'Public education system needs overhaul'

Kathmandu, Aug. 28: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel has said that the public education system in Nepal needed an overhaul.

“To achieve this, we need to draw a new pool of talented individuals into teaching from various fields in order to have a long-term, systematic impact on education inequality,” he said at a programme organised by the Teach for Nepal (TFN) to honour its contributors on Monday.

He appreciated the TFN and said that its fellows were working relentlessly to teach Nepali children and prepare them for the world.

“To know that our country's financial institutions and corporations are contributing to improving education in Nepal gives me immense pleasure,” he said.

"Support of various banks and corporations towards the Teach For Nepal movement is not only supporting the students of rural parts of Nepal, but it is also creating great citizens who will be taking a human-centered approach to the challenges we are facing in our nation," said Anil Keshary Shah, Teach For Nepal's Leadership council member and CEO of Nabil Bank.

Teach For Nepal movement was launched in 2013 to address educational inequality in Nepal. One of its first initiatives has been to establish a programme to recruit high achieving graduates and young professionals into teaching Fellowship.

This initial Fellowship provides an initial intensive residential training followed by two years on-the-job training for new Fellows in the classroom.

Now in its sixth year, the movement has achieved support from various banks, corporations, and local governments. The movement has shown strong results based on a number of assessments.

TFN felicitated Nepal Investment Bank, Everest Bank, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Machhapuchchhre Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Laxmi Bank, Sanima Bank, Panchakanya Group, Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd. and HH Bajaj for their support.

"In the coming years, we look forward to serving an additional number of schools and continuing to work in partnership with the government, schools corporates and our supporters to help reduce educational inequality in Nepal,” Chief Executive Office of TFN Shisir Khanal said.  

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 August 2018.