Challenge of Education in Nepal from Ancient to Contemporary Society.
The Constitution of Nepal has established education as a fundamental right of citizens. The Constitution has ensured that education up to the basic level is compulsory and free, education up to the secondary level is free, and free education up to the higher level is guaranteed to certain target groups (Constitution 2072). Education is a social institution (Durkheim, cited in Ottaway, 1968) gradually developed to meet human educational needs. It is a key to personal and social progress. For instance, the people in Sindhu Valley developed gurukul educational system (Rao,2019). After the formation of the first Education Commission in 2010, a systematic and institutionalized educational campaign began in Nepal. And, after the implementation of the New Education Plan in 2028, education and literacy spread. The New Education Plan implemented a single curriculum and textbook throughout the kingdom for the first time. This expanded national consciousness, but it could not capture locality. Some analysts claim that the new education plan has degraded the quality of education. But it may not have improved the quality of education, but it did not degrade it either. It is true that, like every system, the Panchayat system also tried to use education for its own benefit. In the impulse of ‘national unity’, local language, culture and profession were not taken into account. A section of teachers accepted that education policy as something imposed on them. And, the country’s economy could not keep up with the expansion in education and the human resources it produced, which led to some serious problems and the new education plan failed. In Nepal, very rare researches which had a focus on marginalization have been found. Mishra (1987) employed the world–system theory to critique the development of underdevelopment in Nepal. Lawoti (2010) has shown association between state consolidation and marginalization of different caste and ethnic groups. According to him, the foundation of the marginalization was laid with the conquest of Nepal by King Prithvi Narayan and increased marginalization as the Gorkhali hill Hindu upper caste elite consolidated their hold in the state and society. Regmi (2000) had also concluded that the modernization move had adversely affected the Prajapati of Bhaktapur and their traditional economic mode. Acharya (2007) has highlighted seven dimensions of educational disparity in Nepal.
