sino-Tibetan (19 Languages), Austro-Asiatic (1 Languages) and Dravidian (1 Languages). Likewise, Population Census 2001 reports that there are 92 languages in Nepal. Among them, Limbu is one of the languages of Far Eastern Nepal and is the dialect of Limbu community residing in 9 districts of Mechi and Koshi zone. The Population Census 2001 reveals that there are total of 3 hundred 50 thousand populations in the Limbu community.
In Nepal, the education of Limbu mother tongue initiated in 1952 in class 1 to 3 level in then Jayanarayan School (Now Jayanarayan High School) located at Angsarang (Mehelbot) of Panchthar district. But, this initiation later got discontinued as the government implemented the suggestions of National Education Commission’s report formed under the chairmanship of Sardar Rudra Raj Panday. In the page 107 and 108 of the report, it is stated that “There is an immediate need to take out local language other than Nepali from the student’s daily routine in school and its playground.” With the institutionalisation of autocratic Panchayat system, Nepal implemented the policy of “One Country, One Language” which commenced the dark age of Limbu and other minority language and their education. Likewise, the reports of further Education Commission also recommended continuing this policy.
Constitution of Nepal 1991 drafted after 1990’s People Movement states Nepal as “Multi Caste and Multi Linguistic” country but this constitution also has provision of some discriminatory clause as sub section 1 of section 6 states “Nepali Language written in Devnagaric script is the official language of Nepal” and all other mother tongues are placed in annex of the constitution which ranks Nepali as first level language of the country. Nevertheless, this constitution has the provision that “Each community can operate the school with education in mother tongue upto primary level”. In the spirit of this constitutional provision, National Language Policy Advisory Commission was formed on 14th Jestha 2050 BS under the Chairmanship of Prof. Bairagi Kaila which submitted the report suggesting “Mother Tongue as Means of Primary Education”. Education for All (2001 to 2015) policy assures the right of the children to educate in the indigenous mother tongue upto primary level. Further, in the report submitted by Nepal National Commission to UNESCO, it is stated that “All language communities have the right to decide to what extent their languages are to be present, as a vernacular language and as an means of study, at all levels of education within their territory in pre-school, primary, secondary, technical, and vocational school, university, and adult education”. In essence of these policy measures, the government made the program of mother tongue education for 6000 schools by preparing the textbook for different mother tongue. In 2055 BS, Government initiated education in 6 mother tongues including Limbu and its implementation reached upto class 5 by 2059 BS. Now, the mother tongue education has encompassed 14 languages latest of which is Sunuwar and Rajbanshi language in 2063 BS.
New Interim constitution of Nepal 2063 BS constituted after the historical people’s movement 2006 has again adopted narrow provision on mother tongue education. The subsection 1 of section 6 has provisioned “All mother tongue dialects as national language of Nepal” but subsection 6 of same section has provisioned “Devnagari script of Nepali language as official language of Nepal” which again discriminates the languages other than Nepali. Further, subsection 1 of section 17 defining civic right has provisioned that “the right of each community on mother tongue education is only at the fundamental level education” which confine the mother tongue education at all educational level.
There are significant discourses on social inclusion and mother tongue education is the prime among them. There are the issues on: Why the populace with own indigenous mother tongue has less access to education?; Why the children of these communities are not attending the school?; and Why there is high drop out in these communities’ children?. The research study was conducted to explore on these issues in term of Limbu education in Pachthar, Taplejung Dhankuta Terathum (One school from each district) – the Limbu resided districts of Nepal.
The Limbu mother tongue education has initiated in these district 6 to 9 years past with school of Terathum being oldest with 9 year and the school of Taplejung being youngest with 6 years. In these districts, the 20 percent student only have text book of Linbu language – also termed as Aani Pan. Due to unavailability of textbook, teacher teaches by writing alphabet, chart and figure with the help of Alphabet Table and dictionary. Beside some support from Kirat Yakthum Chumlung – NGO working for Indiegnous - there is no proper monitoring and supervision in the distribution of Limbu language textbook. The teachers of Limbu language are less paid than other teacher and in some cases they also have to work voluntarily. The dictionary, alphabetic table and some newspaper and magazines are the only source of self- study resources for the teachers of Limbu language.
The student reading Limbu mother tongue often uses Limbu dialect to communicate with their teacher. The non- native Limbu students also enjoy reading Limbu language. The students reading Limbu language are found to have good writing and reading knowledge of Devnagaric, Roman and Kirati scripts. After initiation of Limbu mother tongue education, the Limbu students also rank first and second in class. Though there is not significant impact on enrolment, the Limbu education has enhanced the learning capacity of Limbu student.
There is substantial hindrance in Limbu language education which is also prevalence in other minority languages. The Constitution of Nepal 1990 has provisioned each community children’s right on mother tongue education for upto primary level. Likewise, the sub section 1 of section 17 of Nepal’s Interim Constitution 2063 BS has provisioned each community’s right on mother tongue education in fundamental education. Both of these provisions have confined the level of mother tongue education uotp primary education. There is no proper recruitment process of Limbu and other minority language teachers and the available teacher are also less trained which disturb the smooth running of minority language classes in the school. Further, the indigenous and backward communities including Limbu have less access in decision making level so there are substantially less policy and implementation measures for the mother tongue education.
The mother tongue education is an important initiation of government because it facilitate to preserve and develop the script, culture, custom and knowledge associate with the mother tongue. There are problem in term of publication and distribution of mother tongue language textbook and the status is similar in term of availability of trained teachers. Further, the mother tongue teachers face problem of less salary and inadequate training. Summing the analysis, the study has made following recommendations:
Limbu and other mother tongue should not be made optional in the school course structure for respective community. It should be made regular course with equal weight as other subject. Further, the other subjects’ class should also be conducted in mother tongue.
So far, the local mother tongue communities have formidable role to initiate mother tongue education and its textbook management. But, the government needs to enhance its responsibility for effective and fruitful implementation.
Mother tongue should also be legitimized as official language for effective implementation of mother tongue education.
Government should be responsible for effective publication and distribution of mother tongue textbook. It should not be designated to NGO as Kirat Yakthum Chumlung is designated for distribution of Limbu language textbook. District Education Office or other concern bodies should be made responsible for distribution of the mother tongue textbooks at the beginning of academic session.
Mr. Limbu is Research Apprentice of Social Inclusion Research Fund (SIRF) for 2006. This article is based on his SIRF supported research study.
BS refers Bikram Sambat which is the official calendar of Nepal. It is 57 years ahead of Georgian calendar
Inclusive business means the inclusion of all class
Renowned young Industrialist RAJENDRA KUMAR KHETAN is also a member of Constituent Assembly. Nominated under article 63 (C) by the Council of Ministers on the basis of consensus from among distinguished persons and persons from among ethnic and indigenous groups who fail to be represented as a result of elections under sub-clause (a) and (b) who have made significant contributions to national life. CA member Khetan spoke on various issues related to inclusive business with NEW SPOTLIGHT. Excerpts:
How do you describe the state of inclusion in business?
After discussion with experts, what I came to know is that inclusive business is a profitable and sustainable business. One of the aims of IB is to mitigate poverty by incorporating lower income people in the value of companies. Of course, the ultimate aim of any business is to generate profit and IB too aims to generate profit but the difference is that we can generate profit by incorporating marginalized and poor communities in our activities. For instance, we are making efforts to buy locally produced materials. Although it is still in early stage, we are encouraging local farmers to grow the product that can be used in our industry.
Nepal is not a country with inclusive nature. Various religious, ethnic and other groups have been following their own traditional way of living. Traditionally, most of the groups are living together with exclusive business. As social demands like health, education, and commerce increase, and they bring changes in day to day life, people see the agenda of social inclusion. Large numbers feel they are still outside the purview of mainstream politics, business and social sector and their pace of social transformation is too slow. In business sector, there is still the domination of Marwari community or Newar community. The inclusion is the process which aims to include all different communities in business by bringing change in constitution and law. Although the constitution and law do not bar any community from entering the business, there is apathy towards it. There is a realization that there is the need to establish free movement of the people in economic sector, profession, service and capital as a fundamental right. We have been working to write a constitution which can guarantee inclusive business and inclusive economy. Inclusive business means the inclusion of all class, groups and ethnic people.
The inclusion is based on backward and forward linkage. We can do this through forewarned integration of rational business groups with new group by taking the local products in international market. In this practice, all the communities, including those marginalized and poor communities, will get the access to the market. It is yet to be initiated in Nepal targeting particular groups and community. Now some business groups have been doing the business on natural basis with natural process. Inclusive Business has good potential.
It is said that your company has also been encouraging farmers by buying their products. Can you explain?
We have been doing two things. First, we are working closely with the wheat producers and farmers to produce the product necessary for our noodle factory. Secondly, we are also encouraging Nepali farmers to grow high quality barley and corn so that our beer factory can use them as raw materials.
Have you carried out studies?
Our studies have shown that scientifically we can grow such products in Nepal but Nepalese farmers do not have experiences and knowledge in producing high quality products.
Does the process of inclusion begin in the industrial sector?
Now we are in the process of conceptualizing inclusive business and we have already started sample works. As you know it is market oriented, linked to core business enterprise and profitable and sustainable business with social and economic inclusion.
