Attending a Class in Government School of Kathmandu: A case of Nepali Class In Grade X of Nandi Secondary School, Naxal.

Illustration: Ratna Sagar Shrestha

On 9 May 2018, I went to Nandi Secondary School, Naxal for my assignment on "Observation of the Education Program led by teachers". To complete this assignment I attended a class by Ms. Prabha Pant, who was taking her Nepali Class in Grade 10. Interestingly, the class content for the day was an essay on sustainable development, which happens to be a topic of my interest and course of study. The class started with an interactive session where the existing concept of students on sustainable development was assessed. Overall, the class was interactive, filled with curiosity towards the content and the students' participated well in the class activities. The teacher was also empathetic, had great knowledge about the content and allowed her students to express their ideas on the subject matter. I liked the way the teacher critically appreciated and logically dealt the ideas given on the concept of the content while giving the examples based on the life experiences and the school activities conducted which made the students easy to understand. The best part of the class was she asked a few students to volunteer and summarize the content taught in the class to assess their learnings, which promoted the students to reflect their learnings in the classroom. 

Throughout my stay in the class, I realized that the teacher was very conscious about my presence in the class and I felt that her behavior towards the class was due to my presence. To know the real scenario, I approached a few students personally, who said that she always taught the same way as on that day. They also said that the teacher was approachable and answered their queries immediately. When I asked them about the types of assignment, they told me that most of her assignments are based on the text and some of them are creative assignments based on context and various occasions (Eg. Writing an essay or presenting posters on protecting the environment when the environment day is approaching). After talking to these students, I personally approached the teacher and asked about the difference between the general tendency of those students on a regular day and on that specific class (in which I had attended). I was glad to hear that the students are always highly participative, curious and interactive, as they were on that day.

Overall, the class was very interesting and highly participative. The teaching style (in terms of delivery, content, and punctuality) was appreciable and the responding attitude of the teacher towards the students was impressive. For me, the best part of the lecture was when the teacher was trying to know what they had learned in the lecture, to assess their understanding and clarify the doubts they had in the lecture towards the end.

Author: Pransu Khakurel (Canopy Nepal)

Pransu is a development enthusiast, passionate about development through educational transformation and is currently working in Canopy Nepal as a Programs Assistant. She is also undertaking her undergraduate studies in Development Studies at National College.  

Canopy Nepal is a team of visionary youths working in the field of education, skill and leadership development, diversity and inclusion. We seek to improve the quality and efficiency of education by focusing on learners and reshaping the way they learn. 

THE EARLY CHANGE-MAKERS

We would like to put forward some questions for teenagers!

Have you ever tried to step out from your comfort zone?  What do you want to achieve in your life? Have you ever done anything worth for society? Do you believe that teenagers can do something at an early age?

Yes, these questions might sound direct but true; Is there are some teenagers who are the actual change-makers? They are not just studying, but following their passion towards betterment of the society and the country as a whole. The work that they have been doing really impress each individual to think about their confidence and dedication in early age.

The interesting thing is as we can see, teenagers are becoming bold nowadays, they are more interested to link up to a constructive platform to grow themselves. The passion to be something and bring a positive impact in society has totally amazed us. Likewise, to recognize the teenager’s initiation Glocal Pvt. Ltd. has initiated Glocal Teen Hero.

Glocal Teen Hero is exclusively for the teenagers which recognize teenager’s initiation. It is a fully-funded program for Nepali Teenagers who are working to create a ripple effect in the society besides academics. Every year Glocal Teen Hero organize award event in 1st of September and recognize the passionate teenagers around the nation.

This year we received 598 total no. of application and among them 20 fantastic teenagers have been selected as an “Early Change Maker”. Top 20 is titled as “Glocal’s 20under20” of 2019. The 20 teenagers under the age of 20 years are the game-changers who have done something worth and have became an inspiration to others life. Glocal’s ‘20under20’ aims to recognize these enthusiastic young souls who have the vision to do something ordinary in the most extra-ordinary way possible. We believe in their dreams and want to acknowledge these diverse talents who hold the potential to be the change-makers and future leaders.

The prominent teenagers are selected from the diverse field and has marked as one of the inspirational personalities throughout the nation. The work they have been doing proves that age is just a number.  Some at the very small age, working for child rights activism, conducting awareness on Dowry system, Child labor, Untouchability, caste discrimination, etc. Some teenagers as a social activist working for the environment; introducing the green campaign, and some are working for the development of tourism in their place and also conducting awareness regarding Quality education. In addition to this, one of Glocal's 20under20 has been organizing campaigns regarding personal hygiene and maintenance and the other working on providing sanitary materials, food, and stationery, lifestyle, sports equipment’s for orphanages in Nepal to remove hunger and to improve the condition of children homes in Nepal. Our teens are not just the winners, but they have set up a great example in society. They are not just an activist but are leading the organization as Founder, running successful projects.

Moreover, there are teens working under specific SDGs Goals. The young teens are young entrepreneurs and some are tech educator. We also have winners who are young innovators who had even made robots and a new system which can be useful. These young minds are so creative and smart enough to handle the projects as a project coordinator. A teen as a conservationist, a teen as a role model in the society, a teen talking about issues of society being Radio Jockey, teens linked to media, teens who are the young innovator, software developers, etc. shows some of the features of what our Glocal’s 20under20 actually are. Likewise, some teens are also awarded by the titles which actually defines their exemplary role in the society.

Therefore, the teens have touched every field where they have proved “Age is just a number.” A teenager is a phase to discover what you are, what your life is about, and what you want to be as a person, after all, it is an intense phase. But despite the intense age, the teens are able to do something impactful work in society.


Glocal Teen Hero Nepal
https://nepal.glocalteenhero.com/


Glocal Pvt. Ltd. is a company which works as online media, CSR and Brand consultant, also focusing on training and development through the recognized body; Glocal After School and adding to growth and development of entrepreneurship and youth through various projects like Glocal Teen Hero and Glocal International Teen Conference.

Are Schools really worth their value?

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Education is often considered as a tool to enhance confidence, creativity, and capacity to take one's own decisions by providing wisdom. These qualities are expected to be received from an institution called school that believes in enhancing one's self-confidence by socializing them to people from various backgrounds and various status. Although the purpose of sending students to schools is to develop individual capabilities and skills, but in the present context and in the real scenario, the question arises: is it really worth what we perceive it to be? It is true enough that we have highly qualified people in the field of education whose main purpose is to impart knowledge to their subordinates. But then, still, a lot of problems are seen in the field of education that has resulted in failure to meet the real purpose i.e. to create capable people for the real world.

Rigidity in Curriculum, Assignments, and Exams

Rigidity in the curriculum has limited the scope of the purpose of education. This is mainly due to limited ideas to be explored at a certain time that is mostly focused on exams. It is interesting that the school prepares students first and then take an exam, while on the other hand, life takes an exam and then teaches you the lessons. These exams are expected to judge the knowledge disseminated in the year to the students within a written test to be completed in a couple of hours. These sorts of testing systems eventually reduce the inquisitiveness and creativity of the students as it focuses on unproductive exam-focused assignments which burdens them throughout the academic session. Further, in order to ensure better scores of students, they are forced to stay in school for hours longer than they are supposed to which deteriorates the mental health of students and kills their creativity, talent, and confidence to some extent, in simple terms, killing the identity of the students. 

Punishments

School is torturous to students. In addition to exams that do not depend upon the critical and creative analysis of an issue and burden of assignments both difficult to manage, punishments for not being able to meet the expectations of elders or for any trivial reasons tops all the burdens. From not wearing a clean uniform to forgetting a notebook at home, punishments in school that may be in many forms: Emotional Violence, Negative reinforcements, and physical abuse. This has not only resulted in the feeling of hatred towards teachers but has also made the learning journey much less exciting as it is supposed to be. In worst scenarios, due to extreme humiliation and abuse by teachers, students lose their confidence, loss of hope and eventually can result in loss of confidence, worsened relationship, psychological consequences ultimately leading to depression and suicide.

Way Forward!

Education should not fear students from the process, instead, it should be exciting and create impacts in the society. In this 21st century, the era of innovation, it is essential to design education in such a way that addresses the needs of this era. The education, instead of being filled with unnecessary theoretical aspects and rigid curriculum, should contain skills that are applicable in real life that is as per the interest of students.  Mugging up concepts is not essential rather applying them for real-life problem solving through creativity, building critical skills and design fundamentals is essential. Thus, to make schools worth their values, introduction to 21st-century skills and training to their effective implementation are the needs of the present scenario. This will not only make school applicable in real life but will also make the teaching-learning process more exciting. 

Written by: Pransu Khakurel (Canopy Nepal)

Edited by: Sabanam Thapa (Canopy Nepal)

Canopy Nepal is a team of visionary youths working in the field of education, skill and leadership development, diversity and inclusion. We seek to improve the quality and efficiency of education by focusing on the learners and reshaping the way they learn.