By Deepa Ghimire, Public Health Student
“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires and a touch that never hurts.” -Charles Dickens
Kiddie snuggles, belly laughs and memories are the best gift of parenthood you could cherish forever. A child is closer to life than you are. When a child comes to your life, it is time to relearn life, not teach them their ways. Childhood is the memory that we look back upon simple joys and happiness; a life free from responsibilities and mental stress; a bouquet of sweetest smiles where the fragrance of happiness bounds no limit. Children are like buds in a garden who needs a special care and should be lovingly nurtured as they are the future nation’s pride.
Every year National Children’s Day is celebrated in Nepal since 2063 B.S. on September 14 (Bhadra 29 B.S.) to embark the UN Convention on Child Rights 1989 where Nepal signed the protocol on 14th September 1990 A.D. and expressed its international commitment to child development, protection of child rights, and child participation. To commemorate this historic day Nepal is celebrating 57th Children’s Day today with the theme “ Protection of Child rights, our collective personality.”
Various programmes are being organized in different parts of the country to celebrate this special day. As per the article on September 13 2021, of The Himalayan Times, three to two-minute video clips titled ‘Child Rights in Federal Nepal’ adjudged the best will be released and winners will be awarded on the occasion. Programs from the street to the stadium and Rugby training will kicked off on the occasion and moreover, digital hangout program and an oratory on the topic ‘Impact of COVID-19 and ways for solution’ will be organised in every province on September 15.
Kathmandu, Jan 18: AIESEC is the world’s largest youth-run, non-governmental and not-for-profit organization that provides young people with leadership development through cross-cultural internships, and global volunteer exchange experiences. The organization focuses on empowering young people to make a progressive social impact. This is why besides exchanges, AIESEC also organizes various events, seminars, and conferences. Balkalakar 2021- ‘There is an artist in all of you’ is one of them.
Balkalakar 2021- ‘There is an artist in all of you.’ was conducted magnificently on the 16th of January, 2021. This event was presented by Tea Fresho, initiated by AIESEC in Kathmandu, co-sponsored by Six Villa along with KULLABS as our education partner, Pizza Pasal as our restaurant partner, Nebico as our food partner, Karkhana and Kids Publication as our supporting partner, and Yoho Television as our media partner. The event was held at (Firefly) Prisoners Assistance, an organization working on raising the children of inmates.
Balkalakar was an event based on Sustainable Development Goal 10- “Reduced Inequalities.” It successfully brought together kids from privileged and less privileged backgrounds. Firstly, we had a brainstorming session for kids from Karkhana along with an interactive QnA round. Subsequently, we had more than 108 talented girls and boys making art on the theme of “Clean Environment” together in groups by bridging the gap between them so that they could come together and paint for the art competition. This creative competition was followed by a “Talent Round”, where passionate children showcased their unique performances. During these sessions, all the children were provided with different food products from Nebico and Six Villa.
In the end, all the art pieces were exhibited beautifully to value the efforts everyone had made for their artworks. They were evaluated in a blind judging session by Mr.Bal Krishna Gurung who has experience of more than 18 years of in the art sector and his art is well known nationally and internationally. Among all those beautiful artworks, 5 paintings exhibiting extraordinary creativity, teamwork, and artistic expression were chosen as winners and awarded with gift hampers from Nebico.
“The highlight of the day was seeing a little boy with packets of food stuffed inside his sweater and gaily chiming “Aja ta maile ke ke payo!'”, says Ms. Dollie Shah, Vice President of Public Relations and Events at AIESEC in Kathmandu. With lively music, a scenic environment, and creative vibes, the children had a happy and productive day.
Kathmandu, Dec. 18: We all have been patient for a very long time, So thanking everybody who has been waiting for all this time, We would like to inform everyone that the Hult Prize, Far-Western University successfully conducted “Grand Finale” of a Campus program. This is the first time that the Hult Prize has been organized at Far-West University and various colleges students of the Far-West University have participated in the program.
12 Teams were mentioned their team name for pitching. But only 9 teams were able to pitch at the Grand Finale of the Hult Prize. It was a wonderful event. Hult Prize is a golden opportunity for energetic young people, motivating them to become entrepreneurs and bring about positive change in society. Food for Good, Food for impact. The team that puts its best and logical business ideas in the subject will be the winner. We hope this kind of program will stimulate the economy by providing food to the hungry, cotton to the naked, bamboo to the homeless, and employment to the unemployed.
Team Food Employer is Winner of the ” Grand Finale” of On-campus program. The winner Team will represent Far-Western University in the regional venue. Best wishes team.
Kathmandu, Oct. 12: CSIT Association Of Nepal along with the students of IOST has reunited for the second time trying to create opportunities for all of us by introducing the Hult prize at IOST. CSITAN has been working to bridge the gap between the students, faculty, and industries since 2011. It has been conducting different workshops and seminars in order to let students learn and explore, endeavoring to match their motto: “Calibrating Technical Potentials”.
Many of you might wonder about hult and many questions are likely to arise since hult is yet unknown to many. So, if you are wondering what it is , here’s what you need to know.
What is Hult??
Hult Prize also referred to as the Nobel Prize of the students is a year-long competition and the greatest platform for young people which brings together the brightest ideas from around the globe to solve the world’s most pressing issues. It introduces a different theme each year which is based on solving social issues and is selected by Bill Clinton. The theme for this year as proposed by the Former President of US Bill Clinton is “Food For Good”. According to data, Every 4 seconds a person dies of hunger even when we are producing enough food for every person. It has been one of the major problems since ancient times which we have not been able to eradicate till the date. Therefore, this year’s hult is trying to address the problems related to food.
Hult at IOST
Hult at IOST is the On-campus program which is the quarterfinal round of the global event and an opportunity to deliver social change. As a part of the On-Campus program, the students will be trained, educated and inspired to build an impact community around campus events. The finalists here directly get to proceed to the Regionals and get selected for Hult Accelerator so that the ideas get turned into reality. The Organizing Committee here comprises 20 young and enthusiastic minds heading for the venture under the leadership of the Campus Director. Campus Director, Mr. Agrani Amatya said: “We youth with the creative mind and energy, also have some responsibility towards our community, and the Hult Prize is the platform which changes our responsibility to opportunities”.
Who is this for??
The Hult Prize at IOST is for all the people associated to IOST with concrete idea at first that is eventually developed with the help of OC team, Advisors and Mentors. The participating teams need to visualize and come up with the innovative business ideas which is appropriate for the solution of selected theme.
Why Should You Participate??
Because it offers a chance for participants to gain substantial experience, showcase skills, analyze and evaluate outcomes, and uncover confidence. It also plays a role in motivating students to perform, excel, and offer a lot more rewards than just winning the prize. Also, you do not need to be a coder or have the best prototype to participate in it as it is the idea of pitching competition and all you need is enthusiasm to participate and bring change. It helps to build new ideas and innovative plans.
So, you are just one step away from this opportunity and in order to grab it, all you need to do is register for participation and if not for the audience. It is a pleasure and privilege to invite all the students of IOST to participate in the “Hult At IOST”.
The further information can be obtained via the links below:
Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (FWEAN) organized a Virtual Plenary Session to share the experience and knowledge gained during the ‘Women Trading Globally – Australia Awards’. The session was organized in collaboration with the Australian Embassy in Nepal via Zoom on 30th September 2020.
The session acknowledged the presence of Australian Ambassador to Nepal, His Excellency, Mr. Peter Budd along with Office Bearers of FWEAN, representatives from Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI), Presidents of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (WEAN) from various districts several other women entrepreneurs.
Mr. Budd appreciated the effort made by FWEAN in uplifting women entrepreneurs even during the pandemic. He also cherished the e-commerce platform of WinBiz being developed by FWEAN for supporting women entrepreneurs to sell their products online. President of FWEAN, Ms. Reeta Simha was extremely grateful to Australian Government for having provided the wonderful opportunity of expanding one’s knowledge and various other aspects of entrepreneurship provided to Nepali women entrepreneurs.
The event was organized in order to share the learnings made by women who had represented Nepal in the prestigious program of Women Trading Globally in 2019, that had participants from 7 other countries and 16 participants in total. General Secretary of FWEAN, Ms. Basanti Pradhan, Treasurer of FWEAN, Ms. Mahalaxmi Shrestha who participated in the program in 2019 and Vice President of FNCSI, Ms. Shova Gurung and General Secretary of Womens’ Central Committee, Ms. Shanta Baskota Koirala who represented Nepal at the international arena in 2018, shared their experiences of the program.
“While business ideas are of prime importance, it is equally necessary to have some clarity in other aspects of the business such as marketing, especially digital marketing” said Ms. Basanti Pradhan who also emphasized in the Business Pitching and also highlighted the importance of Unique Selling Proposition in order to stand out in the business sector. The importance of market research was highlighted in the session by Ms. Mahalaxmi Shrestha and also focused on incorporating cultural consideration while doing business internationally. Ms. Shobha Gurung shared about 4Ps of marketing while Ms. Shanta Baskota Koirala called the attention towards exploring market prospect in domestic as well as the international markets. The participants had a consensus regarding marketing the products and importance of trade fair which would have long term positive impact in the trade and entrepreneurial aspects of economy in the days to come.
The session was closed by the First Vice-President of FWEAN, Ms. Neeru Rayamajhi Khatri.
She expressed her gratefulness towards the Australian Government and His Excellency, Mr. Peter Budd for having provided the opportunity to Nepali entrepreneurs in the international front and congratulated all the participants for having represented Nepal and sharing their important learnings with other women entrepreneurs.
Kathmandu, Aug. 16: School of Management, Tribhuvan University (SOMTU) has been selected to host the On-Campus Program of the Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition for the creation of new social businesses. Hult Prize is considered as the Nobel Prize for students and the annual Hult Prize awards $1,000,000 for start-up funding to the team of students that develops the most radical and breakthrough idea to solve one of our world’s toughest social challenges. In partnership with the United Nations, the Hult Prize is hosting college and university events around the world in search of the next game-changing start-up. Hult Prize at Tribhuvan University 2020/2021 will be conducted under the banner of the School of Management Tribhuvan University Student Welfare Society (SOMTU SWS).
According to Mr. Pramod Aryal the Campus Director for Hult at TU, the organizing team is ready to train, educate, and inspire students to be part of the change. Mr. Abinas Chhetri (President, SOMTU SWS) added “although we are in this unusual situation, we are planning to reach students of most of the colleges affiliated to Tribhuvan University from eastern Nepal to Far-West Nepal and conduct an orientation session and spread awareness about hult prize”.
Deputy Campus Director Mr. Prabin Mishra highlighted the fact that Hult Prize Tribhuvan University is the quarterfinal round of the Hult Prize, the winners of which will advance to the Regionals. Along with Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University, Pokhara University, and Purbanchal University are also organizing Hult Prize On Campus program. In bringing clarity regarding the On-Campus Event, Ms. Sukritee Mainali (Program Coordinator) also added that Hult Prize at School of Management Tribhuvan University is the event where all the non-science / non-technical students studying Masters or Bachelors degree in affiliated and constituent colleges of Tribhuvan University are eligible to participate. IOE and IOST will be hosting the on-campus program for the students from technical backgrounds.
The winner of the intra-campus event will automatically advance to compete in regional finals happening around the world next March. One winning team from each host city will then move onto a summer business incubator, where participants will receive mentorship, advisory, and strategic planning as they create prototypes and set-up to launch their new social business. A final round of competition will be hosted in September 2021, where the winning team to be awarded USD One Million ($1,000,000) prize.
Recently the battle between indian tiktok community and youtube community is taking over the internet by a storm. A big indian youtuber named ‘Carry minati’ made a video that topped the likes and views charts in the indian youtube section very soon.
The video led to spread of homosexual hate in the indian community and later in his live stream he told people not to take it seriously but the number of people who watched the video was and the number of people who were watching the live stream had a huge gap however later the video was taken down and some people are claiming it was taken down due to mass reporters of tiktokers but the truth still remains hidden if it was actualy done by tiktokers or by the youtube itself.
As people were thinking it was due to tiktokers carry’s supporters began to report,uninstall and give bad reviews about tiktok in the play store and its rating has gone down to 1.3/5 for now and its assumed it will go down further however Carryminati again uploaded a video asking people to end this thing snd his fans don’t seem to take what he said and the bad reviews are still continuing.
He seemed emotional about his video being taken down and the views have reached upto 45 million for now. Moving to tiktokers recently faizal siddiqui’s tiktok account which had 13.5 million followers got permanently deleted because of a tiktok he threw acid on his ex (according to the visual script and yes it was fake) howerver it seemed that it would encourage youth to do such criminal activities and hence his account got deleted asap. is tiktok really a boon or a blessing? The controversy still exists.
Hemant Tiwari, Suman Mishra
COVID-19 pandemic, which is leading world towards the worst recession in a century has affected almost every sector of an economy. Public transportation is also hugely affected by it. Lots of question has been raised about the future of public transportation. The most prominent one concerns the nature of public transportation after COVID 19.
As transportation is a derived demand, with resumption of economic activities, public transport will also start again but with less demand. It is assumed that the present lockdown has affected more than 4 million transit users nationwide. As per Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT), 2011, the trip rate was 1.41 per person and public transportation share of the total trip was 27.6% at 2011. With this trip proportion, there are more than 1 million passenger patronage of public transportation of Kathmandu valley. The public transportation trip share is expected to decrease to 23.6% by 2022 and with this pandemic, it is expected to fall even further.
Will people shift towards individual modes of transport like car or bikes to be away from the generally crowded transit services? According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in Guangzhou in March 2020, only 34% of previous metro and bus commuters were using public transit systems, while 40% shifted to private cars, taxis and ride-hailing, and the rest to walking and biking. If people shift towards individual modes of transport, can the existing road facilities handle them as they are already facing traffic congestion problem? It may be too soon to answer these questions.
Can we take this crisis as an opportunity to revamp our transportation system? Will the government and concerned authority decide to operate public transit within the country by themselves? Time will tell where we head towards, as this cannot be achieved in a short period of time. The policies and decisions made today will guide us where we want to be in the future. All our policies and decision should be in line with the popular saying “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars, its where the rich use public transportation”.
Due to this pandemic and lockdown, sinking transit ridership has put transit agencies into an immense financial strain. In those countries where the public transportation is run by government agencies, governments are beginning to get involved by providing financial support to the transit agencies. As per the article by Welle and Avelleda in ‘The CityFix’, April, 2020, some nations are intervening to protect public transportation systems from going bankrupt: the U.S. CARES Act included $25 billion in emergency relief for transit agencies, to retain their interest in operation .
In the context of Nepal, the transportation sector is run by private operators. It is expected to have financial loss of around 4 Billion NPR in the two months. According to the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs, it is not possible for them to operate vehicles for six months even after the lockdown is lifted maintaining the social distancing unless government intervene with some motivating policy. Government needs to intervene somehow to operate public vehicles. Otherwise, considerable number of people who are dependent on mass transit for their daily activities will be affected. Concession on interest; extension of payment schedule and dismissal of insurance for payment period can support the current public transport operator in this crisis.
Public transport operation is a challenge on itself and with this pandemic, it is even more complicated. We must think and act carefully before starting operation of public transportation as there may be possibility of spreading of the virus. It is unlikely that public transportation will be in full operation for next few months. Due to health and safety concern, it is essential to have physical distancing of 2 m and thus vehicle cannot be operated with the current scenario. The vehicular fleet needs to be increased. The vehicles can only be operated with one third to one fourth of their capacity. The major issue will be the operation during the peak hour as it will demand at least double the existing fleet if any other intervention is not adopted.
In short run, school and college buses can be used to supplement the supply side. Reducing the peak hour demand is utmost necessary to balance the supply side. Work from home, online shopping, staggered office time, modal shift to walking and cycling can help reduce the travel demand.
No private operator would like to operate bearing huge loss and thus government investment on the public transportation is must. In most of the countries, transit service is subsidized as it is considered as essential need. In Nepal, till now apart from Sajha Yatayat, there is not any contribution on public vehicles from government sector and thus, this is the right time to take a step forward to either completely own the public transportation system or go in public private partnership. Funding public transit with fares alone has been a major challenge. Thus, government intervention in closing the gap is very much the current need.
Sundar Yatayat and Safa Tempo that ply on Kathmandu valley, and electric rickshaw that run on major cities are among the few electric vehicles being used as public transportation around the country. Promoting their use with proper government policy is must to promote green mobility. Providing free electricity at night for charging purpose will be one of the subsidy policies that may sustain the operation even if it has to operate with one third of its capacity. This will not only promote electric mobility; but will also contributes to the livelihood of the people who are indirectly and indirectly engaged with those vehicles.
Furthermore, additional study is required to see the possibility of revisiting fare rate, if government cannot provide enough subsidy to the operators, but this is not a recommended as passengers may be unwilling to pay more to use transit services. Department of Transport Management (DoTM) is working on formulation of transport operating guidelines and implementation mechanism. But the major challenge is on the effective implementation. Even if the government starts subsidy program, its implementation and monitoring is the major challenge.
In addition to increase in vehicle fleet, use of technological advancement is also necessary. It is time to go with smart card and cashless payment for public transport as far as possible. Sajha Yatayat had introduced this system before but failed. The operator can also encourage people to use traceable payment methods like Prabhu Pay, E-Sewa, Khalti etc. instead of direct cash in the first stage. These payment methods not only cut down exposure risks to bus operators, but also help local authorities trace possible contacts and quickly inform passengers and relevant communities if a passenger is diagnosed with COVID-19. People cannot afford different cards for different bus operator, so the card must be compatible to all operators. It not only helps in this situation of pandemic but also helps to identify the number of people using public transportation.
No personal should be allowed to enter the vehicle without protective equipment’s such as masks and goggles. Crew member needs to be trained to prevent cross infection between staffs and vehicles. Every operational bus should be disinfected at least twice a day and more in higher risk key areas such as buses coming to and from airport or bus terminals.
Some countries have been successful in containing the spread of this pandemic. For example, Norway has been successful in controlling the infection and the huge credit goes to transportation management bodies. People could work from their homes in order to minimize the crowds in public vehicles and they were able to maintain the physical distancing of 2m between them. Ticket controls were suspended for more than a month to protect the drivers from the infection. Public transit vehicles were cleaned with disinfectants every night. Similarly, Auckland Transport has updated their mobile application which let the public transport user know how many people are in the bus; the passengers are only allowed to enter the buses from the back door and use AT HOP card to pay and seating maintaining 2m physical distancing.
Provision of better pedestrian and cycle friendly infrastructure will certainly help shift mode towards more sustainable ones. Bicycles and walking not only reduce the congestion but also promote a healthier life. One way to create jobs as well as prioritize transit movement is investment in this sector. This can be achieved through huge investments in mass transit like metro rails or relatively low investments in improving bus services by introducing bus rapid transit, bus only lanes, transit signal priority or queue jumper lanes. With abundant electricity generation expected within the country in few years and high trade deficit due to import of petroleum products; adopting electric vehicles will have significant impact on our economy. The subsidy policy for electric buses need to be further improved and their use should be encouraged.
It is time to help ensure stimulus packages enable cities to not just build back after the coronavirus pandemic, but to build back better making our transportation system more flexible, equitable and resilient.
About Authors:
Tiwari:
Transportation Specialist, Office of Investment Board Nepal (OIBN) and Chairperson of Safe & Sustainable Travel Nepal (SSTN)
Email: [email protected]
Mishra:
Transportation Engineer; works as Research Assistant at University of Calgary, Canada
Email: [email protected]
More From The authors
COVID 19 & Lockdown: Impact on Travel Behavior & Public Transportation
Hemant Tiwari, Suman Mishra
COVID-19 outbreak, which is declared as pandemic has affected more than 3.2 million people covering 210 countries around the world, starting from Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As COVID-19 is not something to stigmatize and could transmit to anyone regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion. Most of the countries have initiated a modality of complete or semi lockdown to cope with this pandemic hence, Nepal also moves in that direction from March 24, 2020.
After the country is locked down, many people are left wandering at the streets, trying to reach their homes which are far away to and from Kathmandu. Government has been trying to help people reach their home. Governments strategy of providing transportation services to vulnerable citizens is praiseworthy however the chances of spreading the virus is even more. World Health Organization (WHO) suggested physical distancing is crucial to win this war with COVID-19. All buses moving to and from Kathmandu were found to be fully occupied without maintaining the 2 meters physical distancing measures between passengers as recommended by WHO. Regardless of circumstances while letting them travel from one part to another part of the country, use of medical masks and physical distancing should have been made mandatory.
As we all are suffering from lock down, which will have significant impact on the economy of the country, lock down has created positive vibes to rethink our traditional approach towards transport planning. Normally, streets of major cities of Nepal such as Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal etc. are overcrowded with vehicles which results in huge delay during peak hours. Due to COVID-19, almost all the streets are empty, and the cities are breathing a fresh air for some time.
Prioritizing private vehicles is not what is required at this stage. Focus should be on safe operation of public transportation. If it is to be run on the same condition without any preparation and restriction measures in place, it might be even riskier considering the nature of COVID-19.
Lockdown has created the concept of “Work from Home”, which could possibly be a game changer move in the major cities with high traffic flow during peak hours. The ‘Work from Home’ concept, which many organizations are forced to adopt could be considered as alternative approach to solve the congestion even after lockdown is lifted up. This will not only have positive impact on the congestion, but also saves travel time. Consulting firms can apply this concept and may ask their employees to work from home. In addition, it will also reduce the demand of petroleum products, which is one of the main contributors of trade deficit of Nepal. “Study from Home” concept has been practiced in developed countries however this method is relatively new to Nepal and is being tried by different educational institutions around the country. If the implementation is successful, this could reduce the travel demand of major cities of our country especially in Kathmandu Valley. People might feel easier to work or study from home as they do not need to travel through the congested streets of Kathmandu.
With increasing demand of lifting the lockdown, government is also planning of relaxation on the lockdown in some essential facilities. To maintain physical distance to reduce risk of transmission government is considering motorcycle movement with just single rider and four-wheeler movement with just two people. Is allowing only the movement of motorbikes and car justifiable considering the targeted group? As majority of worker and low- income groups travelers depend upon public transportation, the present concept will not fulfill the objective? Allowing private vehicles only, those workers and low-income groups need to rely on taxi which is one of the expensive modes of transport.
Prioritizing private vehicles is not what is required at this stage. Focus should be on safe operation of public transportation. If it is to be run on the same condition without any preparation and restriction measures in place, it might be even riskier considering the nature of COVID-19.
The way public transit is being operated in developed countries has changed after the pandemic. Due to concern on health of passengers and nature of COVID-19, it is essential to have physical distancing of 2 m wherever possible. In Calgary, one of the major city in Canada, the physical distancing is considered critical even when using public transportation. In Calgary, passengers are requested to use alternate seats only, to keep distance with other passengers. Public vehicle operator regularly disinfects the most used areas few times a day.
For operating public vehicles, physical distancing should be given priority which seems only possible in large capacity buses like Sajha Yatayat, Orange Yatayat, Mayur Yatayat and so on. In the first phase of lifting lockdown, only large buses should be allowed to operate considering they are willing to maintain the physical distancing. This might seem inapplicable for underdeveloped country like Nepal; however, this can be taken as an opportunity to change our travel behavior. For example, those who can reach to their destination by walking or cycling, should be encouraged to do so to reduce overcrowding in public vehicles.
After the end of this pandemic, will transportation sector be in same condition as before? Will people adopt work or study from home?
As large proportion of public transportation is run by private-own companies, some sort of government subsidies is required to operate transportation efficiently. Another opportunity for us is to start the use of e-ticket. In Nepal, the e-ticketing system is not popular as of now, though Sajha Yatayat had initiated few years back. Currently, passengers directly pay their ride fare in person. This may not be feasible as this is too risky for a possible transmission to bus operators. We should seize this pandemic as an opportunity to introduce contactless ticketing system like smart cards or pre-paid tickets that could be brought online or from stores.
After the end of this pandemic, will transportation sector be in same condition as before? Will people adopt work or study from home? Can we take this pandemic as an opportunity to change our behavior and travelling pattern? We believe this is possible with proper planning from concerned authority and support from the public.
About Authors:
Tiwari:
Transportation Specialist, Office of Investment Board Nepal (OIBN) and Chairperson of Safe & Sustainable Travel Nepal (SSTN)
Email: [email protected]
Mishra:
Transportation Engineer; works as Research Assistant at University of Calgary, Canada
Email: [email protected]
-Er. Manish Thapa
As of 8 April, starting from Wuhan, China in December of 2019, population of all countries (except three namely Ecuador from Africa and Tajikistan and Turkmenistan from Asia) has been affected by COVID-19. Based on Johns Hopkins, total of 1428428 confirmed cases, 82020 death and 300198 recovered cases has been reported. In case of Nepal, 9 confirmed case, 1 recovered and 8 active cases have been reported by World Health Organization (WHO) (as of 8 April 2020).
In last century alone, there were multiple situation of pandemic such as 1918 influenza pandemic, 1968 flu pandemic, 2006 H5N1, and 2014 Ebola outbreak taking millions of human lives across the globe in the form of. Joint effort from experts across the globe were able to reduce or cut the impacts in earlier pandemic cases. After outbreak on December 31, 2019 from Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has travelled across the globe already affecting millions of populations with no sign of stopping soon. Not only human casualties, but also every single sector has been hardly affected by COVID-19.
Impact of COVID-19 on Education Sector
Normally, in epidemic or pandemic cases, education sector has been the one to be affected first and most. As the COVID-19 transfers from person-person, almost all education institutions across the globe has temporarily closed its classes with no confirmation regarding re-opening dates in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus. As per UNESCO report, COVID-19 affected 1576021818 young learners constituting 91.3% of the total enrolled learners (pre-primary to tertiary education levels). In Nepal alone, 8796624 students are affected.
Response from Government of Nepal
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in China back in December 2019, Government of Nepal has taken precautionary measures by requesting the academic institutions to re-schedule their examination and complete regular school exams before or by first week of Chaitra. When COVID-19 was declared pandemic, GoN’s decision to lock down country is currently running in third week. Examinations such as SEE and HSEB examination (+2 level) and graduate level (TU) examination has been postponed. Since, the schools were scheduled to be closed after completion of SEE, COVID-19 outbreak has not affected the regular curricula like that in other countries. However, the students to appear on SEE (total 482219 students, MoE, March 25) and +2 examinations are among the group to be mostly affected. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has developed Public Service Announcement (PSA) materials focusing on COVID-19 in Nepali and Maithali language that can be easily accessed in virtual medium. Furthermore, Guideline and Minimum Standard to follow for the utilization of school as location for quarantine has been developed and circulated among other Government bodies and schools across the country.
Inclusion of Information, Communication and Technology in Education Sector
For a country like Nepal, though use of technology is not at advanced stage like that in countries such as USA, UK, Australia or other Asian/European Countries. However, seeds has already been rowed through inclusion of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in education sector in Government implemented programs such as Education for All program (2000-2015), School Safety Reform Plan (2009-2016) and School Safety Development Plan (2016/17-2022/23). Academic Institutions such as Kathmandu University has already adopted distance education. Government has been producing and broadcasting the teaching class for the students of Grade IX and X through NTV. Likewise, Open and Distance Education of Tribhuvan University (TU) has been running virtual classes since 2015. Now, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST) and university authorities also have started discussions and consultations with concerned stakeholders for initiation of e-learning in coming days, if the situation still is same or become worse. As shared by Mr. Baikuntha Aryal, Joint Secretary, MOEST, “Government of Nepal has already formed the committee under the leadership of VC, NOU which will look after the research and recommend on the possibility of management of online material and other virtual medium as an alternative to respond the COVID-19 impact on education.”
Initiation of Distance Learning by Academic Institutions
For countries from developed as well as developing countries, continuation of teaching-learning has been the challenging yet prioritized task. As per GEM Report (25 March), distance learning approach has been adopted as an alternative to classroom-based teaching-learning approach by institutions. Looking at current scenario, teachers and school administrators were encouraged to utilize applications to deliver education session viz application of tools such as zoom, moodle, google meet, skype, slack, canvas, etc. Based on his experience, Ayush Rai, a M. Phil student at Kathmandu University, says, “The virtual classes that KU have been organizing are very helpful. As we can support the regular classes and keep up with the semester schedule, the interactions with the professors are also regular.”
Meanwhile, Prakriti Gautam, a MBA student at Ace Institute of Management says “Despite the fact that COVID-19 has brought disturbance in our day to day life, it certainly has brought some great relief in the life of people who is working and also pursuing academic courses at the same time. Virtual classes have made my life very easy; the hassle of commuting, getting ready just for getting to college somehow has reduced.”
Challenges and Opportunities
As per Docebo (2016), “Nepal ranked 6th out of the 122 countries tracked by Ambient Insight Research for self-paced E-learning”. Though distance learning for academic degree could be the new venture to look at, it has its own demerit in cases of countries like Nepal, that is the lack of availability and accessibility of smooth internet facilities with good bandwidth across the country. As per Nepal Telecom (2019), 63% of Nepal’s population has internet connection, of which 79% of them are reliant on mobile phones, mostly limited to urban areas. Most of the rural areas still lack high speed 3G, 4G and other broadband services. On top of that, academic institutions especially public institutions have found difficulty in adopting updated technologies to implement technology-based teaching-learning system even with huge investment and promotion from Government of Nepal.
Agreeing with the complexity of distance learning at academic degree, Prachanda Man Pradhan, Ph. D., Associate Professor, Kathmandu University shares, “Looking at the current prospect of Nepal from availability of infrastructure (availability of digital devices, internet facility, strength of bandwidth) at home or school/universities and existing teaching-learning approaches (requiring interaction between student-teacher, mandatory attendance, mixed approach in terms of theory and practice) adoption of distance or online learning could be the challenging task.” At the same time, he shared the possibility of application of distance learning depending on the nature of degree. If the courses are more of the theoretical in nature, distance learning can be applied. Whereas for the course that require practical exercises and rigorous discussion among teacher-student, distance learning can only be supplementary act.
Next Step
Looking at the national circumstances, emerging needs and technological progress, the distance learning could be the challenging yet possible task. The reflection and learning from experience of distance learning during COVID-19 and any prior experiences could be utilized to replicate at wider level upon adequate reflection, discussion, consultation and policy level interventions gets executed. Though equitable access is the major concern to dealt with, the underlying opportunities and ongoing experiences should not be neglected in rapidly growing education culture in terms of adoption of ICT in education system.
(Writer is the student of M. Phil at Department of Development Education, Kathmandu University, School of Education)