HISTORY OF EDUCATION SYSTEM IN NEPAL
The autocratic regime of the Rana Dynasty (1846 AD to 1951 AD) prohibited education in Nepal. Only descendants of the Rana Dynasty and the Royal family were allowed to attend Palace School in Kathmandu and pursue higher education in other countries. When the regime was finally overthrown in 1951 after years of struggle, the democratic government of Nepal faced a herculean task in terms of increasing literacy rate across the country. For this reason, the education system of Nepal was designed to impart basic level education to Nepalese citizens as it was important to increase the literacy rate in contrast to providing quality education to students. Even 68 years later, the education system has barely made any significant progress, and this is the reason only a few percentages of students can thrive academically. The curriculum and pedagogy do not encourage innovation, holistic approach and critical thinking, which is a necessity in terms of producing a workforce that can solve local and global issues our generation is facing.
MY LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE
I recently attended a life-changing Teacher Development session at Karkhana Asia (an education company) in Nepal. During this training, I had several moments of introspection and a moment of epiphany. I realized that although I have been a great student as per measurement metrics of Nepalese educational system, I have contributed a minuscule amount with my knowledge to the greater good of our society. There are many issues that require innovative and out of the box solutions, but our generation has not been able to meet these challenges head-on. After the session, it was clear to me, that as a society we are producing graduates who are really great at getting good scores on their exams, but they are neither taught nor encouraged to innovate.
ROTE LEARNING VS MEANINGFUL LEARNING
In Nepal, teachers mostly follow Rote learning system — Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. As a student,I was able to recite all the formulas and stories in my textbooks and copy the text from chapters as answers from my memory in my exam sheets. This is the reason, I always received high scores on my exams, but I seldom ventured into issues that were outside my comfort zone. During this session, I learned about Meaningful Learning method, in which the pedagogical strategy is based on learning through a sense of experience and creating something new. This learning method brings every student in the spotlight, no one is left behind, and everyone can learn something meaningful and use it in real-world scenarios. When the environment is created for meaningful learning, each student can be creative, can develop their interpersonal communication skills, and can use their critical and holistic thinking skills to empower people around them.
TAKE AWAY
In addition, I was intrigued by learning that most students in the age group 8–15 years practice meaningful learning, the undergraduate and graduate students are still deprived of meaningful learning. During this training, I had the first-hand experience on Meaningful Learning. Among many things, the teachers filled the entire training session with positive vibes, creativity, curiosity, a sense of teamwork and innovation. Everyone shared their perspective, and everyone’s point of view was valued. After this training, I have the utmost respect for the teachers who make a positive impact on their students. Teachers are in a unique position to directly influence innovation and confidence to achieve success in their lives. Teachers can see their work in action, see the changes they affect, and they witness firsthand their goals coming to fruition. No matter what the goals are, teachers are there to help and guide their students. And that is why I have decided to become a teacher who can positively impact students in Nepal and provide environment for innovation and communication.
MY GOAL
It will be a great opportunity to will give a chance to every student to become creative, train them to work in the group, and also encourage them to innovate meaningful product from things they love. My goal is to bring the best of me and also to bring the best in every individual who is learning with me.
