Every country requires skills that help to keep pace with the development of science and technology. Education plays a key role in the changes and developments. Nepal’s education is now in the traditional phase. The quality of education that we are offering is questionable. Meantime the government has been introducing new policies and projects to improve the education sector. Minister of Science & Technology Girirajmani Pokhrel also expresses his views highlighting the initiatives taken by the government.
The government is preparing plans to connect technology with education. Due to that, the government has been establishing at least one technical stream education at all local levels. Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, finance minister of Nepal, presenting this year's fiscal budget for the record third time, cited there are 601 local levels already offering in the technical streams like agriculture (both plant & animal science, engineering (civil, electrical & computer), and music sector.
Similarly, Tilathi Koiladi rural municipality is successfully running programs in animal science and is planning to add more technical streams at the secondary level for the promotion and production of skilled human resources. The rural municipality has also started and ICT labs in the schools. The government has also adopted the concept of one technical school at one local level and one technical school will be run at all local levels next year. Similarly, one polytechnic institutes will be established in all provinces. The government also plans to establish Madan Bhandari University of Science & Technology and Yog Maya Ayurvedic University.
Technical education is incomplete without the use of ICTs. ICTs can be used in administration, communication, teaching and learning activities, curriculum development and assessment, career education and guidance, job placement, systems control, and so on. The concept of ICT can be applied in different spheres of technical & vocational education. A wide variety of ICTs are now available for teaching and learning, ranging from simple printed materials to sophisticated Internet-based learning. The penetration of ICTs in education across the country varies considerably and generally seems to be proportional to economic conditions.
The education sector of Nepal has many problems including quality teachers, contents, infrastructure, environment, etc. Given the circumstances, ICT should be effectively integrated and used in the development of the education sector of Nepal. ICT will also enable the Technical Education graduates to be well trained to face the challenges of this information age. The government should initiate to make ICT more relevant to the needs of the people.
Abhijeet Singh is the IT Officer at Tilathi Koiladi rural municipality, Saptari, Province 02.
