Support Govt's Push For Good Governance

 

When someone asks the tourists who come to visit Nepal from different parts of the world, "How do you find Nepali people?" All of them answer with a smile, "They are very nice people. They are friendly, simple, innocent and kind. They are number one in hospitality." But what we are seeing these days justifies such qualities in Nepali people?  For some people, such statements are still true but not for others. You may know what I am talking about.

It has not even been two months since the Prime Minister Balendra Shah-led government has been formed. We are all aware that during such a short period of time, this government has done so many good deeds in different sectors of the country. The general people have started to realise its presence at their service. The government is just following the ruling party's, i.e. Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP)'s election manifesto and a 'citizen contract', which was made public in March this year. It has highlighted '100 points of policy change.' Based on this manifesto, the government's target is to complete 100 tasks within 100 days, focusing on good governance, economic growth, anti-corruption, meritocracy and many other such agendas that can lead the nation towards positive transformation.

Unnecessary comments 

What is surprising is that whatever the government is doing to bring change, the opposition parties and their followers are passing negative comments, just for the sake of comments. These comments reached the climax once the government started to demolish the illegal dwellings of landless squatters on riverbanks in Kathmandu nearly a couple of weeks ago. It was obvious to happen sooner or later, so why make too much fuss?  Weren't such structures risking the dwellers' lives during the floods in rainy seasons every year? In addition, they had made the city center ugly as well.

When the tearing down of such unorganised settlements began, people came to know that there were more fake landless squatters than the real ones. They were making a handsome living in disguise. They had created their own empire there, and only these people got aggressive to the governmental action and they were supported by the people from different political parties. The real squatters seem to be happy because they believe the Balen government will take care of them. When the issue of landless squatters was still hot, there came a recommendation of the Chief Justice by the Constitutional Council of Nepal. This incident also aroused a lot of negative remarks. It is okay to ask for clarification if something is not clear or if people are not satisfied with the decision made by the government. But is it right to be personal and attack someone mercilessly?

In both of these cases, i.e., the removal of unauthorised settlements and recommendation of the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister, Balendra Shah, has been attacked illogically. Forget about ignorant people! What hurts more is the person like Sushila Karki also does not want to spare an opportunity to make Balen her target! Many women consider Karki as their model. She has been at the height of her position as the Chief Justice and the first female Prime Minister of Nepal. Doesn't she know what sort of language she is expected to use in public? She unnecessarily dragged Balen's wife into her conversation with a journalist. Though she tried to correct her later, her cruel intention to criticize Balen was clear to the public.

It seems like Balen's enemies are intentionally assassinating his character. They are using all sorts of foul language to defame him. They can criticise his actions but not him as a person; character assassination is a crime. It is the PM's generosity that he is not taking any action against them.

I am sure all those people who are trying hard to prove Balen wrong are not motivated by their patriotic feelings at all; instead, they have their own vested interests to get one or another type of personal gain. If not so, why to point their finger at a person who works day and night to make the country a better place to live? Shouldn't we give him time to materialise his plans? Isn't it too early to judge him? The so-called critics may be jealous and scared of what Balen is doing because his actions can make them dysfunctional by exposing their selfishness.

Win people's heart

I hear the voice of a handful of people who are asking for the PM's resignation. Well, if he resigns, what will be an alternative? Haven't we seen other parties' governance for the last thirty years? Weren't people fed up of their monopoly to spark a Gen Z movement as a reaction? Therefore, it is meaningless to shout for the PM's resignation at the moment. No matter how much they struggle for this, it does not work as the RSP has got people's mandate for a solid five years. More than wasting time to criticise Balen, what is important is that the political parties should clean their damaged image by doing all sorts of good work to win people's heart and reclaim their lost trust first.

Observing Balen's working style, I think that he may be guided by the philosophy of 'deconstructionism.' He literally wants to break down everything that is constructed by the earlier failed and corrupted political systems and reconstruct them in a better way. There is no doubt that if you deconstruct something, it looks chaotic, dirty and ugly. Then, when you start reconstructing the same, it appears to be clearer and more beautiful. Therefore, let's not interfere with the government at least for 100 days. We should wait and watch if it fulfills the promises that it made to the Nepali citizens.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, May 15, 2026 ) 

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Mixed Views On New Academic Session

 This week was a bit different from last week. Until last week, all the schools, parents, and students seemed to be confused, worried, and stressed. In contrast, this week, enthusiasm engulfed the social media platforms. There were notices bombarding regarding new admissions, school opening dates, and advertisements of different schools. Although the government initially announced that the new academic school session in 2083 BS will officially begin on Baishakh 15, with student enrollment and admission, and formal classes will start only from Baishakh 21, almost all of the schools could not wait that long to start the classes.

In previous years, the new academic session would commence in the first week of Baishakh, so the schools were prepared accordingly this year as well. And the governmental announcement of delaying the formal class schedule was surprising and completely unexpected. The time gap from Baishakh 2 to 14 gave a headache, particularly to the parents. So, when they heard their children's school was going to start on the 15th of Baishakh, they felt huge relief.

Views on new academic session 

In the meantime, I talked to several teachers, parents, and students to find out their views on the government's decision to delay the academic session. All of them univocally expressed that they would love the school to begin sooner rather than later, like in previous years. However, their reasons for this were different.

The teachers stated that since this break was unexpected, they could not enjoy it at all. This is mainly because they had already holidayed immediately after the final examination to refresh themselves. So, the further days off were quite boring. They complained that their daily routine was disturbed, they became lazy, and their sleeping time was irregular. When they had school, they would spend time looking for teaching and learning materials on the Internet, but during the vacation period, they just scrolled down the reels and videos for hours and hours. Even though they regretted this later, they could not help themselves from getting away from their mobile phones to fill their free time. 

Some of the teachers grumbled that to kill time, they went to the marketplace and spent a lot of money buying things that they did not need urgently. This year's break reminded them of the uncertain lockdown period during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The parents had other stories to share. They expected their children to begin the new school session in the first week of Baishakh, but it could not happen. They jokingly added, only they knew how hard it was for them to manage the extra two-week break, handling the children. The main challenge they faced was children's mobile phone addiction; if not the mobile phone, then the television. The parents tried to encourage their children towards reading or other creative activities, but they would snap, "I'll read and do everything when the school opens, not now." The early teenagers' parents were worried about their children's bad company, since these days drug abuse is an acute problem among people. They were scared thinking that their children could be prey of drug abusers or drug dealers if they allowed them to go out of the house. Some parents said that their children would be in safe hands once they started school. The working parents faced the babysitting problem; the spouses needed to take leave from their workplace alternatively. The parents agreed with the teachers on spending money. They complained that more staying home meant more expenditure on outings and entertainment for children.

The children also said that they would prefer going to school over staying home doing nothing but staring at their mobile phones the whole day. In the question, "Why school?" They responded, "We can play with friends at school. We can learn many things from teachers. Our parents will also be happy when we go to school." The older children shared that their parents would always ask them to help with household chores, which they did not like. They also needed to be a babysitter for the younger siblings.

Mental pressure

These views indicate that the unplanned holiday may not be as effective as it should be. Although the government had a good intention behind delaying the new school session for about three weeks, it did not work out perfectly. It seemed like people's mental pressure was much more enormous than saving fuel at this time of crisis. What was lacking on the part of the government was untimely and unclear information. It suddenly announced that formal classes at schools will begin only from Baishakh 21; this created a big "why" among the concerned people. There appeared to be different speculations on an everyday basis, which made the public more worried and impatient. 

Research shows that even one week of school deprivation causes tremendous losses for children. Because of this, their academic, social and emotional well-being will be jeopardised. Other studies point out that if children are out of school for quite a long time, there may increase in physical abuse, sexual abuse, violence or even early pregnancies. Therefore, any decision, especially related to children's education, should be taken more wisely, considering each and every aspect but not abruptly. A quick decision may lead to disasters. After all, school is a safe place for children to learn and grow. This can be a lesson for the government in the future.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, May 1, 2026 ) 

[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be s

Information Gap Misleads Parents

 These days, a lot of confusion is in the air in relation to school education in Nepal. Some of them include if there is two-day weekend (Saturday and Sunday), then there will not be sufficient working days to complete the course; now, children up to grade five should not have to take any sort of examination; the government is going to make school education free even in the private schools; the parents, whose children go to the institutional schools,  should not have to pay tuition fees of this Baishakh; the private schools are going to be closed, blah, blah, blah. 

Mainly, social media is responsible for spreading all sorts of fake news and sadly, a majority of people rely on such news; they do not bother to cross-check with the authentic media. And the word of mouth is very strong to influence people. For instance, the other day, some new parents came to our school to inquire about the admission process for this session. At that time, someone just appeared and intervened, "Hey! You don't have to admit your children this time. The government has made admission free. Plus, you don't need to pay tuition fees for the month of Baishakh." As soon as those parents heard this, they left the school without asking for clarity from our side.

Misinterpretation 

How can people misinterpret the information? It is clearly said by the Ministry of Education that before beginning the new session, neither a school can admit students nor can it take any sort of fees. There is nothing new but the government is only emphasising following strictly what is mentioned in the Education Regulations formulated in 2059 B.S. Furthermore, it is also stated that schools cannot take monthly tuition fees for more than 12 months in a year. Doesn't the government know that the staff salary in private schools is managed by the monthly tuition fees? How dare some people spread such baseless news?

For the educated parents, it is not difficult to process all sorts of information and understand the government policies, but unfortunately, many of the parents in our community are uneducated or illiterate and do not have access to the authentic information, so they are affected by rumours the most. Until now the general public strongly believes that their children get better education in institutional schools in comparison to community ones. So, they prefer to send them to such schools even if they do not have high-income sources. They work hard in odd jobs just to be able to afford private education for their children.

There is no doubt that the government is trying to bridge the gap between these two categories of schools and introduce different directives on an everyday basis, which sounds good. This way, students from the community schools would also have access to the same level of quality education as their counterparts from the institutional schools. However, it feels a bit hasty to confuse people and make them doubtful on the implementation side of these directives. 

Currently, there is a kind of vacuum regarding the commencement of studies for this session. The government has made an announcement that the teaching-learning at schools will begin from only the 21st of Baishakh. This has given parents a headache. They are quite worried about not finding ways to engage their children at home. As everybody knows, these days children are more interested in mobile phones rather than in books. For them, school is the only place to be in touch with books and this opportunity has been snatched. Another problem associated with the delayed beginning of the session is with working parents. They find babysitting very challenging. 

Many parents are complaining these days feel like COVID-19 days or even worse. At least, on those days their children would take online classes, but now they are staying at home idly. They think the situation has created unnecessary tension in them and nearly a month is going to be wasted. There is no uniformity in following the governmental directives in all municipalities as well. Some municipalities have issued a notice to start a new session from the first week of Baishakh, some from the second week and some from the third. The situation is getting haphazard. Nobody has understood why to wait until the 21st of Baishakh to start school, as schools, parents and students are all ready and everything is perfect too.

Reform 

Reform in education is a must but the government decisions seem to be abrupt; because of this, there arise many confusions. The transition period for everything should be as smooth as possible but the stakeholders of school education have found this quite harsh. If we take an example from Australia, this point will be much clearer. Realising the adverse effects, the Australian government decided to ban some of the social media platforms for users under 16 years old. For this, a Bill was passed in 2024 and it came into force only in 2025. This indicates that people need a substantial amount of time to shift from one situation to another so that their transition will not be problematic. 

In contrast, the Ministry of Education in Nepal has issued nine directives for immediate implementation. This sounds over-ambitious. There is a popular idiom in English that says 'one step at a time,' meaning you do just a little at a time so that you can break down your complex tasks into manageable and simpler ones to complete them easily. This way, you will maximise chances to achieve your goals. We should not forget that sometimes haste makes waste.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, April 17, 2026 ) 

[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be s