Out-of-school children, weak parental interest, geographical remoteness, and declining educational achievement are adding to the challenges of improving educational quality at the local level, it has been concluded. This was the conclusion of a municipal-level review and social audit program organized in Bhageshwor Rural Municipality of Dadeldhura.

At a program organized by the Lunibha Child Concern Group on Thursday, stakeholders said that despite efforts to bring school-age children into access to education, the expected improvements have not been achieved. During the program, lack of coordination between schools, teachers, parents and local governments was pointed out as a major problem. 

Lunibha Dadeldhura Program Coordinator Dharmasingh Air said that the organization's main objective is to bring out-of-school children back to school. According to him, the program is being implemented in collaboration with 23 community schools in Wards 4 and 5 of Bhageshwor Rural Municipality and Wards 1 and 2 of Navadurga Rural Municipality. 

Speaking at the program, Kailpal Basic School Nyalek Principal Chandra Bahadur Saund said that quality improvement has become challenging due to lack of adequate investment in educational materials and learning environment. Stating that teachers' efforts alone are not enough, he said that teaching and learning will be affected only when parents show interest. ‘There is a situation where students have to be found after school holidays in the villages, and parents also have to be responsible,’ he said, ‘After the long holidays, the number of students in the school is low.’

Ratan Singh Chand, Chairman of the School Management Committee of Sharada Secondary School, Sirad, said that the role of parents should be strengthened at the policy level. For this, he suggested that the ward and municipality should formulate a clear education policy and emphasize additional classes. Chairperson of the Municipal Level Children’s Network, Asmita Bhandari, said that all parties should be responsible so that the investment made for the assured future of children should not be wasted. ‘Lack of awareness among parents, lack of attention to students’ studies, and some students not understanding what the teachers are teaching still persist,’ she said.

Ganesh Poudel, Education Officer of Bhageshwor Rural Municipality, admitted that the quality of education in the municipality is deteriorating. He said that poor coordination between the School Management Committee, Teacher-Parent Association and parents has increased the problem. He informed that data will be collected and targeted programs will be run to solve problems such as school dropout and child marriage.

Bhageshwor Rural Municipality Chairman Hemraj Chataut urged Lunibha to expand cooperation in other wards as well. He said that initiatives are being taken from the municipality level to improve educational quality and emphasis will be placed on technology-friendly education in the coming days. 

At the program, Krishnagovinda Maharjan, Central Program Coordinator of Lunibha Child Concern Group, said that Lunibha is working with a focus on the field of education. He said that it is continuously providing training to teachers and said that the educational achievements of students can improve only if the knowledge and skills learned from the training and educational visits can be put into practice at the school level.