Birgunj, June 9: University teachers from the different campuses and schools of Birgunj came together to discuss on ways to improve a textbook on civic education that has been recently introduced to the higher secondary curriculum.

Prof. Ram Kumar Dahal from Tribhuvan University, in his presentation, said: The world has witnessed revolutions of epic proportions in the quest to transform people into citizens. Nepal too is trying to do the same. Where will students get the knowledge about the Constitution and their rights, since many existing courses of study do not offer this opportunity? As a result, people, especially from remote parts, do not know their rights, let alone exercise them.

Local Thakur Ram Campus teacher Raghunath Prasad said that Nepal Parichaya was there in the past to serve the need for civic education of campus students of all faculties. Similar needs were served by the compulsory subject, Nepali. “This was a product of the National Education Plan but ran into controversy due to political reasons. Today, politics has taken such dimensions that teaching is hardly carried out in the colleges. Let the same not be the case with the introduction of this subject”, he said.

Bhagyanath Prasad Gupta, a political activist, said, “This is the second time that we have had democracy, therefore, we need to be concerned about its preservation. The past ten years have cast negative shadows on democracy.”

Indu Shekhar Mishra, also from Thakur Ram Campus, said that the book does not provide the experience gained in the past ten years. “We need to review the gains and losses made during that time and bring them to the 
people. There are social ills like Devaki and Badi traditions which should have been included in the course of study. After all, it is the students who will be leading the country tomorrow,” he said.

He also thought that the book was politics-heavy. “It needs to include cultural and economic aspects as well,” Mishra said.

Satyadev Prasad Yadav, from the same campus agreed the need for expansion of the book’s content to include social, economic, traditional and cultural aspects. “This seminar proves that we are concerned about the kind of society we want to build. There was a subject called Panchayat in the past, so we are not alien to such a curriculum. Civic education is a must for democracy to function properly,” he said.

Yadav also wanted to know if it was possible to deal with those students passing out from foreign universities but coming to Nepal later on to work. “Do they not need civic education,” He 
asked ?

Dr. Mahendra Gupta showed his dissatisfaction with the way the whole 10+2 system was being run. “The course of study is so advanced that it can be properly adopted if we are to import foreign books. We cannot provide the students with those books on time. Additionally, the credit hours allotted for the advanced course is just too little. The capacity of students needs to be analysed before introducing new subjects like this one,” was his conclusion.

From the chair, Bhagwan Yadav, Hari Khetan Campus chief, also thought that the 10+2 system needed riviewing because it is not faring well right now because most of the higher secondary schools have been opened by businessmen and teachers coming together, making it largely a business affair. “Even employees working to create and promote the 10+2 system have been borrowed from other institutions temporarily to work for the system.

“New courses are being enforced in higher classes first, before even providing orientation to teachers and without first introducing the course to lower classes”, Yadav said.

Lalbabu Yadav from TU explained the rationale for teaching the subject in his presentation. “People need to be transformed into citizens,” he said. “Only awareness about their rights and responsibilities can make them so.”

The book under discussion, titled “Nepalese Contemporary Society”, was prepared by Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies with cooperation from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung of Germany. The book is being taken to various parts of the Kingdom to collect suggestions from the stakeholders of 10+2.

“It is a product of about a dozen seminars held in different parts of the Kingdom,” said Ananda Shrestha, executive director of NEFAS, to initiate discussion. Shivaraj Dahal, also from NEFAS, gave the vote of thanks at the end of the session.