future of nepal

E-Paati: OLPC Progress in NepalOn April 25th, 135 Class 2 and Class 6 students at Bashuki and Vishwamitra Ganesh schools received XO laptops. There were elaborate opening ceremonies that featured speeches from government officials and community members, students singing their school songs modified to include OLPC, and a whole lot of excitement among teachers, students, and parents. It's now almost three weeks later the pomp and circumstance of the launch are only a memory. Kids, teachers, parents, and implementation team are getting down to the business of learning. While three weeks are a short time, we have already learned a lot from these two test schools. Let me take you on a short tour of what's happening at Nepal's test schools and how we got here.

A Promising Beginning

Before I get too much farther, I should let you know that I work for OLE Nepal -- the grassroots Nepali organization that is implementing these two test schools in cooperation with the Nepali government.E-Paati is in the title of this article because the teachers and students have taken to calling the XO by that name. The teachers found "XO" awkward to pronounce and quickly settled on the name E-Paati for the XO, a derivation of the Nepali word for a slate writing board. I like this name for the XO because it implies that a laptop computer is the next logical learning tool after the personal writing pad.

Here are a few quick observations:

The teachers are extremely supportive of the project and use the laptops as a daily classroom activity. They frequently ask us for more content and software. I will go into this in detail later.

Students are really enthusiastic about using the laptops and accompanying activities.

Parents and siblings are quite supportive, esp. siblings which are happy to have access to the XO's.

The kids are taking excellent care of their laptops and we have not yet had any lost, stolen, or damaged.

The kids in classes other than two and six are disappointed that they can't participate in this project but they haven't bullied or tried to take away the XO's from the kids that are.

The Goals of these test schools are twofold:

1. Combine relevant educational content, laptop computers, and teacher training to improve education in Nepali schools.
2. Develop a model for goal #1 that can be replicated across Nepal in a sustainable manner.

Note that I refer to Vishamitra and Bashuki as "test schools," not pilot schools. The real pilots of OLPC will begin in 2009 at a number schools that will better reflect the diversity of Nepali schools. Both Vishwamitra and Bashuki are located inside the Kathmandu Valley.

The Beginning of Collaborative Learning

Planning Pays Off

We put months and months of work into content development, teacher training, and technical preparation. Our experience at Bashuki and Vishwamitra validates every bit of effort we put into these areas.

Dr. Saurav Dev Bhatta, Bipul Gautam, Kamana Regmi of OLE Nepal put a lot work into planning the teacher training for the test schools. There were two parts to the training, 5 days off-site without the kids and 5-days on-site with the kids in the classrooms. When the training started, some teachers were a bit apprehensive about the idea of using computers in the classroom. Many of them had never used computers before. Once they realized that computers weren't going to replace them but were a tool for them to use, they enthusiastically embraced the laptops. Teachers came up to me continually during the training asking for different activities to teach mathematics, English, geography, Nepali, you name it.

Too often teachers get blamed for the failings of an education system, be it in Nepal , Peru, or the United States. I have been consistently amazed by the creativity and dedication of the teachers from Bashuki and Vishwamitra, particularly given their extremely limited resources.

Naming the XO E-Paati caused additional confusion as we had entitled our learning activities E-Paati and we subsequently had to rename them to E-Paath

Ya Gotta Have Content

Nepali teachers, like teachers everywhere, are under constant pressure to move their students through the required curriculum for each year. If they don't, their kids are more likely to fail the end of year examinations and have to repeat a grade. There are some fantastic activities for the XO such as EToys, Scratch, and TamTam to name a few. However, it is very difficult to make those activities conform to the grade-wise learning objectives. These activities are also too high level on their own to introduce basic concepts of numeracy and English literacy without extensive modification. So that's what we did. We used Etoys to create a suite of 47 (and counting) learning activities for English and Mathematics that we call E-Paath or E-Lesson. You can download E-Paath for your XO here.

E-Paath on the XO helps teachers do their jobs better and helps kids learn things they want to learn. So far the teachers are using the laptops as part of their daily lessons.

To learn more about teacher training, content development, and general pedagogy, read Saurav Dev Bhatta's posts on the OLE Nepal blog.

I'll just mention briefly that our systems+power team put a lot of work into connecting the school to the Internet, setting up power systems, wireless routers, and setting up the School Server. These aren't matters that can be taken lightly. One of the challenges we faced is that OLPC itself has extremely limited Quality Assurance resources so we had to a lot of software testing ourselves before deploying the laptops and the supporting infrastructure.

Let Them Lead

We're kidding ourselves if we think that we can go into a public school, change everything, and then expect the teachers to continue what we have started once we're gone. That's too often the mistake of pilot projects. They start off with a bang and some good press but they fail to empower local actors and create something that meets a compelling need. I won't be so bold to say that we have succeeded in "empowering local actors" and "creating something that meets a compelling need" but that's what we are shooting for.

The teachers are leading this project at the individual schools. We try not to meddle or interfere in their management of their school. We do support and advise them.

The Individual Schools

Vishwamitra Ganesh

This school, located in a wooded area in Jyamirkot, serves a mixed community consisting of Brahmin, Chhetri, Newar, Tamang and Dalit groups. The school has a core group of dedicated teachers who have been affiliated with the school for over 20 years. They have close relation with the parents and the community. People in the community put high value on education.

Students from both grades were allowed to take the laptops home from the very first day. Out of the 38 students in grade 6 and 22 in grade 2, almost all of them were present throughout the first week of classes. The teachers conducted regular classes for the all grades during this period.

Since the students had extra personal time at home with the XO’s they were very much familiar using the XO’s in classrooms. Even the second graders were navigating around the XO without much problem, and were able to get to the activities that the teachers were referring to. The sixth graders had tried out almost all of the activities on the XO. According to teacher Manoj Ghimire, the students like the English activities in E-Paath best of all the activities on the XO.

The teachers at Vishwamitra have found that they can cover as much or more material using E-Paati than with out.

Bashuki

Between the two test schools, Bashuki is undoubtedly the more challenging one. The school located near a hilltop in Lakure Bhanjyang serves a community of Tamang people, an indigenous group that inhabit the hilly regions of Nepal. Most students come from poor families that depend on agriculture and menial work to make ends meet. The literacy rate is quite low, but the teachers are determined to change this. However, they face a daunting uphill task to educate children from villages where sending kids to school means losing extra hands to work the fields.

Bashuki's School Management Committee (SMC) and school administration had jointly decided not to send the laptops home with the students during the first week. They wanted the children to get more familiar with the laptops before they take them home with them. Since the students had limited time with the XO’s during the week, they were not quite familiar with the laptops in the classroom after one week. Since the kids have taken the XO's home, they have made more progress.

The teachers at Bashuki have told us that they can cover significantly more material using E-Paati than without them.

My words here are really just a cursory overview of what's happening at the test schools. To learn more, I highly recommend Rabi Karmacharya's excellent blog post "First Week at the two Test Schools."

Opening a Whole New World to Young Learners

Requests from the Teachers and Kids

Here is just a short listing of the many things the kids and teachers have requested.

A typing tutor program

Make it easier to copy documents and files from the XO to a pen drive

Lots more English and Math games

For almost every single learning activity they want to see it, do it, hear it, and compete/collaborate with others.

Programs like Yahoo Messenger and Skype

Gettin' a Little Emotional

Rabi Karmacharya and I have been working on OLPC in Nepal for almost 20 months now. We have put a lot of work into this project, as have others. At the launch ceremony for Vishwamitra, the students sang their school song which they had modified to include E-Paati. I have very roughly translated some of the lyrics here:

Our beloved school Vishwamitra, Vishwamitra
Our leading light Vishwamitra, Vishwamitra
E-Paati is a special tool
We will use it to improve Nepal

You could hear the pride and devotion they have for their school. I just about cried. At the end of the ceremony, the teachers took the kids directly into their classrooms and showed them how to handle the XO's. Then they began using the activities. We at OLE Nepal hadn't instructed them to do this. We hadn't planned the opening ceremony. The teachers knew what to do. They had their own plan that in many respects was probably better than one we could come up with. The teachers, the kids, and the community were making OLPC their project.

The Future of Nepal?

population of nepal

The population of Nepal was estimated at just over 28,000,000 in July 2006. When the population in Nepal was surveyed in 1981, the population was only 15,000,000.  The increase in population has therefore been extremely rapid and the government in Nepal are seeking to slow down the rate through economic and social reforms.

  
58% of the population in Nepal fall primarily into the 15 – 64 year bracket, with 38% in the 0 – 14 year old bracket and only 4% in the 64 years or over category.  The median age of the population in Nepal is 20 years and the life expectancy for the Nepalese population is 60 years for both genders.  The latter statistic is a significant change from a survey carried out on the population of Nepal in 1981, which concluded that the average life expectancy in Nepal to be 50 years. It is also worth noting that men in Nepal are expected to live slightly longer than women (differing by a decimal point only).  This population statistic is an anomaly and hence Nepal is an exceptional case.  This situation may be due to a number of reasons, but likely factors include a traditional preference for male to female offspring in Nepalese society, nutritional deprivation and socio norms and values.
The Nepalese population is growing at a rate of 2.17%


. 
Three groups - Brahmans and Chhetris, Dalits, and Janajatis - are further divided by geographic region. About 49 percent of the population of Nepal live in the southern tarai or terai region, the most fertile area of Nepal. 44 percent of the population live in the central hill zone that includes the capital Kathmandu. The mountain region of northern Nepal is home to only 7 percent of the population.


The composition of the population of Nepal by simplified caste and ethnic group, according to the 2001 census, is shown in Figure 1. Hill Brahman and Chhetri account for 30.9 percent of the population. The second largest group are Hill Janajatis, with 23.0 percent of the population. 12.9 percent of the population are in Tarai Middle Castes. Each of the remaining seven caste and ethnic groups account for less than 10 percent of the population.Since Nepal is the only official Hindu state in the world, the majority of the population in Nepal practice the Hindu religion (86% of the population), whilst the remaining religions are represented by Buddhists (8%), Muslims (4%) and ‘other’ (2%).


According to the census year 2001A.D.total male population is 11,563.921 and female population is 11,587,502. 
The population of Nepal is fairly poor with a GNP per head of household of $220. The population is also ageing and since the economic and social reforms referred to earlier in this document are effective then this has further heightened the increasing proportion of elderly people in the Nepalese population.

nature of nepal

Covering an area of 147,181 sq.km, Nepal shares a border with India in the west, south and east and with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China in the north. Kanchan Kalan in Jhapa district is the lowest point at 70m above sea level and the summit of Mt. Everest at 8,848 m is the highest. From east to west, Nepal is 800 km long and only 230 km. north to south at its widest. Within this narrow stretch of land there is incredible diversity in topography ranging from a sub-tropical climate in the tarai (plains) to Alpine conditions in the Himalayan regions. Mountains, mid hills, valleys, lakes and plains dominate the landscape of this landlocked country. Eight of the fourteen peaks over eight thousand meters lie in Nepal including Everest, the highest in the world.

Nepal also has an abundance of rivers most of which originate in the Himalaya while some flow down from Tibet. They all flow on to India, many of them joining the holy Ganges. High amid the mountains there are glacial lakes and spectacular valleys where few people venture. Recent physiographic data show that around 4.27 million hectares (29 % of total land area) is made up of forests, 1.56 million hectares (10.6%) of scrubland and degraded forest, 1.7 million hectares (12%) of grassland, 3.0 million hectares (21%) of farmland and 1.0 million hectares (7%) of un-cultivated land.

Climatic conditions within Nepal vary from one place to another in accordance with the geographical features. In the north, summers are cool and winters severe, while in the south summers are sub-tropical and winters mild. The monsoon that brings rain from June through September affects most of the country except those that lie in the rain-shadow areas like Mustang which is within Nepal but a part of the Tibetan plateau. Large tracts of forested land have been preserved as national parks and wildlife reserves where endangered species like the Royal Bengal tiger and the Greater one-horned rhinoceros roam freely along with an amazing variety of mammals and reptiles that include bear, leopards, hyenas, wild boar, wild elephants, monitor lizards, crocodiles, pythons, turtles and various species of insects and birds. Nepal is home to almost 10 percent of the world's bird species among which 500 species are found in the Kathmandu valley alone.

The most abundant natural resource in Nepal is water. Much of the rivers have been harnessed for hydro-power but they also play a crucial role in tourism as most of them are suitable for adventure sports like kayaking and rafting.

The Himalayas are not merely a source of revenue through mountaineering and trekking, they are also mined for quartz, lignite, copper, cobalt and iron ore. The scenic beauty of the countryside attracts hordes of trekkers while there seems to be an ever increasing number of mountaineers attempting to climb the hundreds of peaks that have been opened for climbing.

Physics Education in Nepal

nepal is a landlocked and independent democratic country with constitutional monarchy, forming an important part of the Himalayan region of South-east Asia. The population of Nepal, as per 2001 census, is 23.2 million while it was18.5 million, as per the 1991 census. Around 80% of the total population resides in the rural areas.

Scientific and technological development in Nepal has moved at a slow pace and agriculture remains the most critical sector in the economy, contributing almost half of the nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the national economy has been characterized by heavy dependence on agriculture. The growth rate of the agricultural sector is declining, and contribution of the non-agricultural sector towards the GDP is increasing. The real growth rate of the GDP has remained at almost 3-4% for the last few decades, putting it at par with the population growth rate. Since 1991,

Industrialization in Nepal started in the year 1936. The early years of Nepal’s industrial history were plagued with infrastructural problems and lack of any concrete policies on the part of HMG/N. As a result, many industries had to close down. The first governmental effort to give a boost to the industrialization process started in the year 1956, when the first industrial policy for the country was formulated..

The bulk of the population stays in rural areas and is engaged in agriculture and allied activities. There is a small upper class of society, residing mainly in Kathmandu and few other district headquarters, whose living standards are comparable to those of the Western economies. The rest of the population has very modest living standards.

Nepal is one of the Least Developed Country (LDC) having $240 per capita income. This clearly indicates current backwardness of scientific innovation and the further importance of proper scientific policy for the country’s development.

Primary and Secondary Education

Primary level is from kindergarten up to grade five; lower secondary level is up to grade eight; secondary level – grade nine and ten, and higher secondary level up to class twelve. The basics of English language used to be taught, beginning only from grade 4 in public schools. The Nepalese government, however, made a law to include teaching English as early as grade 1. But, this legislation has not been fully applied in most of the parts of Nepal. This process is underway, some districts have gone through this practice but others are yet to do so. Nepal has two types of schools: Public schools which are completely financed by His Majesty’s government and the Private Schools operating on independent resources.

The school curriculum is common with respect to Science in all Public and Private schools throughout the country. Graduate science teachers are employed to teach School Science. Prescribed Standard science textbooks are used in all the schools. 40% of Science contains Physics and 30% each for Chemistry and Biology each. Final School examinations are conducted by the central School Leaving Certificate (S.L.C.) Examination Board, HMG for both Public and Private Schools Students on the successful completion of school education. However, parents and students alike are attracted towards the Private Boarding schools rather than Public Schools. Parents evaluate the quality of school education in terms of S.L.C results and students behavior. They are aware of the fact that the private schools are always better than Public schools in terms of S.L.C results. The top ten positions in S.L.C examination are taken away by Private schools. Because of all these factors, parents make special efforts to get their children admitted in 'Prestigious' Private schools. Moreover, the S.LC examination is the gateway to Higher Education. Hence, parents who are aware of the importance of education prefer to send their children to Private schools rather than public schools, even though the same textbooks and curriculum is followed in teaching and the common S.L.C examination is conducted to categorize the students. The course of S.L.C and the question model were changed in the year 2000, the contents were ratified: 20 marks for listening/speaking section is held immediately after the examination (as a practical), and the rest of the 80 marks are from the theoretical course.

Secondary Education in Nepal has been characterized by rapid growth and continuous change. During the year 1951-1997, the number of Secondary Schools in the country increased from 11 to 3322, the number of teachers increased from 120 to 16494 and student enrollment increased from 1680 to 344034. However, provision of necessary physical facilities, instructional materials, and trained teachers could not keep pace with the growth of schools and of school enrollment in the country.

The rapid growth of Secondary Education in the country over the past decades has adversely affected the quality of performance, particularly in secondary school science. During the year 1987-1997, while student enrollment figures in Secondary School increased by over 100%, quality (measured by passing percentage in the S.L.C examination) remained low (the percentage of passing students never exceeded 50%). The high rate of failure (51-75%) shows the poor academic attainment or quality of Secondary Lever Education in Nepal.

The basic objective of secondary education is to develop scientific skills in the students and the ability to look for the scientific reasons behind the natural phenomena, taking place in their daily lives and also to lay in them a foundation for advanced courses in science. More students regard compulsory science as one of the more difficult S.L.C subject, which is also evidenced by the low passing percentage in S.L.C sciences. The average marks in science in the S.L.C Examination were not satisfactory, being well below the target 40%. This may be because the current curriculum identifies mainly factual knowledge, as a result of which, the majority of teachers adopt methods which emphasize written learning, encouraged by the nature of the existing S.L.C science examination. Informal discussion with some students reinforced by the recent CERID (Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development) study revealed that many perceive school science only as a means for the intellectual to reach higher education. Only a very few teachers enjoy teaching science as an interesting and relevant part of daily life. There should be provision to make science a lively and enjoyable subject for the average students and General population.

A look back at the secondary school education in Nepal shows that with the recommendation of Nepal National Education Planning Commission (NNEPC) in 1956 and that of all-round National Education Committee (ARNEC) in 1961, secondary Education became more organized. The introduction of National Education System Plan (NEPS) made it more need-based and application-oriented. Science was introduced as a separate subject and secondary curriculum being home science and Public knowledge. Home science was made compulsory for boys but girls could choose between Science and Domestic science. In 1971, science was made a compulsory subject for all and was considered as important as languages and mathematics. In 1981, overall secondary education objectives and curriculum were revised and science was combined with health. Science remained as optional subject until 1991, but in 1992 it was made compulsory in secondary schools with minor modifications.

Higher Education:

Students Enrollment at Tribhuvan University

Year 2001/2002

S.N.	Faculty	Students Number			Total
		Certificate Level	Bachelor	Masters
1	Science Technology	6362	4693	1170	12265
2	Engineering	2414	1487	173	4074
3	Medical	839	616	292	1747
4	Agriculture	101	536	81	718
5	Forestry	157	189	14	360
6	Humanities	29898	23011	6896	60894
7	Management	12814	19072	5547	37433
8	Education	7785	13308	1735	22801
9	Law		1924	92	2016
Total		60370	64836	16000	142308

In Nepal science (Physics at higher level) is taught in two ways. One kind of syllabus is provided by Tribhuvan University as two year intermediate level, I.Sc. (higher level study after SLC), and the other is provided by the higher secondary education board as 10+2. Two parallel levels of studying Physics exist in Nepal having almost the same courses of study. The main text book is Advanced Level Physics (fifth edition) by Nelkon-Parker. The basic difference in these two levels is the distribution of the courses and nature of questions attributed. For example long questions like "Derive an expression for a time period of a second pendulum" is asked and numerical problems like "A uniform steel wire of length m and area of cross section 3x10^-6m² is extended 1mm. Calculate the energy stored in a wire (Young modulus =2.0x10"Nm^-2)". But in 10+2 level, short answer questions like "Why moon has no atmosphere?" are asked but the numerical problems are of the same kind as previously mentioned.

Apart from the theoretical implication, different practical experiments are performed at the laboratory to meet the concepts and visualize the things, which is taught in theories. Most of the practical experiments are done from current electricity and magnetism, optics, sound waves, heat and mechanics. Students will test and verify important physical laws by themselves. For example, studying heat they measure the specific heat of water; the latent heat of fusion of ice etc. In electricity, conversion of ammeter into a voltmeter, the relationship between current, voltage and resistance in series and parallel circuits etc are the basic experiments.

At present the main emphasis is given to a scientific concept of problems. For this, different teaching methods have been followed. Modern method of teaching by overhead projector, audiovisual, talk programs and seminars have been exercised at private colleges and little is done in public colleges.

The standard of syllabus at these levels is similar to that in American colleges with an exposition of the concepts of physics together with the applications and quantitative manipulations. Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Optics, Electricity and Magnetism, Sound Waves, Atomic Physics (Nuclear Physics) are the major courses of this level.

So far as the teaching methods and teachers are concerned, lectures are accompanied by homework, class tests, and cross-questioning and mutual interactions. Here teachers are qualified and experienced. They can teach students at their levels after the completion of their master's degree with an excellent grade. Two years Bachelors program was upgraded to three years in the year 1997 education session and consequently, Master’s course was changed in the year 2000. 300 level courses are taught in bachelor level: 1^st year, Mechanics I, Thermodynamics, Statistical Physics, Electricity and Magnetism, 2^nd year: Optics, Atomic and Nuclear physics, Electronics, 3^rdyear: Solid State Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Mechanics. Physics courses are accompanied by labs such as: Determination of Young’s modulus of elasticity, Determination of Cp and Cv, Impedance of LCR series circuits, determination of wavelength of source by Newton’s Ring method etc..

One of the main reasons for the slow pace of science education is lack of proper funding. Being the one of the least developed countries, Nepal is facing inadequate funding in education in general and science, physics in particular. University Grants commission and Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST) have been playing a significant role in financial sectors. RONAST helps in the research based programs. The financial support has been provided by the academy for different types of research in science and technology. The professors are highly qualified in their respective disciplines and provide the best education.

Internal capacity of the Physics department for Master’s program is for 60 students per year. Student’s pressure extended additional 60 students from 2003. Students have raised their voices to admit at least one third of the total applicants. Their voice has been temporarily accepted. There are hardly any jobs in the field of physics besides teaching. Less than 10% of the physics graduates get the government jobs inside or outside Physics field, about 50% choose teaching profession while rest 40% of them try to go abroad for further studies. Amongst those who seek greener pastures, more than 90% come to the land of opportunity, USA. The students with a degree in physics have a better opportunity to go abroad for further studies. This is one of the reasons why students want to go for Physics. The political instability of the country is another major contributing factor.

Student Association of Physics (SAP) was established in 1991, Cooperative Organization, No Political Affiliation, works for progress and prosperity of physics students. Students do have their complaint to the department regarding: Insufficiency of equipment and high number of students’ pressure. They have their internal complaints to the department which they don’t reveal.

Conclusion:

This paper sketches the overall picture of the state of education, particularly Physics education in Nepal. In the rapidly growing scientific world; it is the education that determines the level of prosperity, welfare, and security. This paper has revealed the true state of Physics education in Nepal. Let us hope that future changes in science education will build a new Nepal with less poverty and more prosperity: a new Nepal with a stable social and political order and equal opportunity for all.