Child Rearing and Education: “Best Discipline” Through No “Disciplining”

Contrary to what many Nepalis believe and will tell you, raising a child to be a well disciplined one does NOT require "disciplining." In other words, to raise a well-behaved child, you don't have to scold, scream, shout, beat, or humiliate the child. All you have to do is to raise them by respecting, listening, and engaging with them.

Continue ReadingChild Rearing and Education: “Best Discipline” Through No “Disciplining”

Ever Wondered Why We Have Such Warped Structures in Nepal? Here’s Part of The History Responsible For That

  • Post category:Social Justice
  • Reading time:11 mins read

Nepali social, economic, and political structures are completely warped. The hill so-called high caste Hindu men are disproportionately highly represented in pretty much every body of note. How did that happen? Here's a little bit of history about that and more.

Continue ReadingEver Wondered Why We Have Such Warped Structures in Nepal? Here’s Part of The History Responsible For That

I Could Have Been…A Performing Artist

As a primary school student, I loved the arts and was good at acting and singing, and did a lot of that. But acting was also an "out," a means to escape my own self, to become someone else, suffering as I had been from a number of personal issues.

Had I been born a different caste or in a different country, I would have probably become a performing artist as an adult.

Continue ReadingI Could Have Been…A Performing Artist

Nepali Teachers’ Association Starkly Lays Bare The Abysmally Poor Quality of Education in The Country

When teachers in Nepal demonstrate a severe lack of understanding of the problems plaguing our education system and their role in the system, and, worse, threatens to take action by punishing the very group (students) they are supposed to be serving...you know the quality of our education system is abysmally poor!

Continue ReadingNepali Teachers’ Association Starkly Lays Bare The Abysmally Poor Quality of Education in The Country

School Enrollment: Not Proficient Enough in English for Grade 1

One of the ways many private schools in Nepal try to mask the poor quality of education they provide: say that the education their school provide is better than other private schools. So, they require transfer students to take an admissions test and -- lo and behold! -- the child is found lacking in some academic areas and suggested to repeat the year (grade)!

Continue ReadingSchool Enrollment: Not Proficient Enough in English for Grade 1

Caste Hierarchy, False-equivalence Argument, and Mount Everest

  • Post category:Social Justice
  • Reading time:12 mins read

When a hill so-called high caste Hindu counters a member of another caste describing the challenges in their lives because of the caste they are born into by saying that they too struggle and have had to work hard to get as far as they have gotten in life, they are basically making a false-equivalence argument. What is a false-equivalence argument anyway? I go into the details by using an analogy -- that of climbing Mount Everest.

Continue ReadingCaste Hierarchy, False-equivalence Argument, and Mount Everest

Teacher Education: Climatic Calamity

  • Post category:Teacher Education
  • Reading time:2 mins read

I conducted another demonstration to a science teacher at a small private school as part of the teacher education program to show them how they can make science teaching and learning interesting and engaging. In this one I used a very topical video -- that of hurricane Dorian that had made landfall in the Bahamas just a few days before the lesson.

Continue ReadingTeacher Education: Climatic Calamity