It's virtually impossible to address a social ill without the society first acknowledging it for what it is. When the education system does NOT do that, what chance is there at all of there even being a discourse about it, forget take steps to address it?! That is the situation with the caste system in Nepal.
I have come to the conclusion that Nepalis in general struggle to empathize with fellow Nepalis who are, for example, suffering for whatever reason. The reason behind that is their low power of imagination.
Why are their power of imagination low? Caste system induced attitude, lack of travel experience, poor quality of both formal and informal education, and lack of reading culture.
From 1990 onwards, we've has a competition in Nepal...a competition among educators to give their academic institution the MOST ridiculous and/or absurd name. I know because, noticing it, I did a write-up on it and even stalked about it in my FM radio program in 1998. So, after three decades, who is winning? All of them...and naturally education is losing out.
Something on education I appear to have written in 1997-98 when I was in Nepal for a longish stay. It's basically some observations about education in Nepal--mainly how appears to be on a path it shouldn't be.
Another reproduction of a short story I wrote as a student in Nepal-- this one as a 9th grader. I happen to have a copy of it because I still own a copy of the issue of the school magazine in which it was published!
Reproduction of a story I wrote as maybe a 7th grader in an on-the-spot short-story writing contest. I reproduce it here because the story won first prize!
In 2009-10, when data for 2011 Census Report was collected, children in the last year of kindergarten, five-year olds, numbered 661K. The group completed their schooling -- grade 12 -- in 2022. Less than 10% made it through!
This blog looks how the totally corrupt and flawed education system does that and the consequence of that for a vast majority of the population.
Nepali education system is so screwed up, schooling does NOT prepare you adequately for externally assessed terminal examinations. Furthermore, each stage of schooling does NOT prepare you for the stage that follow either. Instead, it requires that you get outside help to prepare yourself and continue your academic career!
What's the point of such an education system?!
When it comes to identity, most formal and informal education system around the world focus on and elevate the person's nationality, religion, class, sex/gender, official position/profession, age, race, caste, sexuality etc. What is most important, however, is to teach a person to think of themself as a human being first and to value humanity above all.
A primary school poetry textbook contains 108 poems by 66 poets representing only 44 surnames. All but three were male poets. A vast majority (88%) of the poets were Bahun/Brahmin, hill so-called high Hindu, men who make up 6% of the population. And that's not even the worst.
Regardless, that makes one wonder, among other things, what the accomplishment of seventy or so years of education for the public has been. Who has the State been educating?