CBS launches training for census facilitators

 Kathmandu, Feb. 14

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has launched series of trainings to the facilitators, census officers, provincial trainers, local census officers, supervisors and enumerators aiming at the 12^th National Census 2021.  

A week-long training for national training facilitators, first of the series, kicked off at Staff College in Lalitpur from Sunday. Trainings will be organised at central, provincial, district and local level, said Hem Raj Regmi, Deputy Director General of the CBS.  

More than 50,000 human resources would be mobilised in the census of which 39,000 are the enumerators and 9,000 supervisors.

Twelfth Census 2021 is being conducted from 9 May 2020.

Data collection will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase 9–28 May, the supervisors will reach each households and collect information about the households, residing male, female and other sexes and agricultural information.

In the second phase 8-22 May, enumerators will fill up the main questionnaire and collect details of the family, individual's birth, death, migration and other demographic details. Basic resources of the ward, capacity, infrastructure and disaster related information would be collected in the second phase.

According to Regmi, the census will collect information with the help of 80 questions to create a demographic profile, and details of access to facilities as well as ethnic, religious, sexual minorities and disability status.

The training of the trainers was important as training is needed to be organised at 87 district-level census offices and 349 local-level census offices at the same time.

The ToT would produce 280 trainers at the centre and 1550 in the provinces. The lead trainers will facilitate trainings at the provincial, district and local level.

Kewal Prasad Bhandari, Secretary of the National Planning Commission (NPC), said that the census would strengthen the statistical system of the country.

"Many professionals have realized the lack of statistics especially segregated data regarding various sectors and activities. Due to poor birth data, we are experiencing challenges in opening schools and educational sector development so is the situation in other sectors," he said.

He stated that the trainers top-most responsibility is to carry the major objectives of the census to the level of enumerators and make them able to understand the questions in their true meaning.

Director General of CBS Nebin Lal Shrestha said that the census helps in formulating plans from federal to local government, execute them and organize monitoring activities.

"Enumerators are the heroes of the project so they must be facilitated with the required equipment as well as the knowledge and skills required for the work. Therefore, the trainers must be more skilled and knowledgeable to help in this drive," he said.

The census will cost about Rs. 4 billion. Preliminary result would come by October this year while it would take about 9 months for the final results. But analytical results will continue to be published for the next three years.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 February 2021.