Session Information
32 SES 14, Quality Education & UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: Inter-Country Dialogues about Enactment
Symposium
Contribution
Within the overarching symposium theme of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development this paper discusses challenges of implementing quality education in rural communities in Bangladesh and Nepal. Particularly it focuses on Goal 4.1: “By 2030 ensure all boys and girls complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.” Both Nepal and Bangladesh have adopted policies to achieve SDG targets. The government of Bangladesh has developed its 7th Five Year Plan, 2016 to 2020, and reports universal enrolment at primary level and a decrease in dropout rate from 40% to 10%. The government of Nepal has prepared School Sector Development Plan, 2016–2023 which emphasises integration of digital technology in education to transform traditional education system to modern learning strategies (MoE, 2016). Our respective search findings find a chasm between policy aspirations and rural realities. For example, Rana (2018) found that the Nepal government does not commit for funding the ICT infrastructure and training teachers to use ICT in teaching activities, leaving NGOs of various kinds to fill the gap in a few hundred of the 29035 government schools, and Hasnat (2017) found that recurring absenteeism in rural schools, caused in part by poverty and disconnection between schools and parents. 2030 is the nominated date for achievement of the targets identified as criteria for the goals and committed to by not only Bangladesh and Nepal but also another 193 countries within the UN organization. This paper addresses the “catch-up” required by developing countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, the opaque wording of the goals, the gap between what currently exists and the goals that are nominated, the actions of government to comply with the Agenda, the difficulties experienced by teachers and communities, and the resources currently available for creating the expected changes. It also argues for planned and strategically prioritised development of locally appropriate initiatives that will lead towards attainment of the goals. The discussion is based on doctoral studies from Bangladesh (Hasnat, 2017), and from Nepal (Rana, 2018) respectively and on the subsequent experiences of the two authors after their return home. Both research studies utilised a qualitative methodology utilising interviews, observations and document analysis. The opportunity dialogue between two countries provokes us to probe the complexity of the concepts underlying the words quality, equitable, relevant and effective and to consider the importance of local context and means for engagement.
References
Hasnat, M. A. (2017). Rural Parents’ Engagement in Education in Bangladesh: Problems and Possibilities. Doctoral Thesis. University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Rana, K. (2018. ICT in rural primary schools in Nepal: context and teachers’ experiences. Doctoral Thesis, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. MoE. (2016). School Sector Development Plan, 2016–2023. Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal. National Planning Commission (2017). Nepal's Sustainable Development Goals, Baseline Report, 2017. Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission, Kathmandu, Nepal. General Economic Division (2015). Seventh Five Year Plan (FY2016- FY2020), Bangladesh Planning Commission, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
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