Formative

School Effectiveness: A Synthesis of Indicators
(Phase II)
Tribhuvan University
Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development
Tripureshwar, Kathmandu, Nepal
July 2003
School Effectiveness: Synthesis of Indicators Phase II
Research Team
Vishnu Karki
Researcher
Gyaneswor Amatya
Associate Researcher
Dilli Neupane
Research Assistant
Pratibha Pradhan
Research Assistant
Yogendra Lekhak
Research Assistant
Bimala Shrestha
Research Assistant
Formative Research Project, CERID

Coordinator:
Dr. Bijaya Kumar Thapa
Project Advisor:
Dr. Hridaya Ratna Bajracharya
Associate Researcher: Mr. Rom Prasad Bhattarai
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FRP Report 11
Acknowledgement
The second phase study on school effectiveness research converges on assessment of
community concerns with regard to access, educational quality, management of
education and supervision/monitoring in the school. The study hypothesized
several indicators for measuring school effectiveness, on the basis of a minimum
threshold criterion. Then the school is regrouped and rated as good, progressing and
poor school. Findings of this study shows that the good schools in Nepal and in that
regard the effective schools in Nepal have community support and extra resources
are found best mobilized and basic facilities and amenities are available. So, this
research may draw attention among education planners and policy makers and may
guide a framework for researchers in this field.
I would like to express my sincere gratefulness to the Norwegian Government for
giving us the resources, and Department of Education (DOE) and CERID for giving
me this invaluable opportunity to conduct the research. My sincere gratitude is also
due to Kristin Tornes and Dr. Bijaya Kumar Thapa for their continued
encouragement on both technical and administrative inputs throughout the research
period.
Dr. Bajra Raj Shakya's view and advice were instrumented in making this report
meaningful and a worthy presentation. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to
him for his valuable time and feedback.
I am grateful to the members of this research team: Gyaneswor Amatya, Dilli
Neupane, Pratibha Pradhan and Bimala Shrestha. Without the commitment and hard
work of the team it would have been impossible visiting schools and collecting
information during the insurgency in the country. Friends and colleagues at the
MOES and CERID also deserve our gratitude for their regular support and feedback.
Finally, but not least, our thanks go to headteachers, schoolteachers, SMCs, parents
and guardians, Mushar women, RPs, Plan Nepal's field staff and the DEO staff for
their hospitality and support during the data collection.
Vishnu Karki
July, 2003
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List of Abbreviations
BPEP
Basic and Primary Education Programme
CAS
Continuous Assessment System
CBO
Community-Based Organization
DEO
District Education Office / Officer
DOE
Department of Education
ECD
Early Childhood Development
FRAG
Formative Research Advisory Group
FRP
Formative Research Project
HT/HM
Headteacher / Headmaster
INGO
International Non-Government Organization
MOES
Ministry of Education and Sports
MTR
Mid-Term Review
NGO
Non-Government Organization
PEP
Primary Education Project
RC
Resource Center
SES
Socio-economic Status
SLC
School Leaving Certificate
SMC
School Management Committee
VDC
Village Development Committee
List of Tables
Table
1:
Page
LIST OF SAMPLE DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS ................................................................................. 3
2:
STUDENT ENROLMENT BY ETHNIC GROUP AND GENDER......................................................... 13
3:
STUDENT AVERAGE SCORE BY GRADE IN 2002......................................................................... 20
4:
AVERAGE SCORE IN MATH, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND NEPALI...................................................... 25
5:
SUBJECTWISE SCORE IN GRADE 1.............................................................................................. 25
6:
PASS AND FAIL STATUS OF STUDENTS BY GRADE AND GENDER 2001.................................... 26
7:
STUDENT PASS / FAIL STATUS BY GRADE AND CASTE GROUP IN 2001..................................... 28
8:
STUDENTS PASS / FAIL STATUS BY GRADE AND ETHNICITY IN 2001. ...................................... 29
9:
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY GRADE............................................................................. 35
10: AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY GRADE............................................................................. 36

11: TEACHER'S QUALIFICATION ........................................................................................... 37
12: TEACHER'S QUALIFICATION ........................................................................................... 38
13: TEACHER'S ATTENDANCE AND CLASS PER WEEK .................................................... 39
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FRP Report 11
Table of Figures
Figure
Page
1:
DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENT ENROLMENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS .....................................................

BY GENDER AND ETHNICITY - 2003 ........................................................................................... 13
2:
STUDENT ENROLMENT BY GRADE AND ETHNICITY ................................................................... 14
3:
ENROLMENT BY GENDER ........................................................................................................... 17
4:
STUDENTS AVERAGE SCORE BY GRADE, GENDER, AND AGE 2002. ........................................ 21
5:
STUDENT S AVERAGE SCORE BY GRADE AND ETHNICITY. ......................................................... 23
6:
PASS /FAIL STATUS BY GRADE AND GENDER ............................................................................. 26
7:
PASS/FAIL STATUS BY ETHNICITY .............................................................................................. 28
8:
PASS/FAIL STATUS BY DALIT AND NON -DALIT GROUPING ...................................................... 29
9:
PASS / FAIL STATUS AND STUDENTS AGE. ............................................................................... 30
10: PASS/FAIL STATUS AND ACHIEVEMENT SCORE ......................................................................... 31

11: AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY GRADE ........................................................................................... 33
12: TEACHERS TEACHING EXPERIENCE ........................................................................................... 36
Table of Contents
Content
Executive Summary
Chapter I:
INTRODUCTION
Background
Purpose of the study
Research areas
Study methodology
Study Design
Page
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Chapter II:
ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY CONCERNS
Access
Learning Achievement
School Management
Supervision and Monitoring
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Chapter III:
DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
Background
Access to Education
Education Quality
School Management
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CHAPTER IV:
SYNTHESIS OF INDICATORS
Background
Cases of success story
Case 1: Mills Secondary School, Mills Area, Morang.
Case 2: Sharada Primary School, Karsia Bazar, Morang
Synthesis of Indicators
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Chapter V:
SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION
Access to Education
Education Quality
School Management
Community Awareness
HT's leadership
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REFERENCE
Annex I
Case Study: Chitwan District
Background
Education Quality
Educational wastage (repetition and dropouts):
Teacher Quality
School Management
Case of a Private school
Monitoring and Supervision
Issues in Grade 1
Summary of the discussions
Conclusion
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FRP Report 11
ANNEX II
CASE STUDY: MORANG DISTRICT
Mills Secondary School, Rani
Physical Facilities
Access to education
Education Quality
Teacher concern about students
HT's/Teachers' concern about community/parents
Community concern about Teachers/HT
School Management
Load of HT
HT/Teacher Perception of RP
RP's Perception
Conclusion
Major Findings
Sharda Primary School, Karsia Bazar
Physical Facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrolment
ECD Enrolment
Education Quality
Teacher Quality
Teachers' concern about students' learning achievement
HT/Teachers concern about community
HT's view
School Management
Major Findings
Bhanu Primary School, Bhanumarga, Urlabari
Physical Facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrolment
ECD Enrolment
Education Quality
Teacher Quality
Teacher concern about school
Community concern about HT/teachers
School Management
SMC Formation
Major Findings
Bal Lower Secondary School, Sainik Tole, Rani

Physical Facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrolment
Education Quality
Teacher Quality
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HT/Teacher concerns about students

Community concerns about HT/Teacher
SMC formation
Major Findings
Raghupati Primary School, Rani
Physical Facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrolment
Teacher Quality
Teacher Regularity
HT/Teacher concern about student
School Management
Annex III
CASE STUDY DHANKUTA DISTRICT
1. Margeswori Primary School, Chhara gaon
Physical facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrolment
Teacher Quality
Teachers concerns on student
Teacher concerns about HT
HT/teacher concerns about community
SMC formation
School Management
Gokundeswor Secondary School, Siran Bazar
Physical facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrolment Pattern
ECD Classes
Teacher Quality
Teacher concerns about student
SMC formation
School Management
Rashtriya Saraswati Primary School, Kachinde

Physical facilities
Access to education
Primary Enrollment
Teacher Quality
Community concerns about school
SMC Formation
School Management
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Annex 1 HTs/Teacher
Quality
Access
Retention
School Management
Community Participation
School Supervision/Monitoring
Grade 1
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Annex II Teacher/SMC/Parents
Quality
Access
Retention
School Management
Annex III Resource Person
Annex IV Headteacher
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Assessment of community concerns with regard to access, quality, and management
in the school-community.
Study methodology
This study primarily accommodates qualitative and interactive measures such as
focus group and informal discussions with the key stakeholders. However, some
quantitative data have also been used to supplement areas that need quantitative
basis for substantiation. Information and findings from previous (Phase I) research
have been incorporated as required.
In this study, 16 schools from four districts are selected as sample schools. Much of
the deliberation on methodology such as conceptual framework, study design, and
sampling procedure has already been discussed at some length in the Phase I report.
Hence, it is only briefly discussed here.
In this study, schools effectiveness is assessed in terms of dependent and
independent variables such as enrolment and promotion rates, student achievement,
and physical and educational condition of the school. To avoid duplication, the study
has included only the input and output indicators. The process indicators are being
studied under another research.
Several indicators have been hypothesized to measure school effectiveness (on the
basis of a minimum threshold) in terms of four major themes: access, quality,
management and capacity. Each school is then regrouped and rated as good school,
progressing school, poor school and so forth.
Summary of the Discussions
The discussions have been organized according to the following areas: 1) access to
education, 2) education quality, 3) school management, 4) supervision and
monitoring, and 5) synthesis of indicators.
Access to Education
Some pockets of Dalits and the deprived such as Mushar remain isolated from the
mainstream of educational development. The concerns of these communities are,
however, mostly of equitable access rather than physical access.
Educational inputs alone are not enough for educating the children of these
families. Apparently, their social, cultural as well as economic concerns also need to
be studied and addressed.
Access to quality education, measured on 13 physical and 10 educational indicators,
is unsatisfactory. Even after visiting over 50 schools, the research team could not
portray any better public school. The schools that were visited with bare walls, some
furniture, and chalkboards. Even those that were identified by a group of RPs as the
best schools in the district had nothing other than a recently constructed school
building. Thus, even the school-goers a majority of them are deprived of quality
education.
Of the 16 schools studied, six complained of indiscriminate opening of schools,
which curtailed their student enrolment as well as the teacher quota.
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FRP Report 11
Such a phenomenon is sure to become widespread. Hence, it is time to pursue

strategies, which prevent public education from experiencing dire consequences.
Only planned interventions as stopping indiscriminate opening of schools and
seeking private-public partnerships could be the best alternatives. Charter schools
voucher system, home school, etc. are some of the new concepts getting increasingly
popular in other countries. The Education Act (7th amendment) has already shown
some flexibility in school management by introducing concepts such as community
school, institutional school and corporate school. The policy needs to be flexible
enough to include the provision of leasing out public schools.
Education Quality
Quality of education is measured in terms of learning achievement.
In the sample schools learning achievement is found poor regardless of class-size
and teacher-student ratio. At the primary level (sample schools), the studentteacher ratio is found to be as high as 81:1 (in a Terai school) and as low as 17:1 (in a
Hill school). Similarly, the class-size was also found to be as low as 18 students (in a
Hill school) whereas it was 99 students (in a Terai school). However, learning
achievement is found to be poor in both the Hill and the Terai schools.
Both Terai and Hill schools have one thing in common; in them educational
resources and physical conditions are similar. The schools in both in geographc
belts present a gloomy picture of their educational resources and physical facilities.
Advocates of school effectiveness research have clearly stated that there is a
minimum threshold of educational resources and facilities in schools below which
quality measures such as number of teachers and teacher training do not necessarily
produce desired effects on learning achievement.
Student and teacher absenteeism appears to be another problem to learning
achievement in schools. Nearly 40 percent of the primary teachers were found
absent (hairing gone on leave) for more than 5 workdays in a single month (Mangsir,
2060). SMCs and HTs on the other hand, complained of teacher absenteeism (the
teachers are involved in one or other training program). As many as 69 percent of
the students in grade 1 attended classes less than 110 days (out of a 220+ school days)
in a year.
Delay in the delivery of text materials to schools has been a major impediment in
the quality drive. Many of school communities (the teachers and parents) have
criticized textbook delivery and repayment scheme of the government.
School Management
SMC (recently formed) lacks basic knowledge of its roles and responsibilities.
The education Act (7th amendment) has given greater roles and responsibilities to
SMC and the schools have been seen as community things. Hence, orientation to the
SMC members, (in the changed context) about their roles and responsibility is very
necessary.
SMC minutes mostly include the deliberations on school physical condition.
Discussions on how to minimize students retention and boost up their learning
achievement rarely come on the agenda.
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SMC members need to be oriented their school purpose is not more participation in
the SMC meetings; they are supposed to bring parents or villagers concerns to the
meeting tables and send meeting outcomes to the parents and villagers.
Supervision and monitoring of school activities appear to have three basic problems:
lack of conceptual and methodological clarity in teachers, head-teachers, SMC
members and the parents,
overburdened RPs doing a host of activities, planned as well as ad-hoc,
too many schools in a resource clusters, which has made RPs visit to a school, (even
once in a month) humanly impracticable
Supervision and monitoring of school activities HTs are non-existent in most of the
schools for one or two basic reasons:
HTs do not have time to work diligently and efficiently
they seriously lack conceptual and methodological clarity about the supervision and
monitoring
HTs role in school effectiveness is very important. Hence, HTs need to be qualified,
trained, experienced and dedicated. The first thing suggested by the community
members in this direction is stopping political appointment and/or random pick-out.
Grooming principals for tomorrow (through a process).
School quality appeared to be the most difficult to achieve. Only three schools, out
of sixteen, qualified as effective in terms of quality. Access, on the other hand,
appeared to be the least difficult. Over 55 percent of the sample schools have
achieved it.
The synthesis of indicators reveal that the successful schools have just a few, but very
important, distinct characteristics. The most exclusive indicators among better
performing school is are: they all have community support, they generate extra
resources their relationships with DEO and RC is cordial and interactions
frequent, there is harmony among teachers, HT, SMC members and parents. Most
other school lack these fundamental characteristics.
Community support and extra resources are best mobilized by schools where the
leadership (HT and/or SMC) is strong and effective.
The leadership is strong in the schools where HT and/or SMC is dedicated.
HTs and/or SMCs who have vision and commitment are counted as strong
Successful leadership has also maintained harmony among the teachers, and cordial
relations with DEO and RC.
Conclusion
If public schools do not upgrade the quality of input and output, they may soon runout of students. Such schools will eventually acquire slow and a painful death.
However, political and/or community interest would not let these schools die
because with these schools their social and/or political stake is involved.
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FRP Report 11
Administrative processes would not the schools survive because they only become a
financial burden to the administrators.
Physical access to education is important to ensure that no one is left unschooled;
access to educational resources is even more important to ensure that they receive
quality education involving life-skills.
Therefore, the next intervention on access calls for a strategy shift from construction
of school blocks to supply of physical facilities - physical facilities such as furniture,
toilet, drinking water, school and classroom environment, play-grounds, and
educational resources such as teachers and teacher quality, books and reading
materials, sports equipment, and so forth. And, if the construction work needs to be
continued, it has to come up in a package which includes both the building structure
and educational materials and facilities.
In Nepal the successful schools and, for that matters in that regard the effective
schools have a few things exclusive to them such as the community support and
extra resource. Community support and extra resources, on the other hand, are
found best mobilized in schools where the HT and/or SMC leadership is strong
where HT is dedicated and has strong personality. HTs having a vision and
dedication care to take the school to a new height. Successful HTs have maintained
harmony and team spirit among teachers and SMC members. Moreover, some HTs
have also managed to have a cordial relation and a frequent interaction with DEO
and RC.
Thus, to make the school effective it is important to ensure that it gets the basic
facilities and amenities. Effective schools have realized that the governments
support alone is not enough. Therefore they have explored ways and means to
mobilize both the community and the agencies around.
xiii
CHAPTER I:
INTRODUCTION
Background
Research on school effectiveness has been seen as a process of continuous assessment
of input, process and outcome. While much remains yet to be explored, the
preliminary study, conducted recently, has been helpful in tracing some of the
possible factors contributing to school effectiveness in Nepal. The study has also laid
down informed basis upon which further research could be built effectively. The first
round of an analysis has included mostly the input variables. Process and outcome
variables are yet to be analyzed.
With the expanding access to education in the developing countries, retention and
quality in education has now become an overarching issue. The 10th national
development plan, the Education Act (7th amendment) and the donor mission reports
have focused invariably to improve access, retention and quality of education in
Nepal. Understanding the factors that contribute most to the above is important,
particularly in countries faced with resource constraints.
Addressing the components of school and teacher quality, student background,
community participation, school management, teacher interaction and a host of other
similar areas become apparent in this research. A one-shot research, hence, would be
quite inappropriate to adequately reflect upon these concerns. In this regard,
formative process is perhaps the best way of making progress in school effectiveness
research.
The current attempt is, thus, both a continuation of the previous research conducted
last year and a change in the research designs from quantitative to qualitative assessment of community concerns with regards to access, quality, and school
management and supervision.
The main purpose of this study is to assess factors contributing to schools
effectiveness in Nepal. In the first phase of the school effectiveness research, the
focus of study was placed on the assessment of school variables. In its second phase,
the focus has been shifted to assessment of community concerns with regard to
access, quality, and management including the roles of HT and RPs in school
supervision and monitoring.
Thus, assessment of community concerns in line with the recent amendment of the
Education Act (7th amendment) and with regard to improving school effectiveness
constitute the main purpose of this research in its second phase.
Research areas
Instead of forming specific research questions, broader research areas have been put
forth. The basic premise of including research areas is to allow flexibility in the
research design so that the needs as they may arise over the time could be
incorporated. The longitudinal nature of the study also necessitates flexibility in
framing research questions. Based on the feedback received through the interactions
with the field level and central level stakeholders, three broad research areas have
been identified for school effectiveness research, which are as follows:
a)
Assessment of Community Concern
What are the major concerns of the community with regard to access, retention and
quality of education in the community?
What type of community support/participation is contributing to school
effectiveness?
b)
School Monitoring Supervision
How does community perceive and participate in school monitoring and

supervision, especially on school management, administration, class conduction, and
resource mobilization?
How does the community assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current RC and
RP system?
c)
School Management
Role of HT how much time, in general, is allocated for school administration and
what is the impact on schools effectiveness?
What are the causes of teacher irregularity and absenteeism?
Study methodology
The study is designed primarily to accommodate qualitative and interactive
measures such as the focus group and informal discussions with the key
stakeholders. However, some quantitative data have been also collected to
supplement areas that need quantitative basis for substantiation. Interactions in the
form of focus group and informal discussions were conducted with the following:
School Teachers: to assess their concern with regard to general quality of education
in the school. Approximately 60 primary teachers from 10 schools have been
interacted.
SMCs: to assess the school management system including school enrolment,
community participation to and ownership. Ten school management committees
have been assessed.
Parents and guardians: to assess education quality, access and management in the
school including their contribution and participation in the school. Some 70-100
parents and guardians have interacted.
RPs: to assess the supervision and monitoring system, to reconcile school-specific
problems and issues. About 30-50 RPs have interacted.
Women of a particular caste such as Mushar: to assess their concerns about
education in the community. About 10 Mushar women interacted separately.
DEO: to report and verify school problems in general. DEOs in the three districts:
Chitwan, Morang, and Dhankuta were reported to.
HTs meeting (SIP meeting) 26 HTs presenting their SIP were also interacted.
ECD centers three ECD centers were visited.
Other non-sample schools were also visited to observe physical and educational
condition in them.
Plan Nepals Field Staff were invited to discuss their activities in the district.
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FRP Report 11
Study Design
School effectiveness research has drawn considerable literature, yet significant
differences remain between school factors and family SES (Socio-economic Status),
between the input and process variables and between the cost-benefit and costeffectiveness modes of analysis. Fundamental departures between these schools of
thought exist either on research methodology or in conceptual framework.
This study is simply based on an input-process-output modality of the economic
production function theory. However, a separate research is simultaneously being
carried out to assess the school processes. Therefore, the study uses only the input
and output model, whereby it is assumed that the input of educational resources will
produce some output.
From among the various input indicators, only the obvious ones have been taken
into account such as number of teachers and teacher quality, school quality. (both
physical and educational). Similarly, as output indicators the following have been
primarily considered enrolment, learning achievement, graduation status (pass fail
status) etc. Students learning achievement and graduation status have been also
assessed against ethnicity, gender and age.
Finally, various stakeholders and interest groups were also assessed to reveal their
concerns with regard to school overall quality, management, and input and output
situation. Based on the above, several indicators and a minimum threshold for each
have been tentatively devised to conduct a synthesis of indicators.
Sample
For this study Chitwan, Dhankuta, Morang and Kapilvastu districts have been
selected from among the sixteen districts identified by FRP. The number of the
schools to be selected as samples from each of the sixteen districts was predetermined by the FRP. Hence, priority in the selection was given to the schools
studied previously. The target schools from the four districts and the sample schools
were as following:
Table 1: List of Sample Districts and Schools
District
Morang
# Sample needed
5
Dhankuta
Chitwan
Kapilvastu
Total
16
School
Bal Lower Secondary School, Sainiktole
Sharada Primary School, Karsiya
Bhanu Primary School, Urlabari
Saraswati Primary School, Kachide
Panchakanya Primary School,
Gokundesor Secondary school,
Malpur Lower Secondary School, Malpur.
Aadarsha Secondary School, Dibyanagar.
Rastriya Primary School, Labour nagar.
Aadarsha Rastriya Primary, Tarauli.
Mahendra Primary School, Taulihawa.
Kotigram Primary School, Gotihawa
Janaki Higher-Secondary School, Maharajgunj.
Rastriya Primary School, Jiganihawa.
Sample Type
Old
Old
New
New
New
Old
Old
Old
Old
New
New
New
New
New
New
New
The new schools selected for the study are either those reported by RPs and
schoolteachers as the best public school in the sample district or those that had some
special programmes in plan form, or those had been selected by other study groups.
Malpur school has been selected by all the five research group.
Data Source
School registers, schoolteachers/head Teachers, SMC/Community members,
parents, and students are the major data source for this study. Observation,
interviews and survey methods were used to collect necessary information. Most of
the information related to student characteristics and school financing were collected
from school records and registers. Much of the information relating to school
teachers/head teachers, parents and SMC/community perceptions has been
collected through focus group and informal discussions.
Three sets of interview guides were developed, which focused on access, retention
and quality concerns in education. In order to collect perceptions from various
stakeholders, separate focus group of schoolteachers/HTs, RPs, parents and
guardians, and SMC members were held. A roundtable discussion including all the
stakeholders mentioned above was also conducted. DEO was also interviewed
separately on some of the findings.
Data Analysis
The sample size is too small for any power analysis; hence, the data analysis done is
mostly descriptive. Community concerns, school reality and programme objectives
are analyzed on a case-to-case basis. There will be 16 school cases altogether. Each
school case is analyzed with focus on the status of access, quality of education, and
management and supervision in the school community. Finally, a synthesis of 16
school cases has been done to discover factors that are specific to a particular school
and factors that are commonly to many school cases.
Secondly, over 800 students' progress records have been traced from the last year for
in-depth assessment. These records include age, gender, ethnicity, current enrolment
status, achievement score in major subjects, and daily school attendance. And
thorough analysis of this information has been made for factors contributing to
students learning achievement.
Limitation
The study required a synthesis of indicators that measure school effectiveness in the
context of Nepal. The first and the second phase of school effectiveness research were
helpful in identifying the underlying factors associated with school effectiveness. But
both the studies focused only upon the input and outcome factors. The study didnt
include school processes, as it was being studied separately. Thus, the school
effectiveness indicators are confined only to the input and outcome indicators.
Among the indicators identified as significant for school effectiveness, minimum
cutoff points for each had to be assumed. Using the frequency distribution and data
characteristics these cutoff points have been used, based on the available
information, they however need to be tested.
FRP Report 11
CHAPTER II:
ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY CONCERNS
In this study, the community covers the SMC members, HM, schoolteachers, RPs,
parents, students, and the representatives of donors and supporting agencies.
Interactions in the form of focus group and informal discussions were conducted
with the following:
School Teachers: Approximately 80 primary teachers from 16 schools have
interacted.
SMCs: About 50 members of the school management committee from 16 schools
have interviewed.
Parents and guardians: Some 70-100 parents and guardians have interacted.
RPs: About 50 RPs have interacted.
Women of a particular caste such as Mushar: Ten Mushar women interacted
separately.
DEO DEOs of Chitwan, Morang, Dhankuta and Kapilvastu interacted.
HTs HTs of the 16 sampled schools were separately interviewed.
HTs meeting (SIP meeting) 26 HTs presenting their SIPs interacted.
ECD centers three ECD centers were visited.
Other non-sample schools 35 other non-sample schools were visited to observe the
physical and educational conditions in them.
Plan Nepals Field Staff discussed on their activities in the district.
Representatives of the Holland-based organization were also interviewed.
The perception of these stakeholders have been grouped into four areas of key
concerns: access, learning achievement, school management, and monitoring and
supervision. The data were collected through individual interviews, roundtable
group discussions, and focus group and pod group interactions. With the permission
of the participants, discussions were recorded on tape. The major concerns and
reflections have been transcribed and presented below in a tabular form. The
reflections have been also incorporated in appropriate sections in Chapter III
Discussions of Findings.
The following table is only a summary of the
transcription. A more detailed discussion on the concerns of these stakeholders will
be included in the school profile, which will be annexed to the report.
Access
The major concern of the key stakeholders is that some of the children of the
marginalized groups (vis--vis disadvantaged families) are yet to join the school and
that the regular interventions have proved almost insignificant in bringing these
marginalized children into the public education networks - both formal and nonformal. Inadequacy of resources both educational and physical have been strongly
felt in the public schools by all including DEO and RPs. The SMC members and
teachers spoke cautiously the indiscriminate opening of schools. As a result, some of
the schools have had a cut on these student enrolment and eventually on these
teacher quotas. Among the suggested measures, strengthening collaboration and
cooperation among schoolteachers, parents and the SMC members is convincing. A
second and most important consideration among the key stakeholders is that there
should be a planned intervention, through school mapping, with regard to the
decisions to open or close schools whether public or private.
Stakeholders
Potential
DEOs
Partnership
GOs/NGOs/INGOs
gradually improving.
Concern
Considered opinion
with
is
Some marginalized groups are

still out of school.
Enrolment is increasing in
public schools.
Programmes such as social,

economic,
and
education
development should come in a
package.
Special provision of involving

disadvantaged groups in school
education.
Parents awareness has

increased over the years.
No demand for new schools
but demands for teachers
have persisted.
RPs
Dropout and repetition rates

are high in the primary level.
Resources are insufficient and
inappropriate.
Awareness programme are

taking place.
Poor and deprived children are

still out of school.
Parents are concerned and

aware about their childrens
education.
Student enrolment is high but

their daily attendance is poor.
School environment is mostly
poor.
Mobilization of resources through

local bodies is a must to increase
the access of disadvantaged group.
Locally
induced,
indigenous
programmes
for
socially
disadvantaged populations should
be introduced and encouraged.
Mobilizing local stakeholders for
the schooling of poor and
deprived children.
Strengthening partnership among
teachers, parents, and students to
improve daily attendance.
Improvement
of
school
environment may improve daily
attendance.
SMCs
SMCs have been formed in

many schools.
Poor and deprived students are

out of school.
School activities need include

social events in the community.
Some SMCs are really active

in
mobilizing
local
resources.
Identification of additional
services to the school.
A planned intervention through

school mapping is necessary to
stop indiscriminate opening of
schools.
Awareness
programmes
(Campaign,
Rally,
Discussion,
Mothers
gathering, Meetings etc.) is
taking place in order to
increase the access.
HTs
Most of the children from

the community are enrolled
in the school.
SMC, parents and teachers
are supportive to boosting
up student enrolment.
Insufficient number of teachers,

lack
of
educational
and
physical resources in school.
Indiscriminate
opening
of
schools has cut on student
enrolment losing students and
teacher quota.
Poor and deprived students are
not attending the school.
Parents apathy to educating
their children is the cause of
their poor attendance.
In the poor communities it is
impossible
to
generate
resources.
Government funding is barely
sufficient for teacher salaries.
Teachers
Most of the children from

the community are enrolled
in the school.
Support the mobilizeation
of stakeholders for children
enrolment.
Schools are located within
walking distances.
Governments
commitment
related to (minimum) teacher
quota, scholarships for all Dalits
and deprived students, and
textbooks,
should be made
available.
To improve retention and daily
attendance of students schools
enabled to provide facilities such
as educational materials, sports
materials, afternoon meal (for the
poor and deprived children), and
so on.
Admission fee, birth certificate,

and inability of parents to buy
appropriate dress for their
children are interfering with
the education of these poor and
deprived children.
The problem of overcrowded

classroom and insufficient number
of teachers need to be resolved.
Parents also need to monitor

their childrens educational
activities
Adequate scholarship facility and

nutrition programmes may help
improve access and retention of
these children.
School should be involved in

different
awareness
raising
activities.
FRP Report 11
Stakeholders
Potential
Concern
Considered opinion
Parents
Most of the parents are

aware of the need to
educate
their
children
irrespective of gender or
ethnicity.
Deprived and disadvantaged

parents are yet to be involved
in school affairs.
Parents expect quick returns of

education.
Relevance of education daily

living and economic condition
is going down.
Schoolteachers have failed to

maintain discipline and control in
schools.
Source: Transcribed from recorded interviews, focus group and pod group discussion 2003.
There is consensus among key stakeholders on: students' learning achievement is
poor in schools, dropout and repetition rates are high, students' daily attendance in
schools is low, transfer of training skills in the classrooms is yet to take place, school
physical and educational conditions are poor, and, finally, there is no exchange of
feedback between the teacher and parents. The considerations suggested include
monitoring of teachers time and task by the HT SMC and parents, improving school
environment; making student progress reporting to the parents, mandatory; and
cutting-down the number of trainings. According to some SMC members teacher
training was an impediment to the improvement of the quality of education as it
snitched away teachers from the schools which already suffered from shortage of
teachers.
Stakeholders
Strong point
Concern
Considered opinion
DEOs
Teacher
support
mechanism is being
developed.
Learning achievement is poor.
Monitoring and supervision need to

be strengthened.
RC
is
being
developed as a
centre for technical
support to provide
training to the
teachers, feedback
on
better
class
conduction,
counseling
and
suggestions
in
order to improve
performance in the
classroom.
Learning achievement is poor in

grade 1.
SMC has
formed in
schools.
RPs
SMCs
been
many
Transfer of training skill

classroom is yet to take palce.
in
Regular follow-up of trained teachers

performance.
Teachers do not want to improve

their knowledge and skills by
themselves.
Most of the teachers do not prepare
before entering the class.
Transfer of training skill
classroom has not occurred.
in
Inadequate parental
childrens education.
to
support
Language problem in the classroom.
Dropout and repetition rates are

high.
Parents' support
insignificant.
at
home
is
Crowded classrooms and lack of

teachers.
SMC lacks basic orientation on
educational issues and on strategies
to resolve them.
Teachers should be empowered to

implement child-focused activities in
the classroom.
Monitoring of teacher activities by
RPs is impractical.
HT and SMC should strictly monitor
teacher attendance, class conduction,
and teacher time and task in schools.
Improving school environment may
help improving students' daily
attendance and eventually learning
achievement.
Parental involvement has to be

encouraged to improve learning
achievement.
Too much of training. Almost every
time one or the other teacher is away
from school for attending the training.
Due to shortage of teachers, there is a
compulsion for primary teachers to
teach upper grades.
Stakeholders
Strong point
Concern
Considered opinion
HTs
Teachers
are
receiving trainings.
Inadequate support from RP/DEOs

on how to improve learning
achievements.
Resources and facilities available in

school
are
insufficient
and
inappropriate for the children poor
and disadvantaged communities.
SMC, parent and

teacher
meetings
are taking place to
discuss the issues
of
learning
achievement.
Crowded
classrooms
insufficient teachers.
and
Inadequate support to childrens

education from the parents.
Students daily attendance is poor.
HTs time need to be more free and

flexible so that he or she could do the
monitoring,
mobilization,
and
management
and
administrative
works effectively.
School lack minimum basic facilities.

Lack of timely availability of
textbooks.
Teachers
A majority of the
teachers
have
received
some
trainings
on
modular or wholeschool,
management and
so forth.
Learning achievement is poor in

grade 1.
Small class-size is a must for regular

monitoring of students activities.
Underage and children of deprived

parents are mostly repeating.
Implementation
of
a
two-way
reporting (schools and parents) on
childrens progress.
Parents dont supervise their work

at home.
Language problem in the classroom.
Classrooms are overcrowded.
Provision of group work teaching

learning
activities
inside
the
classroom.
Textbooks are not available on

time.
Parents
Most of the parents

are aware about
the
value
of
quality education
irrespective
of
gender
and
ethnicity.
A
few
parents
came to school to
learn about their
childrens progress.

Teachers do not check homework in
the school.
Teachers seldom provide feedback to

the parents.
Lack of interaction between teachers

and parents.
Teachers consistently ignore checking

homework and explaining what was
wrong and why.
Teachers are unable to maintain the

discipline and control of student
activities in school.
It is teachers job to monitor every

childs progress and ensure that he or
she has cot the basic skills.
Buying and reimbursing textbooks is

creating a major setback on students
learning.
School Management
In the changed context [Education Act (7th amendment)] and in the light of
government priority to management transfer to the community it has been felt that
local stakeholders need some clarification as well as orientation. The management
affairs recorded in the SMC minutes and the concerns shown in focus group
discussion both tell about the schools physical improvements. Suggesting that
improving school management is less a subject of discussions in SMC meeting.
Among suggested considerations, HTs workloads were recommended to reduce so
that she/he has sufficient time to devote on school management and administration.
Currently, HTs have been almost as engaged in taking classes as a teacher in the
school. Secondly, strengthening cooperation between teacher and parents and
increasing the frequency of interactions between the two have been recommended.
FRP Report 11
Stakeholders
DEOs
RPs
Strong point
SMC has been formed in
almost all the schools.
Communities are
encouraged to manage the
schools locally.
Planning processes at the
local level has been kicked
off through SIP, VEP, and
DEP.
Election of school
management committee
members.
SMCs are willing to take
their responsibilities.
Preparation of SIP and
annual calendar is in the
process.
SMCs
Empowerment of local
community is being
initiated.
Local control of school
management is being
initiated.
HTs
SMC is coordinating with

the HT/teacher and
parents.
Occasionally SMC
meeting includes agenda
for improving learning
achievement.
Partnership with clubs
(Echo clubs, Ex-Student
Organization and ECCA)
to improve school
environment is gradually
developing.
SIP is being developed
Concern
SMCs/HTs/Teachers are
motivated politically
rather than academically.
HTs leadership is weak
and ineffective.
SMC lacks basic
orientation and training
on their roles and
responsibilities.
Most teachers are not
punctual and there is
none to seriously
monitor their daily
attendance and class
conduction.
Inadequate physical
facilities.
Inadequate educational
materials.
Poor management of the
HTs in the school.
Financial problems
persist in the school.
Strengthening
coordination between
teachers, parents, SMCs,
and villagers.
Schools have inadequate
physical facilities and
hence much of their time
is spent on fund raising.
Due to the age regulation
parents produce fake age
certificates.
Student teacher ratio is
not good in the schools.
HTs have less time for
day to day management
of school matters.
Inadequate educational
materials.
Inadequate and
inappropriate physical
facilities.
Collecting funds from
poor communities is
impossible and, hence,
the school has to rely on
local sponsors.
Considered opinion
Local bodies need to be
activated for school
management.
More orientation and training
to the local bodies, (SMC is
required in the context of the
recent amendment of the
Education Act).
HTs effective leadership is a
must.
SMC and the HT should
supervise teacher absenteeism
and monitor classroom
practices.
Professional support to
teacher development should
be an on-going process.
Management of school
activities should be made
transparent.
Coordination and cooperation
between parents and teachers
is a must to bring the
marginalized groups into the
school management.
Motivating parents for
participation in the school
management process is
necessary.
HTs time is mostly consumed
by class teaching in place of a
teacher who is absent.
HT should have some spare
time for school management.
It is also unfair to include HTs
as full- time teacher while
calculating the student-teacher
ratio.
Stakeholders
Teachers
Strong point
Schools activities are
being conducted in a
planned way.
SMCs are being activated
in the school matters.
Parents
Parents have started

visiting schools.
Parental awareness on
school management is
gradually increasing.
Concern
Student-teacher ratio in
the school.
Insufficient instructional
materials.
Lack of physical
facilities.
HT should maintain
equality in his behavior.
Over crowded
classroom.
Scholarships are limited.
Teachers are
overburdened.
Teachers are not able to
maintain discipline in the
classroom..
Student leaves after tiffin
and no one controls.
Teacher parent
interaction is rare in the
schools.
Textbooks are not
available on time.
Considered opinion
HT should have a personality
and leadership skills.
Teachers time on task should
be monitored regularly.
Proper delegation of
responsibility and authority to
other teachers.
Involving students/parents in
the management process.
Time management.
Frequency of interaction
between teacher and parents
should be increased.
A system of reporting
students progress to the
parents has to be ensured. If
not for all students, at least for
those who are doing poorly.
The parents' and teachers
efforts might help these poorly
performing students improve
their learning achievement.
Source: Recorded interviews and focus group and pod group discussions 2003.

It has been realized by all the stakeholders that RPs currently have too many
activities in their bags. Secondly and more importantly, the resource centers now
have too many schools to supervise. It has been felt that supervision and monitoring
of school/community-based activities is becoming increasingly impossible. The
suggestion centered on the participation and empowerment of the local bodies, SMC
and the HT for monitoring and supervision, re-clustering of schools, and orientation
and conceptual development on monitoring and supervision.
Stakeholders
Strong point
Concern
Considered opinion
DEOs
Provision of monitoring
and supervision is in
place.
Too many activities in the name

of monitoring and supervision.
Consolidation of monitoring and

supervision is necessary.
Confusion about whether the

process
is monitoring or
output.
Participatory monitoring
need of the time
is
the
Community
and
parental
involvement in monitoring and
supervision is insignificant.
RPs
Resource
centre
and
resource
persons
are
doing well by providing
technical backstopping.
Scheduled monitoring of
school activities.
SMCs
10
Involvement of SMCs on
the monitoring of school
activities.
Too many schools to supervise.

It is difficult to visit one school
a month.
RPs workload should be examined

prior to assigning him any new
task.
Too many activities to complete

in a year.
Delegation of monitoring and

supervision responsibility to SMC
and HTs.
Data collection and tabulation

activities alone consume over
100 work days (of an RP).
Lack of technical knowledge in
SMC about monitoring.
Re-clustering
necessary.
of
schools
is
SMCs need some orientation and

conceptual
development
on
monitoring and supervision of
school activities.
FRP Report 11
HTs
Development
of
observation
form
reporting to parents.
an
for
Discussion with RPs and

suggestions.
RP's school visit is limited weak

feedback from RP.
Low participation of parents in
the school
Observation of teachers'
class teachings porograms
and activities.
Teachers
Parents' and SMC members also do

not
take
much
interest
in
monitoring and supervision.
HT has less time to devote in this
matter.
Use of observation form

for reporting to parents.
RP's school visit is limited and

feedback is weak.
Regular interaction with HTs and

RPs and teachers is a must.
Discussion with RPs and

HTs suggestions.
Low participation of parents in

the school.
Suggestions/feedback from RPs is

necessary on class conduction.
HT
often
classroom.
Parents
RPs visit to school is insufficient

and the feedback received is
insignificant.
A few parents have shown

interest in monitoring the
school activities.
supervises
the
There is no formal channel for

parents to be included in the
Parental involvement in the school

monitoring should be initiated.
11
CHAPTER III:
DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
Background
The results are discussed under three sub-headings: access to education, education
quality, and school management. Some other topical areas such as early childhood
education, continuous assessment system and school improvement plans have also
been touched upon. Similarly, reflections have been also made on school supervision
and monitoring, and on the general state of community awareness. Basically, the
opinions of the parents, schoolteachers/HTs, RPs and the SMC members expressed
in interactions with them have been discussed, too.
Access to Education
Access to education is measured in terms of overall enrolment, enrolment of different
ethnic groups including girls, and the dalit and the deprived. A comparison has also
been made of grades over the years to trace possible emerging patterns. Access to
quality education is discussed in terms of resources available in schools and of school
conditions.
Access to education, as it has been also portrayed by many other studies and reports,
appears to be no more than an issue in a majority of communities in Nepal. During
the study visit the research team had interacted with over 100 parents and guardians,
over 80 SMC members, and with a sizeable number of schoolteachers, RPs and DEO
staffs. None of these stakeholders expressed concerns over physical access to schools.
This suggests that distance home to school is no more an issue for the majority.
Awareness among parents about educating their children is also growing. This is
made evident by the fact that enrollments in public schools comprise diverse ethnic
groups as well as children from different social and economic backgrounds. Thus,
there is a clear departure from the time when parents were not sending their children
to schools. These and some other findings have been elaborated in the paragraphs
below.
Enrolment of Ethnic Group
School records reveal over 100 castes which has made comparisons difficult. Hence,
these castes have been broadly classified into several major ethnic categories. Priority
is given to category castes; Sherpas, Gurung, and Tamang; based on their general
inclination to particular professional and/or cultural orientation such Magar observe
a unique culture and religion and so they have been categorized as a religious group.
Similarly, castes such as Kami, Damai, Sharki inherit unique professions such as
iron-smithy, tailoring, cobbling and so forth. These castes have been grouped as
professionals. Some castes such as Brahmin, Chhetri, and Tharu have been left as
they are because they have the largest share in the student population. Similarly,
Muslims are also left as a separate category because they find it difficult to mix with
any other category due to their peculiar professional, cultural and religious
backgrounds. The Dalit and the deprived groups include those reported as such.
However, in some cases the Dalits include need a wider definition where a
comparison between the Dalits and non-Dalits could be made.
Previous studies have also indicated that students enrolled in primary schools are
mostly heterogeneous ethnically. Increasing diversity in students populations in the
12
FRP Report 11
public schools may require additional efforts as each ethnic population might have
needs of its own. The table and graph presented below demonstrates coherent
distribution of primary school enrolment across ethnic groups. The gender disparity
also seems to be diminishing, as the enrolment of both genders is almost equal across
all ethnic groups. The groupings have been made on the basis of occupational,
religious and cultural orientation of each caste.
Table 2: Student Enrolment by Ethnic Group and Gender
Total
Student Gender
Ethnic Group
Male
Female
Chhetri
48
57
10.9%
12.8%
11.8%
Brahmin
53
68
121
12.0%
15.2%
13.6%
Tharu
101
83
184
22.9%
18.6%
20.7%
Religious
104
109
213
23.6%
24.4%
24.0%
Occupational
62
74
136
14.1%
16.6%
15.3%
Dalit/ Deprived
55
42
97
12.5%
9.4%
10.9%
Muslim
18
13
31
Total
105
4.1%
2.9%
3.5%
441
446
887
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Source: Field data collection from 16 sample schools spread in 4 districts 2003.
Figure 1: Distribution of Student Enrolment in Public Schools by Gender and Ethnicity 2003
Similar results were also found in the first phase of this study. It is encouraging to note that student populations in
public schools comprise diverse ethnic groups. The student enrolment data 1999 to 2002 reveal a consistent pattern
of ethnic representation in all primary grades.
13
Figure 2: Student Enrolment by Grade and Ethnicity
14
FRP Report 11
Year
2002
Pockets of socially and/or economically deprived communities e.g. Mushars in

Chitwan, however, do exist where access to education still remains a major
challenge. The concern with these communities is more of equitable access than of
general access to school. It seems that the culture and traditions that Mushar families
and their children inherit largely hinder their participation in the society. A school
head-teacher made his remark about Mushar children, saying that a Holland-based
organization has been providing notebook, pencil, school dress and summer and
winter clothes for Mushar children annually. Despite all these, they (Mushar
children) are consistently poor in daily school attendance and so is their learning
achievement. Parents pay little attention to our complaints.
15
One of the SMC members made an important remark on Mushars attitudes and
said,
The problem with Mushars is that they are too shy to work together with
others such as Tharus and Tamangs living in the same village. They have always
thought of themselves as deprived, and socially, and economically backward.
There is no change in their age-old attitudes and their children do the same in
the class. Organizations supporting Mushars pay no attention to socializing or
socially uplifting them. Material support will only make them and their children
more dependant on external support.
It cannot be denied that Mushars, like any other Dalit and deprived ethnic group, are
among the poorest of the poor and that they do need external support. At the same
time, it is also true that continued support through invisible hands has proved less
effective as far as their enlistment in the social and economic development of the
community is concerned. Therefore, the concern as of socializing Mushars
underlined by one of the participating SMC members is particularly important. It is
also applicable to all Dalit and deprived communities. According to the SMC
members, to socialize these communities it is important that we do something from
within the community and not through invisible hands.
The root of the problems, with the Mushars families and children seem to be twofold:
a) the families are not only economically and socially backward but are also illiterate.
Consequently, family support to childrens education at home is extremely limited,
and b) the way they live a secluded life in the community prevents them from
participating in economic and social development activities taking place in their
community. Consequently, they become less aware of their roles and responsibilities
and have not been able to value education.
Girls enrolment
Girls enrolment in public schools is consistently on the rise over the past four years.
In 2001, girls outnumbered boys in grade 1 while in grades 3 and 5 their numbers
are close to those of boys. It is not only that the numbers of students in primary
schools have increased but also that the gap that existed between girls and boys
enrolment has shrink considerably. Most importantly, the numbers of girls in higher
grades have increased substantially, which is an indicator of increasing promotion
rates and decreasing dropout rates of girls in primary education.
The charts below (Figure 3) indicate a fairly uniform distribution of girl students
throughout primary grades. The distribution of students in year 2002-03 also reveals
a consistent pattern with regard to the girls and boys from grade 1 through 6.
Suggests that the gender participation in education in the public schools is on the rise
and that the difference between boy and girls enrolments has become minimal.
16
FRP Report 11
Figure 3: Enrolment by gender
Access to Quality Education

Physical access to schools in general looks promising. But the gloomy side of it is that
schools are poor in educational and physical resources. The access drive of the late
1980s and early 1990s apparently led to mushrooming of schools (everywhere). The
change was obvious at least in a couple of aspects, e.g. enrolments increased
considerably regardless of gender and ethnicity. And many schools now have their
own permanent buildings. This may be satisfying compared to the time, (about five
years back), when students in many communities were forced to assemble as a class
under a tree or under an open air.
Nevertheless, it is disheartening to note that many public schools lack even basic
supplies of educational and physical resources. Even after visiting to 50 schools, the
research team could not portray any better picture of a public school. Each school
had only bare walls, some furniture and a chalkboard. Even those that were
identified by a group of RPs as the best schools in the district were found having
nothing more than recently built buildings. In the name of materials, the best
schools had small wooden shelves with school registers and (some) documents
placed on them. Thus the general perception of a school, even of the educators it the
field is surprisingly confined to condition of school building. What is a must, in
terms of educational resources in public schools, remains yet, first, to be conceived
and second, to be ensured. In this regard, access to education to quality education
is only an imaging for the majority of school-goers.
17
Indiscriminate opening of schools and lack of minimum basic resources have

resulted, in some public schools, in a cut on student enrolment. Of the sixteen schools
recently visited, six (three in Kapilvastu, two in Morang, and one in Dhankuta)
complained of a decrease in their student populations in recent years. These schools
once had large population and were covering larger service areas. Due to the
opening of new schools in the vicinity their population has shrunk. In one of the
schools there were less than 80 students altogether in grades 1 through 5.
Consequently, the school lost its teacher quota as well. The narrowing of the student
enrolment size in public schools also testifies that the quality of education in these
schools is poor. The parents are aware of education and they opt for quality in
education. Hence several confounding issues need to be understood as well as
resolved before it is too late.
The issue is whether to let the public schools go as they are, or improve the quality of
education in a planned manner. If the public schools continue to have the same input
and output pattern, they may soon run out of students. Such schools will eventually
acquire slow and a painful death. However, political and/or community interest
would not let these school die soon because in these schools there is a social or
political stake involved. On the other hand, administrative processes would not let
them survive because they are only a financial burden to the administrators. Such a
phenomenon may become widespread. Hence, it is high time strategies to prevent
public education from experiencing dire consequences were worked out and
pursued. Only a planned intervention and flexible policies could stop this
consequence from coming in. Stopping indiscriminate opening of schools and
adopting flexible policy for private public partnerships including provision for a
lease-out of depleting public schools to the private sector could be the first few steps
necessary in this regard.
Education Quality
Quality of education in a majority of schools has remained a major concern. Parents,
schoolteachers and SMC members equally agree that quality vis--vis learning
achievement in schools is generally poor. Previous studies have also revealed poor
learning achievement in public schools.
Community concerns and schools education statistics related to quality are
discussed under three sub-headings: learning achievement, teacher quality and
grade repetition.
Quality of education, quality measured in terms of learning achievement generally
appears to be poor in public schools. Previous studies have shown that the levels of
achievement in three major subjects - Math, Social Studies, and Nepali - is below 50
percent on an average. Most of the deliberations of parents and SMC members point
to lack of resources including teachers and teacher quality as the reason for low
achievement in schools. Crowded classrooms and insufficient numbers of teachers
appear to be the major cause of poor educational quality in a majority of schools in
the Terai, whereas HT's weak leadership and lack of educational resources appear to
be the cause in the schools in the Hills.
Students learning achievement has been assessed in terms of achievement scores in
three major subjects (Nepali, Math and Social Studies) as well as of pass or fail in the
final examination. The pass or fail status is also assessed on gender, ethnicity, and
18
FRP Report 11
age structure. Students learning achievement has been also analyzed against teacher
quality (teachers qualification and experience) and student-teacher ratio and classsize.
Note: In this study, students half-yearly or annual examination scores, (the
scoring done by the class-teachers), have been taken as a measure of student
achievement. Since these are not standardized test scores, comparison across
schools may be biased. However, as the scores count to the final evaluation, which
determines the pass or fail status, the score does have significant importance for
both the teacher and the students. Some analysis on learning achievement was
necessary because it constitutes the main determinant of schools effectiveness.
Hence, the following analysis should be read with due attention to its limitation.
Students average score in Math, Social Studies and Nepali

Scores received by the students in the half-yearly examination (in some cases,
quarterly examination) have been collected to assess the general trend of their
learning achievement in respect of their gender, ethnicity, attendance, and so on.
The scores have been counted into percentage due to the difference in full marks on
school to another and one term to another. The average of the scores in three major
subjects (Math, Nepali and Social Studies) have been used to measure an overall
achievement status of the students. The average scores have been grouped into four
categories: 30 percent or below as Poor, 31-50 percent as Average, 51-75 percent
as Better, and 76 percent and above as High.
In grade 1, over 54 percent of students obtained poor (30 percent or less) in an
average in the three major subjects. In grades 3 and 5, however, only about 21 and 11
percent obtained the poor score (Table 3). The suggestions that as they go
progressively into higher grades, students make better learning achievements. This is
possibly because as the students go up to higher grades, they develop confidence.
Studies have suggested students feeling of belongingness to the school or schoolbonding is one of the significant factors in student learning achievement. It appears
that for the beginners, the school provides an unfamiliar environment and he or she
find himself or herself alienated from home. Before he or she develops bonding with
the school, the approaching final examination may be another threat. Apparently, the
students who rely on school inputs for their learning achievements score poorly.
Poor learning achievement and grade repetition, on the other hand, have been taken
as the major impediments to students continuity in the school and a cause of early
dropout. Thus, students in their early grades are mostly vulnerable to grade
repetition and are at risk of dropping out. It is believed that unprepared entry to
school (whatever the grade) is perplexing to many youngsters. This unpreparedness
may lead poor learning achievement, grade repetition and eventual drop out.
Although the above statement needs to be judged on empirical basic in the case of
Nepal, there are however many evidences in other countries, which suggests that
preparatory classes such as Kindergarten and Pre-school significantly improve
learning achievement, and reduce grade repetition and dropout in early school
grades.
19
Table 3: Student Average Score by Grade in 2002.

Average Score
Grade
Poor
Total
(30% or Less)
Average (31- Better

50%)
(51-75%)
High
Male
65
22
23
% Gender
55.6%
6.0%
18.8%
19.7%
100.0%
% Score
48.9%
31.8%
53.7%
46.0%
47.6%
Female
68
15
19
27
129
% Gender
52.7%
11.6%
14.7%
20.9%
100.0%
% Score
51.1%
68.2%
46.3%
54.0%
52.4%
Total
133
22
41
50
246
% Gender
54.1%
8.9%
16.7%
20.3%
100.0%
% Score
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
128
(76 % +)
117
Male
28
43
40
17
% Gender
21.9%
33.6%
31.3%
13.3%
100.0%
% Score
48.3%
39.8%
44.9%
73.9%
46.0%
Female
30
65
49
150
% Gender
20.0%
43.3%
32.7%
4.0%
100.0%
% Score
51.7%
60.2%
55.1%
26.1%
54.0%
Total
58
108
89
23
278
% Gender
20.9%
38.8%
32.0%
8.3%
100.0%
% Score
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Male
14
65
19
105
% Gender
13.3%
61.9%
18.1%
6.7%
100.0%
% Score
66.7%
52.4%
46.3%
58.3%
53.0%
Female
59
22
93
% Gender
7.5%
63.4%
23.7%
5.4%
100.0%
% Score
33.3%
47.6%
53.7%
41.7%
47.0%
Total
21
124
41
12
198
% Gender
10.6%
62.6%
20.7%
6.1%
100.0%
% Score
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Genderwise, the learning achievement of girls is more satisfactory than that of boys.
In grade 1, about 56 percent of the boys got an average score of 30 percent or below
whereas only 51 percent of the girls got poor scores. Among the students who
obtained highest scores (76 percent or above) 54 percent were girls and only 46
percent were boys. In grades 3 and 5, on the other hand, 78 percent and 58 percent of
the highest scorers were boys (see table 3). Suggesting, that the girls achievement
score weakens gradually as they progress into higher grades.
It is important to note that in primary grades male students are more susceptible to
failing grades than female students. In grade 1, about 56 percent of the male students
received poor or failing scores while only about 51 percent of the female students
received such scores. In grade 3, 22 percent and 21 percent girls got failing scores. In
grade 5, about 10 percent of the male students and only 7.5 percent of the female
students failed. Thus, in general, the learning achievement of girls looks promising
compared to that of boys (Table 3 and Figure 4).
Agewise, it appears that higher-age students perform better than the lower-age
students in primary grades. It grade 1, majority of students having scored a passing
grade and over are found to be between 7 and 8 years of age. Similarly, in grades 3
and 5 also higher-age students have scored better (Figure 4).
20
FRP Report 11
Figure 4: Students Average Score by Grade, Gender, and Age 2002.
21
Students average score in general is consistently poor across major ethnic groups.
However, majorities of Tharu, Dalit/deprived and Muslim students scored poor in
grade 1. In grades 3 and 5 the distribution of students average score is normal across
ethnic groups. Thus, it appears that, except in grade 1, caste or ethnicity is not an
important factor influencing students learning achievement (Figure 5)
22
FRP Report 11
Figure 5: Students Average Score by Grade and Ethnicity.
23
The Dalit and non-Dalit groups of ethnicity reveal that the Dalits constitute a
significantly higher proportion of poor achievers than the non-Dalits in grade 1. Over
72 percent of the Dalits received an average score of 30 percent or below in grade 1,
24
FRP Report 11
whereas about 50 percent of non-Dalits obtained similar score. This phenomenon is,
however, confined to grade 1 only. In grades 3 and 5 the average score is nearly
similar.
Subject-wise achievement level
A subjectwise comparison across gender, ethnicity and age group reveals some
fascinating results. Three subjects - Math, Social Studies and Nepali - have been
considered.
Table 4: Average Score in Math, Social Studies, and Nepali
N
% in Math
% in Soc Std
% in Nepali
Valid
1819
1734
1820
Missing
984
985
1070
Mean
38.9
42.3
46.5
Std. Deviation
24.5
23.7
23.3
Minimum
0.0
0.0
1.0
Maximum
98.9
96.7
97.0
Source: Field data collection 2002/2003
The average score in Math is only about 39 percent, whereas the average score in
Social Studies is over 42 percent and the average score in Nepali is over 46 percent.
The above table includes all students regardless of grades.
In the following tables each of the three subjects has been considered by grade. In
grade 1, the difference in the mean score in the three subjects is not that much. The
mean score in Math and Social Studies is the same, 41.6 and 41.5 percent
respectively. In Nepali, the mean score is slightly higher 43.7 percent. In grades 3 and
5 also the average score is only close to 40-50 in all the three subjects. Only in grade 3
the average score in Nepali is a bit higher to 50 percent. Since the passing score is 3032 percent, an average score of below 50 percent is less satisfactory. The pass or fail
status are analyzed in the paragraphs to come.
Table 5: Subjectwise Score in Grade 1
N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Math
630
1.7
97.8
41.6
Std. Deviation
29.4
Soc Std
543
2.5
96.7
41.5
28.5
Nepali
631
1.7
97.0
43.7
26.1
Valid N (listwise)
518
Subject-wise Score in Grade 3

N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
Math
627
1.0
98.9
40.4
23.2
Soc Std
626
1.0
96.7
41.2
20.7
Nepali
624
1.0
97.0
50.1
23.2
Valid N (listwise)
622
Subject-wise Score in Grade 5

N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
Math
562
.0
98.3
34.2
18.4
sSoc Std
565
.0
95.0
44.3
21.4
Nepali
565
1.0
93.3
45.6
19.1
Valid N (listwise)
561
Source: Field data collection, 2002/2003
25
Pass / fail status of student

A population of over 2500 students enrolled in the previous year in grades 1, 3, and 5
in the four sampled schools was taken this year to learn about their current status.
The following analysis is based on students current status irrespective of whether
they are promotees or grade repeaters. In terms of gender it appears that female
students outperform their male counterparts in early grades, e.g. in grade 1 and 3. Of
all the students that passed grades 1 and 3, about 54 and 52 percent were female.
Only in grade 5, the males surpassed the females in terms of graduation (Table 6).
Table 6: Pass and Fail Status of Students by Grade and Gender 2001.
Grade
1
Gender
Fail
Pass
Male
71
102
173
55.9%
46.4%
49.9%
Female
Total
3
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Total
56
118
174
44.1%
53.6%
50.1%
127
220
347
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
24
119
143
46.2%
48.4%
48.0%
28
127
155
53.8%
51.6%
52.0%
52
246
298
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
97
105
42.1%
55.7%
54.4%
11
77
88
57.9%
44.3%
45.6%
19
174
193
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Figure 6: Pass /Fail status by grade and gender
26
FRP Report 11
The above table and graphs suggest that the female graduation rate is as they
escalate to higher grades. It is likely that the declining graduation rates of the females
owes to the lack of privacy and gender-specific environment in the public schools.
The most commonly identified factor in the school environment is the lack of
separate toilets for girls. It is possible that as they grow, the girls find it difficult to
share school toilets with the boys. During their monthly periods girls need more
privacy and changed facility. In a study in Uganda, Carasco, et al., (1996)1 found that
girls in school had to visit neighboring homes to change during their monthly
periods. This may cause annoyance to girls attending schools at their early stages of
puberty. Other things is sexual harassment and teasing in the school might also force
them to turn their back upon the schools as they grow.
Pass / fail status by ethnicity
Students' caste or ethnicity status obtained from school records have been classified
into several major ethnic categories. It has been discussed above in page 27. In the
major ethnic groups, the Dalit and deprived groups are the highest repeaters in
grade 1. They constitute about 16 percent of the total enrolment and about 27
1 Carasco, J. et al. (1996). Factors Influencing Effectiveness in Primary schools: A baseline survey.
German Foundation for Education Development, Education Science and Documentation Center, Bonn.
27
percent of all repeaters in grade 1. Religious groups, on the other hand, occupy the
largest share (over 24 percent) of the total enrolment and over 27 percent of the
promotees in grades 1. In grade 3 and 5, however, the Tharu and religious groups
outnumber the Dalits and the deprived accounting together for over 42 percent of the
total repeaters in the respectivegrades (Table 7).
Table 7: Student Pass / Fail Status by Grade and Caste Group in 2001.
Pass / Fail Status
Grade
Fail
Chhetri
Brahmin
Tharu
Religious
Occupational
Dalit/Deprived
Muslim
Total
Chhetri
Brahmin
3
Tharu
Religious
Pass / Fail Status
Total
Grade
Pass
18
29
47
14.2%
13.2%
13.5%
13
26
39
10.2%
11.8%
11.2%
18
41
59
14.2%
18.6%
17.0%
24
60
84
18.9%
27.3%
24.2%
13
35
48
10.2%
15.9%
13.8%
35
19
54
27.6%
8.6%
15.6%
10
16
4.7%
4.5%
4.6%
127
220
347
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
30
33
5.8%
12.2%
11.1%
32
39
13.5%
13.0%
13.1%
13
66
79
25.0%
26.8%
26.5%
11
64
75
21.2%
26.0%
25.2%
Fail
Chhetri
Brahmin
Tharu
Religious
5
Occupational
Dalit/Deprived
22
25
15.8%
12.6%
13.0%
32
35
15.8%
18.4%
18.1%
27
30
15.8%
15.5%
15.5%
41
46
26.3%
23.6%
23.8%
30
33
15.8%
17.2%
17.1%
18
20
10.5%
10.3%
10.4%
Muslim
Total
Occupational
Dalit/Deprived
3
Muslim
Total
Total
Pass
2.3%
2.1%
19
174
193
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
36
42
11.5%
14.6%
14.1%
11
19
15.4%
4.5%
6.4%
11
7.7%
2.8%
3.7%
52
246
298
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Figure 7: Pass/Fail status by ethnicity
The pass/fail status of students has been examined against the Dalit and non-Dalit
student populations. Here, some of the castes such as Damai, Kami, and Sarki,
previously categorized as occupational groups have been included as Dalits. As
expected, over 56 percent of Dalit student repeat grade 1 while only 31.5 percent of
28
FRP Report 11
the non-Dalit students repeat this grade. However, it is quite different in grade 5.
The Dalits have a higher proportion of promotees than the non-Dalits. Over 93
percent of the Dalits in grade 5 get promotion while only about 90 percent of the nonDalits get it (Table 8). This finding also suggests that Dalit students in lower grades
are more susceptible to grade repetition than the Dalits in higher grades.
Table 8: Students Pass / Fail Status by Grade and Ethnicity in 2001.

Grade
Pass / Fail Status
Dalit / Non-Dalit Status
Repeater
1
Total
Promotee
Dalit
40
31
71
%Dalit
56.3%
43.7%
100.0%
Non-Dalit
87
189
276
% Non-Dalit
31.5%
68.5%
100.0%
Total
127
220
347
Dalit
11
28
39
100.0%
%Dalit
28.2%
71.8%
Non-Dalit
41
218
259
% Non-Dalit
15.8%
84.2%
100.0%
Total
52
246
298
Dalit
27
29
%Dalit
6.9%
93.1%
100.0%
Non-Dalit
17
147
164
% Non-Dalit
10.4%
89.6%
100.0%
Total
19
174
193
Figure 8: Pass/Fail Status by Dalit and Non-Dalit grouping
29
Pass / fail status by age

Although the repetition rate is significantly high in primary grades, it appears that
the higher the age the better the pass rate. In primary grades, students of higher age
are found to be less repeating (figure 9). It is, not clear however, whether the high
pass rate of higher age students is because they are mature or because they have been
repeating the same grade or even because they received considerable coaching to
succeed (compared to the first-timers). Studies reveal only a trivial impact, if at all, of
grade repetition on students learning achievement. Although it is too early to make
any assertion, in the current analyses age appears to be an important factor affecting
students' learning achievement.
Figure 9: Pass / Fail Status and Students Age.
Pass / Fail Status and Average Score

A cross-tabulation of the pass/fail status and average score has also been conducted
to see if there is any coherent pattern. Normally, it appears that those who had
received better scores in their half-yearly or quarterly examination had a better
chance of passing the grade. However, a significant proportion of those who had
received an average score of 30 percent or below were also promoted to the next
grade. On the other hand, some of those who had received better scores were also
found retained in the same grade (see the figure below). It is quite possible that the
30
FRP Report 11
poor achievers somehow excelled during the time between their half-yearly (or
quarterly) exam and their final exam. However, those retained in the same grade,
despite better achievement in their quarterly or half-yearly exams, raise doubts
whether they were retained for a reason other than poor learning achievements.
Figure 10: Pass/Fail status and achievement score
Whatever the cause, it is pertinent to raise questions about the purpose and methods
of student asessemnt in schools. How students are assessed and what is actual
involved when some students are declared pass and fail also needs to be examined.
Promoting students a grade up and retaining some in the same grade very much
depends on student's behaviour or performance in the classroom and during the
examination. A parent's remarks on the examination are particularly relevant.
My son couldnt appear in the final exam due to health problem. He
was declared fail. However, he didnt fail the exam, he only failed to sit
for the exam. My son is quite intelligent. It is very unfortunate that he
became sick at the wrong time and lost one year."
31
Schoolteachers agreed that the students who missed, their final exam for whatever
reason are rarely considered for a retake. Questions were also raised with regard to
this: students fail to answer some of the questions because no one helped them
understand the questions in the first place. For many students examination poses to
be a considerable threat because they have either dropped or repeated without
appearing in the final examination.
Students Daily Attendance
Normally, schools are expected to run classes for 220+ days and that students are
supposed to attend schools for that many days. The average attendance in grade 1 is
found to be only 90 days; in grades 3 and 5 it is only 100 and 129 days. Thus, in an
average, students are attending less than 40% of the school days in grade 1 (see the
table below).
Table 9: Average Attendance by Grade
Grade
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
Std.
Deviation
1
3
369
90.2
1.00
224.0
54.4
195
100.7
1.00
213.0
44.1
79
129.3
6.00
224.0
68.9
Total
643
103.4
1.00
224.0
64.5
Students' daily attendance has been divided into four equal groups (for a better
analysis of the situation) 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent and above 75 percent. The
study reveals that over 69 percent of the total number of students in grade 1 and over
63 percent in grade 3 have attended the classes for less than 110 days (out of 220+
days). In grade 5, student attendance is slightly better, with only over 43 percent
attending classes for less than 110 days.
Table 10: Average Attendance by Grade
0 25 %
26 - 50%
51 - 75%
76% +
Total
32
Grade 1
Grade 3
Grade 5
109
29
15
153
% within Group
71.2%
19.0%
9.8%
100.0%
% within Grade
29.5%
14.9%
19.0%
24.3%
146
95
18
259
% within Group
56.4%
36.7%
6.9%
100.0%
% within Grade
39.6%
48.7%
22.8%
37.5%
69
52
20
141
% within Group
48.9%
36.9%
14.2%
100.0%
% within Grade
18.7%
26.7%
25.3%
20.4%
45
19
26
90
% within Group
50.0%
21.1%
28.9%
100.0%
% within Grade
12.2%
9.7%
32.9%
17.7%
369
195
79
643
% within Group
53.5%
28.3%
11.4%
100.0%
% within Grade
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Total
FRP Report 11
Figure 111: Average Attendance by grade
Class-size and Teacher student ratios

Studies have revealed the class-size and the teacher-student ratio as the greatest
impediment to students' learning achievement. The lower the ratio the better the
achievement. At the primary level, the teacher-student ratio is found to be as high as
1:81 in a Terai school and as low as 1:17 in a Hill school. However, in both the schools
students' daily attendance and learning achievement were equally poor. This
suggests, contrary to the above theory, that the teacher-student ratios really
influences neither students' daily attendance nor their learning achievement.
What is common with the schools in these two geographies is that they are poorly
resourced. Studies have clearly warned that because schools have minimum
resources quality interventions such as number of teachers, teacher training,
curricular exercise and other
inputs cannot boost up
students' learning
achievement. This study has also taken the lack of physical and educational
resources in schools as one of the serious impediments.
Studies on learning achievement in public schools in Nepal appear to have ignored
two apparent shortcomings: a) learning achievement students in the public schools is
so poor that it is difficult to say definitely whether the learning achievement is selfinduced as a natural time-bound learning process or is really teacher-school
motivated, b) resources in the public schools, both physical and educational, are so
poor that schools possibly cannot take the learning achievement of the students
above beyond the elementary levels. Hence, studies on the learning achievements in
the Nepali primary schools remain valid only to these levels and do not necessarily
reflect the effects of interventions.
Teacher quality
Some of the quality measures such as teacher training, grade teaching, continuous
assessment all seem to produce the desired result in the classroom and in students
learning achievement. Most primary teachers were found qualified and about 25
percent of them have received training. The minimum qualification required for a
33
teachership at the primary level is SLC pass or equivalent. In the sample schools
there were altogether 161 primary teachers of which, only 4 (2.5%) were under-SLC.
The under SLC teachers were recruited as support staff to do clerical works. But
because of insufficiency of the number of teachers they were assigned teaching jobs,
temporarily though. Of the 4 under- SLC teachers, only one was female.
In general, both the male and the female teachers were found to have almost a
similar status in terms of educational attainment. However, female teachers were
slightly more qualified than their male counterparts. Nevertheless, it is important to
note that over 55 percent of the primary teachers have qualifications, SLC or below.
About 45 percent of the primary teachers are above SLC (Table 11)
Table 11: Teachers qualification
Gender * Highest Education Crosstabulation
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
Under SLC
3
4.1%
1
1.1%
4
2.5%
Highest Education
SLC
IA/IEd Equiv
41
20
56.2%
27.4%
46
31
52.9%
35.6%
87
51
54.4%
31.9%
BA/BEd Equiv
9
12.3%
9
10.3%
18
11.3%
Total
73
100.0%
87
100.0%
160
100.0%
This is, indeed, a positive signal towards quality education. However, the general
trend with the primary teachers with higher qualifications is that they look for an
opportunity to teach at the higher levels lower secondary or secondary. This is
mostly because there is no extra incentive for teachers holding higher qualifications.
Moreover, teaching at the higher level and the financial incentives that come along
attraction for many teachers with higher qualifications. The phenomenon is common
with primary schools attached to lower secondary or secondary levels.
Consequently, higher qualification and experience of teacher are counter productive
to primary education because the teachers are sent to teach the higher grades. The
irony is that even though they teach the higher grades they are only entitled to
receive primary level teacher training, and so they do take the advantage when there
is an opportunity. According to the MOES/DEO statistics (2000), about 28 percent
(7,188 schools) of the primary schools in the country are attached to higher level
institutions, lower secondary, secondary or higher secondary. Teachers time and
task in these schools therefore need to be assessed thoroughly as the number of
teachers might not reflect the requisite teacher-student ratio.
Teacher training
Of the primary teacher only 25 percent or so are fully trained. Another 21 percent
are semi-trained, i.e. nearing completion. Some 12 percent have received one or
other type of training. About 41 percent of all the primary teachers are still untrained
(Table 13). The training status of female teachers is promising compared to that of
their male counterparts. Of all the female teachers in the primary schools over onethird are fully trained whereas only 16 percent of the male teachers are fully trained.
34
FRP Report 11
Table 12: Teacher qualifications

Gender * Training Status Crosstabulation
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
Trained
12
16.2%
29
33.3%
41
25.5%
Training Status
Some
Training
Semi Training
17
10
23.0%
13.5%
17
10
19.5%
11.5%
34
20
21.1%
12.4%
Untrained
35
47.3%
31
35.6%
66
41.0%
Total
74
100.0%
87
100.0%
161
100.0%
Teacher absenteeism
Teachers school attendance and their instructional time were both found rather
unsatisfactory in many primary school teachers. Out of 23-25 workdays in the month
of Mangsir, nearly 40 percent of the primary school teachers were absent (on leave)
for 5 or more workdays. Male teachers were found more o leave than the female
teachers. Over 68 percent of the female teachers were present in the schools for more
than 20 workdays, while only 52 percent of the male teachers were present in the
schools for more than 20 workdays (Table 9, Fig 16). The instructional hours, on the
other hand, go more to the male teachers than to the female teachers. About 39
percent of the male teachers were found to have 29 classes per week, whereas only 15
percent of the female teachers had 29 classes per week. Apparently, the problem is
that female teachers are more regular in attending school but have lesser number of
classes per week to teach. The male teachers, on the other hand, have more classes to
teach but are frequently absent (Table 13).
Table 13: Teachers attendance and class per week

Gender * Average Attendance Crosstabulation
Poor(<15
days)
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
2
3.2%
3
3.7%
5
3.5%
Average Attendance
Average
Better
(16-20 days)
(>20days)
28
33
44.4%
52.4%
23
55
28.4%
67.9%
51
88
35.4%
61.1%
Total
63
100.0%
81
100.0%
144
100.0%
Gender * Class per Week Crosstabulation
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
Count
% within Gender
< 25 class
23
37.1%
35
48.6%
58
43.3%
Class per Week

25-28 Class
29 Class
15
24
24.2%
38.7%
26
11
36.1%
15.3%
41
35
30.6%
26.1%
Total
62
100.0%
72
100.0%
134
100.0%
35
In matters of teaching experience and years (same school), female teachers

outnumber their male counterparts (Figure 12).
Figure 112: Teachers teaching experience
Schools physical condition

From our previous study, which used 13 basic indicators of school physical
condition, it was found that 75 percent of the community schools were into moderate
and poor conditions. Those in the moderate and poor conditions even lack the basic
amenities such as the usable toilets and separate toilets for girls, drinking water,
clean school environment, adequate furniture supply ventilation in the classroom,
and playground. Most of the classrooms in the community schools were bare walls
and had a chalkboards, and some furniture. There were no displays of any kind and
nothing that would attract children to be in the classroom for the entire day. Joyful
learning is almost impossible in the community schools in the absence of materials,
environment, and the very concept to making the classroom attractive and the
classroom activities enjoyable.
There is virtually nothing in the classroom in the community schools to motivate
young kids to come and be in the school all the day and everyday. Instead, mostly in
the junior classes, it looked like the teacher held the students hostage in the
classroom. Once the teacher was temporarily out, every one run out to the open field.
36
FRP Report 11
They find joy not inside the classroom but out in the fields. This characteristic is also
cultural because a classroom has been regarded as closed space exclusive to teaching.
Lack playground produces, a repelling effect for the students. Hence, it is quite
important to define2 and enforce the minimum basic services and facilities in the
schools.
In various analyses conducted for this study, per-student cost and school physical
condition stand out as the most significant variables determining not only girls'
enrolment, promotion and repetition rates but also students' achievement scores in
all three major subjects: Math, Social Studies, and Nepali. Several other studies
related to the internal efficiency in primary education in Nepal have focused more on
school management, supervision and monitoring. It cannot be denied that, school
management; supervision and leadership are some of the fundamental correlates of
an effective school. However, the pre-condition to make use of these correlates
effectively is to provide the school with minimum basic infrastructure and resources.
School effectiveness research is mostly divided into two schools of thought family
vs. school. Both schools agree that there is a minimum threshold for which even
educational quality is contingent on schools resources and infrastructure. This
implies that improving effectiveness would require minimum resources and facilities
as pre-conditions. Improvements in management and supervision would probably
work best in the schools lagging behind in terms of educational quality in spite of
having the basic resources and amenities. It would also work best in the schools that
have higher wastage caused by improper use of available resources. Both the
dropout and repetition rates in grade 1 are considerably high. Improving
management and supervision could only momentarily reduce the wastage but at the
root cause is the lack of resources because available resources provide meagre if they
are been used improperly.
School Management
School management has been assessed in terms of SMC functions. It was found that
SMC had been recently formed in many of the schools in Chitwan, Morang,
Dhankuta, and Kapilvastu. In some schools they had only one SMC meeting.
However, a review of the minutes of previous SMC meetings and the recent
meetings revealed that SMC meetings mostly discussed schools physical
improvement construction of new school buildings. Class conduction and
improvement of learning achievement is rare agenda. The possible reason is that
many SMC members lack the basic know-how of education; they rely almost entirely
on the teachers and head-teacher in matters other than physical facility
improvement. In an interaction session the SMC members admitted that they did not
have any knowledge of their roles and functions and that they did not have the
slightest idea about their roles and responsibilities stipulated in the Education Act
(7th amendment). The study team provided a copy of the Act to the SMC members.
It was found that there is considerable lack of dissemination of the outcomes of the
SMC meetings to the villagers and parents. Similarly, collecting parents concerns
and presenting them to the SMC meeting was a rare practice. It appears that the
members participate in the SMC meetings but do not necessarily represent the SMC.
A fine line needs to be drawn between participation and the basic purpose for which
the SMC is constituted needs to be adequately explained.
2
See also Report on a Third Party Review of BPEP Phase-II, TEAM Consult, 2001.
37
HT's role in school management is found limited to activities such as maintaining

teachers attendance, approving teachers leave, and so forth. Due to the insufficiency
of the number of teachers, HT is required to take a full load of classes. Sometimes he
or she has to work as replacement teacher of a teacher who is on leave and thus has
less time to spend on other aspects of school management.
School supervision and monitoring are another difficult area because many of the
SMC members, parents and even schoolteachers do not know what it is and how it
should be done. They were found confused between monitoring and supervision.
While everybody realized importance of monitoring and supervision they often
mixed out with the other.
SMC/Parents
Since SMCs are newly formed (in many schools) the members are mostly unaware of
their roles and responsibilities. Visiting the school to participate in the SMC meeting
is basically what the members generally understood. Parents, on the other hand
admitted that they were unable to attend to school matters because they did not have
any knowledge of education as such.
HM
HTs do not do the supervision and monitoring for two reasons: a) they do not get
enough time for them and time, b) they lacked conceptual and methodological
clarity.
HT's role in improving school management and making the school effective is not
only essential but crucial also. Hence, selecting a qualified, experienced and
dedicated, senior teacher to be the HT is necessary. To achieve this goal, first thing
suggested by the stakeholders was to avoid political appointment or a random pickout.
Some studies have suggested culturing of a principal for tomorrow, through a
process, from among the teachers and not an indiscriminate selection. Some other
studies lay stress on teacher behaviour during lack of resources. Thus the roles and
functions of HTs needs to be worked out so that they may be able to perform to the
desired level of efficiency.
RP
In general, over 100 working days of an RP go to teacher training. The next largest
consumer of RPs time in the district is data collection from schools. The third in the
list comes to be the ad-hoc activities such as, formation of SMCs, attending school
functions including parents' day and so forth. A fair amount of time is also spent on
commuting RC and DEO for various purposes which include organization
orientations, supporting SIP preparation, and collecting packages (training, data
collection, and monitoring packages). RPs complained that every new programme or
activities that the ministry or department develops RPs are taken for granted giving
much less attention to RPs regular activities.
Moreover, resource cluster needs to be reviewed, because the number of schools has
increased considerably over the past few years. There are as many as 34 public
38
FRP Report 11
schools in one cluster (Pithuwa Resource Center) alone. Consequently, frequency of

RPs visit to schools for supervision has now become almost impossible.
Thus the supervision and monitoring of school activities appear to have three basic
problems: a) lack of conceptual and methodological clarity in teachers, head-teachers,
SMC members and parents, b) RPs are burdened with a host of activities planned as
well as ad-hoc, and c) too many schools under one resource centre has made it
impossible for one RP to visit every school (even) once a month.
39
CHAPTER IV:
SYNTHESIS OF INDICATORS
Background
In the first phase of this study, it was said with some emphasis that school which had
a higher per student cost got positionally with regard to enrollment, the retention
and learning achievement. While the contention still holds true in the second phase
of analysis, the more inside story of the sample schools reveal interesting as well as
useful results. Qualitative measures such as focus group discussions were held to
analyze the story of the sample schools. Stories of the sampled schools has been
presented in the annex . Two schools, however, have got some unique characteristics,
which are presented here, hoping that they would help understand the elements
behind the success story.
In this chapter, attempt have been made to trace out the commonalities of the schools
that are performing relatively satisfactorily and the common characteristics of the
schools that are relatively poor. Each of the sample schools has been assessed on four
areas of major thrust in the primary education program: access, quality,
management, and capacity building.
Cases of success story
Qualitative measures such as focus group discussions were held to examine the
stories of the successful schools. It is quite pertinent to reiterate here that, like in
other sample schools, the learning achievement level is generally low in these
schools. However, a marked difference has been noted between these schools in
matters related to management and overall school environment. These experiences
help understand why some schools are performing better and why some are not. Of
the 16 schools studied, two schools had unique characteristics that could be shared.
All the 16 schools will be synthesized later in this same chapter.
Case 1: Mills Secondary School, Mills Area, Morang.
Introduction
This school is located in a sub-urban area of Morang district. The school basically
serves the children of the working class families. However, there are families which
migrated from the hills and mountains to this area and, hence, the school enrolment
is fairly mixed in terms of ethnicity. The school was established in the year 2003 BS
on donations received from various industrialists, business entrepreneurs and social
workers. The tradition of community support to the school still continues. The school
has now 5 buildings and 19 classrooms altogether. Many of which were built on
donations received from various persons and institutions.
The school has also maintained supplies of basic materials such as maps, globes,
playing objects and alphabetical letters. There were a good number of books kept on
several bookshelves. Some of the textbooks were also kept in the teachers common
room. This school has kept a good stock of educational materials and so it is richer in
this sense than other schools in the region.
Primary enrolment in this school is remarkably high over 760. Primary enrolment
has increased by almost 15 percent over the past three years (1999-2001). In an
average, there have been over 99 students in each of the primary grades since 1999.
Girls enrolment, on the other hand, increased by 18.2 percent during the same
40
FRP Report 11
period. In an average, there have been to be over 37 girls in each of the primary
grades in this school.
Due to its large student population, the school is run in two shifts: the primary
grades shift (11am 4pm) and higher grade shift (7 am - 11am). The teacher-student
ratio is close to 1:58.
School initiatives
The school has taken a number of initiatives to boost the quality education the
students and teachers of the primary shift are strictly required to be in the school
compound 5 minutes before 11am. The main gate is closed after 11am.
The HT has appointed a primary teacher as the in-charge of the primary section. She
is given full authority to enroll students, assign classes to teachers, monitoring
classes, recommend teachers leave, and so forth. Teachers unanimously agreed that
the in-charge provision has significantly helped the run of the primary classes.
Each year teachers are rewarded for excellence in their performances. According to
HT believes that the award may be small in monetary terms but is a token of honor
an incentives. The award is distributed in an annual function. Thus the parents,
teachers, and students and everyone else know who received the award. It is a
recognition and appreciation of hard work in the school.
Teacher and student absenteeism
To prevent teacher absenteeism, the school has managed no more than two teachers
could go on leave at one time. The primary section in-charge reported that no more
than one teacher has ever been on leave at one time since then. "This has been
possible because the teachers are very cooperative, understand HT's intention and
respect him, the in-charge said. She added, We sit to discuss when any one of us is
in need of leave and then get to a consensus. Thus, every teacher knows why some
one is going on leave and for how long.
The school has used two strategies to control student absenteeism. One, a student
who does not show up for more than two consecutive days is penalized to remit a
small amount of money. The school expects parents to come, report the cause and
get the penalty waived. This way both the parents and the school would know the
reason for the students absence too. Since the students leaving after the noon tiffin
breaks have been the class-teachers do a second roll-call after the fifth period. The
children are reminded about their absence, and, if necessary reminders are also sent
to the parents.
Quality Control Circle
The school has learned a quality control circle, which is composed of
schoolteachers, parents and some SMC members. The circle basically monitors
teachers performance in the classroom and immediately suggests measures for
improvement. The circle also monitors students learning achievement and
recommends coaching (if necessary). The school frequently runs coaching classes for
poorly performing students. It is free of cost but is currently confined to higher
graders only. HT is eager to initiate coaching classes for the primary children. The
quality control circle also invites parents to discuss student problems. SMC, teachers
and parents are all satisfied with operation of the quality control circle. Due to the
quality control circle, some students from boarding schools have reportedly enrolled
41
in this school. Those who did not get the opportunity are told to as wait till the next
term enrolment.
Fund Raising
The school has managed to have a number of funds available. Some donors have
contributed in cash to the establishment of a revolving fund to help children of poor
families receive scholarships. Some others have provided materials such as furniture,
ceiling fan and bookshelves.
The school regularly organizes parents' day and school day to commemorate the
establishment of the school. The day is a fun event like a Mela (fair) for the
community. The event also works as a fundraiser. Persons as well as institutions are
individually honored during the event to inspire other to join.
The school also publishes its annual report in which several pages are devoted to the
individuals and institutions that have provided support to the school.
Behind the scene
The teachers, parents and SMC members expressed the opinion that HT had a strong
leadership quality and was doing remarkably. One SMC member said:
The school backyard had once become a venue for alcoholics and drug addicts
and for all sorts of illicit activities. The school compound used to be filled with
empty bottles, syringes and piles of garbage. The new HT dared to chase away the
people and cleaned up the school environment. The school environment is really
nice today. Teachers have become regular and the parents are also respectful to
HM.
HT is young and energetic and has a desire to make this school a centre of excellence
in the region. He holds a Masters Degree. He has visited several countries including
USA, Malaysia, and Mauritius and is inspired by their education systems. He starts
his daily routine by coming to school at 6:30 in the morning (because the secondary
level runs in the morning). He usually stays in the school until 11:30 and goes home
for lunch. He returns in the afternoon to monitor the primary level. Since primary
in-charge is there to look after the primary classes, HT's role is mostly advisory and
monitoring-related. According to a teacher, HT frequently inspects classes and
provides feedback to teachers. One of the teachers said, This school is like a
boarding school because things here are very punctual and routine. SMC members,
parents and the teachers are most satisfied with the present HM. The primary incharge proudly said, Every teacher in the school has the highest regards for HM.
HT comes to help whenever a teacher has personal problems.
HT's strong leadership and inter-personal skills has remarkably helped in control
teacher and student absenteeism, collecting necessary funds for school, maintaining
discipline and keeping the school environment neat and tidy. In summary, the
overall statuses of the school have significantly stepped up and the morale of he
teachers has gone fruitfully up.
42
FRP Report 11
Case 2: Sharada Primary School, Karsia Bazar, Morang

Introduction
This school is located in Karsia Bazar of Morang. The school was established in 2039
BS on small donations made by the local people. Later, as the village began to grow
cemetery had to be moved it was given to the school. The school had for long time
run in a temporary building. A few local people and HT took initiatives to construct
a permanent building for the school. Currently, the school has four permanent
buildings and 8 classrooms.
In 2002, the total enrolment in the school was 391 students. There were 7 primary
teachers and thus the teacher-student ratio came to be around 1:56. The school has
recently chosen to go under community management.
Although a primary institute, the school has managed to generate resources and
facilities (from government sources as well as non-government agencies).
School initiatives
Normally, it is rare that a primary school could get two blocks but the school
managed to acquire two BPEP blocks. Moreover, Plan Nepal was inspired to
construct an additional building. Additionally, Plan Nepal donated Rs. 9,000 for the
construction of the school gate and compound walls.
The school has also received 10 kattha of land from a donor. The school has a plan to
construct a low-cost multipurpose training hall on this tract of land so that the school
might be able to generate income.
The school has also operated a matching fund/financing scheme. UNICEF and HMG
have donated Rs 9000 each and Plan Nepal has donated some money to this
matching fund. The matching fund is used to provide small loans of Rs 500 to
rickshaw pullers, street-vendors, and to other small businesses stickers in the village.
Only those whose children are studying in the school are eligible to receive the loan.
The interest on the loan is small. The interest thus accumulated is added back to the
principal amount. Currently, present amount of matching fund is Rs. 35,000.
To relieve parents the school initially purchased books using its own fund and later
claimed reimbursement from the DEO. The parents appreciated this initiative taken
by the school.
The school has laid down some rules for the students who frequently absent
themselves for 3 to 4 consecutive days. The defaulter has to return the books to the
school.
HT's story
HT possesses skills of mobilize resources and persuade the donors. He was a product
of the same school and is proud that he is the HT now. The HT's story in his own
words:
43
I am from a low-income family. After I completed grade 7, my parents wanted me to

discontinue my education due to the growing financial burden. But the then HT helped
me financially to continue. I was an intelligent student so I received freeships right up to
the 10th grade. When I was in the 10th grade, I took class for the 8th graders. From that
time, I was inspired to become a teacher in the school. After SLC, I had to find a job for
survival and fortunately I received a temporary job in this school. Over the years, I
became a permanent teacher and finally became HT. Thus, I began my career in this
school and so far I have served for 8 years as HT in this school. This is the most of my
career and a great achievement of my life. I have the aim of upgrading the school to a
lower secondary school. This needs a sound basic infrastructure. I have so far managed
to have four permanent buildings and 8 classrooms. The school has revolving funds too.
So I am quite hopeful.
Although the school does not as much impress as Morang a school in terms of dayto-day administration, teacher coordination and initiatives to improve the quality of
education it cant be denied that HT's skills have accumulates a lot of considerable
resources for the school.
In the previous chapter, 16 sample schools analyzed by using the descriptive
methods and some cross tabulation of school data. The analysis has revealed that the
differences between schools in terms of enrolment retention, and learning
achievement are not very significant. The analysis has also shown not-significant
correlation between the outcomes and school inputs. Literature suggests that there is
a minimum threshold of school facility below which the association between the
outcomes and school and/or family input is less tangible (Hanushek, 1998; Hyneman
and Loxley 1986; Fuller 1986; Cynthia et. al., 1998; Fuller and Clarke 1994). This may
still be a hypothesis in the case of Nepal but the results of this analysis and the poor
physical and educational conditions of schools do give rise to doubts whether
schools in Nepal are below the minimum threshold and hence the school and family
inputs are not showing any tangible effect on enrolment, retention and learning
achievement. This hypothesis also raises questions such as What are the indicators
of the threshold? and What is the minimum level? While this study does not
adequately answer these questions, an attempt is made by using several indicators.
For each of the indicators a minimum threshold level is also hypothesized to assess
schools overall status.
School characteristics
Schools characteristics are briefly described here with their strengths and
weaknesses. Data from school records, observations and interactions have been used
to prepare the tables that follow.
44
FRP Report 11
Characteristics of the sampled schools in brief

Positive aspects in school
Gokundeswor Secondary School, Dhankuta.
School is located in an urban area.
I/NGOs, CBOs and entrepreneurs
provides support to the school (though not
regularly).
Modest income is earned from school
tuition fees and from high school fees.
Building is permanent and has many
rooms, (including office room, HT's room,
and teachers common room).
Each class is taught in a separate room.
Classrooms, especially those of the
primary grades, are untidy.
School has toilets and a separate toilet for
girls.
Has been running pre-primary since long.
Has some educational resources and
playing objects.
School is generally good school in terms
of resources.
Student teacher ratio is 2.1 in the primary
grades.
Almost all the teachers have received
some training.
Primary enrolment is fair with about 40
students per class in an average.
91 percent primary students, attend school
regularly.
School has the potential to run a 10+2.
A Peace Corps volunteer and a practice
teaching student are taking classes in the
high school.
Negative aspects in school
Remarks
Community support is gradually diminishing.

School is basically dependent on government
support which is only modestly supplemented
by external resources.
Although is located in urban area, school
appears to have been less effective in resource
mobilization.
Primary classes are crowded because
classrooms are small.
Primary section appears to be ignored.
There is no school playground.
School is relatively
better.
Rastriya Saraswoti Primary School, Kachinde, Dhankuta.

Established locally to serve the village School is located in an isolated place away
from the settlements.
population.
Community support is virtually none.
Moved to a new location on a public
Buildings and classrooms are in
land a few years back.
School has its own building and some adeplorable condition
Classrooms lack furniture - students bring
land covered with trees.
mattresses from home.
Has two buildings with three rooms
School environment is very poor.
each
Nothing in the school (except teachers) in
Student teacher ratio is only 1:3.
the name of educational resources.
Average space per child is over 19
No playground.
square feet.
Student enrolment is diminishing year
Most of the teachers have received
after year total enrolment in 2002 was
some or full training.
only 68 (grades 1-5).
Only 60 percent of primary students
attend school regularly.
School management is weak.
Teachers are not motivated.
School management and HT appear
carefree about school environment.
Record keeping is worst.
It is one of the
poor schools as it
lacks basic
supplies of
educational
resources and
appropriate
furniture.
Physical and
educational
environment in
school is pitiable.
School
management is
not efficient.
School location is
a minus point.
Raghupati Primary School, Rani, Morang.

Located in the outskirts of an urban
area
Building is permanent and relatively
better.
HT and teachers share the same
room.
School has a compound too.
Community support is lacking.

Largely runs on the government
resources.
School environment is poor.
School environment is filthy - local people
dump garbage in the school compound.
School management is carefree about
This is also one of

the poor schools.
School
management and
HT's leadership
in particular is
weak.
45
School serves the workers' children

(mainly)
Educational materials none.
school environment.
Remarks
Learning achievement is low mean

scores in Math, Social studies and Nepali
are 18, 23, and 31 respectively.
About 58 percent of primary students
Student enrolment is fairly high

about 50 students per class.
Student teacher ratio is about 4:2.
Most teachers have received some
training
Bal Lower-Secondary School, Sainik-tole, Morang.
Community support is insignificant.

School runs mostly on government
funding. External resources are minimal.
School building is too old and worn out.
No educational material is available.
School office is pitiable
Records are properly kept.
School environment is poor
Classrooms are damp and dark
Learning achievement is low (average
scores in Math, Social studies and Nepali
are 27, 35, and 26 respectively).
Only 59 percent of primary students
Schoolteachers openly criticize HM. No
congenial relations between the two.
Mills Secondary School, Mills Area, Morang.
Student teacher ratio is over 54 students
School was built by the community
per teacher.
and still receives a significant
Most teachers are untrained.
contribution from the community.
Impact of school quality on students
School enrolment is astounding 760
learning achievement yet to be seen.
students at the primary level.
School has many rooms (one class one However, it is better than any other
sample school. Average scores in Math,
room).
Social studies, and Nepali are 47, 38, and
HT and teachers' common room.
44.
School has many toilets (separate
toilets for girls)
SMC members are influential as well
as economically capable persons
HT is dedicated and has a good
personality.
Schoolteachers and SMC members
respect HM.
School environment is nice and clean.
About 90 percent of primary students
Several measures has been taken to
maintain discipline and to improve
quality of education.
Malpur Lower-Secondary School, Malpur, Chitwan.
Student-teacher ratio is 56 students per
School received substantial support
teacher.
from the community in the past.
Some primary teachers teach lowerOrganized groups and I/NGOs and
secondary grades and so the student
business entrepreneurs have
teacher ratio is even more.
provided support to the school.
Teachers are mostly untrained.
School is located in a rural area (of
Educational resources and materials are
tourist attraction).
still lacking.
School building is relatively new.
External agencies have provided
Student enrolment is high over 500
computers and other materials their
students at the primary level.
School is located in the suburbs.
Has a permanent building.
Student teacher ration is only 29
students per teacher.
Student enrolment is also fairly high
(about 60 students in an average per
class).
Most teachers have some training.
46
Apparently, lack
of coordination
between HM,
schoolteachers
and SMC
members is the
major factor of
the miserable
condition of
school.
HT is young and
energetic and has
vision and good
leadership. This
brought about
significant
difference.
The new HT
came to school
only two years
ago and hopes
that there will be
a significant
improvement
students
learning
achievement in
another two
years.
School has the

advantage of
being located in
an area of tourist
attraction It has
received
contributions
both in cash and
kind.
This is also an
FRP Report 11
Remarks
There is a harmony between HM,

schoolteachers and SMC.
SMC is active in school management.
Margeswori Primary School, Dhankuta.
School is located in the suburbs
Student-teacher ratio is 21 students
per teacher.
Most teachers have received training.
School also runs classes for disabled
students.
management is poor.
average school.
Community support is minimal

Largely runs on the government
resources.
Student enrolment is gradually
diminishing.
Only 58 percent of students attend school
regularly.
New schools, opened in the vicinity, have
caused problems about good student
enrolment and retention.
School environment (educational and
physical) poor.
Sharda Primary School, Karsiya Bazar, Morang
Parents support is minimal. But the
School is located in a small but
school has successfully mobilized
growing market center.
resources (even from external sources).
School management is being
Student teacher ratio is over 55 students
transferred to the community.
per teacher.
Has three permanent buildings and
Teachers are mostly untrained.
many classrooms.
HT is extraordinarily active in
resource mobilization.
School enrolment is fairly high (391
students in total).
Over 84 percent of students attend
school regularly.
Student learning achievement is
better. On an average, the scores in
Math, Social Studies and Nepali are
53, 55, and 54 respectively.
Bhanu Primary School, Urlabari, Morang.
School is located a little bit away from the
Recently, school management has
settlement.
been transferred to the community.
There is confusion among teachers and
School has one permanent building
SMC members about community
and some land which can be used as
management.
playground.
Community support is minimal and
school largely runs on the government
per teacher, (quite reasonable for a
funding.
Terai school).
Average achievement scores in Math,
Social studies, and Nepali are 40, 36, and
school regularly.
28 respectively.
School enrolment is gradually
diminishing.
Rashtriya Primary School, Tarauli, Chitwan
School lacks educational materials.
Student enrolment is 162 a little
School environment is poor.
over 45 per class.
Community support is weak.
Student-teacher ratio is only 32
SMC is not effective.
students per teacher
School has a permanent building.
Each grade has a separate room.
Teachers have received training.
90 percent of the students are regular.
School runs ECD classes as well.
Adarsha Primary School, labour nagar, Chitwan
Student enrolment is reasonable
Classroom environment is poor.
194.
There is no compound wall.
Teacher lack
motivation and
dedication to
teaching.
Management is
not good
HT is
extraordinarily
active in
mobilizing
external
resources.
Has also
maintained
harmony
between teachers
and SMC
members.
School is located
in rural areas.
Management is
confused about
its roles and
responsibility in
the changed
context of
management
transfer.
School
management and
leadership are
both rather weak.
School also lacks
basic facilities.
School
management and
47
Not sufficient toilet and drinking water

Student teacher ratio is about 39
facility.
Community support is poor.
School has a permanent building and
SMC is not so active.
each class is taught in a separate
room.
School has a playground.
Adarsha Secondary School, Dibyanagar, Chitwan.
Classroom condition is poor.
Primary enrolment is 193.
Community support is weak.
Student-teacher ratio at the primary
level is only 32 students per teacher.
School has a permanent building and
each class is taught in a separate
room.
School has a playground.
Resource Centre is located in the
school
Teachers have received training.
SMC is active.
Rashtriya Primary School, Jiganihawa, Kapilvastu.
School is located in a rural area.
Community had built the school.
Community support is almost none.
School has an extensive land area
School building is very old.
(mostly unused).
Student enrolment is fairly high 293. No toilet at all (use of open field).
Only about 26 percent of students attend
Student-teacher ratio is 48,
school regularly.
(reasonable for a Terai school).
No educational resources, (except teachers
ECD class is also run in the school.
and a few books).
ECD children practice writing on the dirty
floor.
Mahendra Primary School, Taulihawa, Kapilvastu.
School enrolment is diminishing.
School is located in an urban area.
Currently, it is only 142 in total. In an
Has two permanent buildings
average, there are less than 30 students in
Has some educational materials
a class.
Student-teacher ratio is only 35
There is one private and two public
schools located in less than 5 minutes'
All the teachers have received
walk from this school.
training.
school regularly.
School doesnt have its own
playground but an other schools
large playground is made open to the
school.
School is close to the resource centre
District Education Office.
Kotigram Primary School, Gotihawa, Kapilvastu.
School is located in the rural area.
School was established by the
The community is mostly poor and
community.
illiterate.
Has a large land area that includes a
Community support is almost none.
pond.
Currently classes are run under the tree.
New school buildings are under
School has virtually nothing except
construction.
teachers in the name of educational
resources
per teacher.
SMC members are careless about their
About 97 percent of students attend
roles and responsibilities towards school
school regularly.
improvement.
HT is energetic and dedicated
48
Remarks
leadership are
rather weak.
School also lacks
basic facilities.
School is making
progress.
This is also one of

the poor schools.
SMC and HT
both are carefree
about
deteriorating
condition of
school.
RPs visit to this
school is rare.
It has to compete
with other
schools to retain
fair amount of in
matters of
enrolment.
Teachers and HT
appear to be less
competent and
do not accept any
challenge.
School has
virtually failed to
manage its own
property.
School has also
failed to mobilize
and coordinate
the community.
Villagers were
found less
interested to help
school become
resourceful.
FRP Report 11
Remarks
Janaki Higher Secondary School, Maharajgunj, Kapilvastu.

School compound is largely unmanaged.
Was established on community
School environment is untidy.
support.
Primary section appears to be ignored.
Some community support is still
Some of the primary teachers teach the
available.
lower secondary and secondary grades.
School also has some income form
Many teachers are untrained.
higher secondary and secondary
classes.
Has sufficient classroom.
School has a huge compound.
Schools physical environment is
relatively better.
Primary enrolment is fairly high 383
in total.
Student teacher ratio is only 32
Of all students in the primary, 78
percent attend school regularly.
School also has hostel facility for
special needs children.
The focus of the

school is mostly
on the higher
secondary and
secondary
grades.
This school is
also a resource
centre school but
the classroom
built by BPEP is
being used for
higher secondary
classes.
School Characteristics
Raghupati PS 3 1 2
Total (number)
8.9
0.0 0.0 112
21.1
5.3 13.2 38
9 1596 251 6.4 41.8 83.7 57.9
29.8
5.3 7.0 114
Bal LSS 4 4 2
7 1 2 10 11 1512 294 5.1 29.4 73.5 58.8
41.2
0.0 0.0 199
Mills SS 3 2 9
9 2 3 14 24 3300 760 4.3 54.3 253.3 90.5
9.5
0.0 0.0 432
Malpur LSS 2 2 6
Margeswori PS 1 3 1
Sharda PS 1 2 4
Bhanu PS
3 1
3 2 1 6
Irregular (in %)
Transferred (in
%)
School
Gokundeswor
SS 4 4 1
3 5 1 9 19 1658 190 8.7 21.1 47.5 91.1
Rastriya
Saraswoti PS 3
2 1 2 2
5 6 1340 68 19.7 13.6 22.7 60.5
Dropped (in %)
Attendance
Status
Ratios
Enrolment
Class-size
(Sq.ft./Student)
Student-teacher
Ratio
Student per
trained teacher
Continuing
Student (in %)
Total of
Number
rooms
Total Class Area
in SqFt
School
Trained
Some Training
Untrained
Under SLC
SLC
IA/IEd Equiv
BA/BEd Equiv
Teachers
3 3 4 10 15 1862 502 3.7 50.2 251.0

3 2
5 10 1310 108 12.1 21.6 108.0 57.7
42.3
0.0 0.0 52
7 1885 391 4.8 55.9 391.0 84.2
14.0
0.0 1.8 272
90.5
6.0
1.7 1.7 116
100.0
0.0
0.0 0.0 30
3 1
5 1230 169 7.3 42.3
Rashtriya PS
2 3 1 2 2
9 1730 162 10.7 32.4
Adarsha PS
3 2 1 3 1
7 2040 194 10.5 38.8
Adarsha SS
Rashtriya PS
5 1 1
Mahendra PS 2 2
Kotigram PS
4 2
6 24 1167 193 6.1 32.2
7 1274 293 4.4 48.8
25.8
30.4
0.0 43.8 194
2 2
8 1500 142 10.6 35.5 71.0 97.8
0.0
0.0 2.2 89
0.0
0.0 3.2 125
560 194 2.9 48.5
96.8
7 5
9 2 1 12 16 1752 383 4.6 31.9
77.9
8.7
0.5 12.8 195
Total 23 44 45 4 63 32 13 112181 257164294 6.0 38.3 186.7 76.4
16.2
0.6 6.9 1968
Janaki HSS
1 4
49
Assessment of schools
Each of the sampled schools has been assessed on the basis of four areas of major
focus of the primary education program, i.e., access, quality, management, and
capacity building. For each of these major areas several indicators have been
tentatively selected as the minimum threshold. The list of indicators and the concept
of minimum thresholds, although needs to be tested on a larger empirical base, it
does however, gives a scientific basis to assess school effectiveness.
School access is measured on four different indicators. Educational quality is
assessed on two indicators. School management is measured on 15 different
indicators. Finally, the school capacity is measured on the basis of 8 different
indicators. The following indicators have been considered, in this study, as the
minimum threshold for the four major areas:
Access
The access situation of the school is considered better if:
A1)
the primary student enrolment is 200 or more.
A2)
the student-teacher ratio is lower than 40.
A3)
there are 5 or more primary teachers.
A4)
the girl-boys ratio is 1:1.
Quality
The quality of the school is considered better if:
Q1)
the average scores in Math, Social Studies and Nepali are higher than 40
percent in each.
Q2)
The average school attendance of students is over 75 percent.
Management
School management is considered better if:
M1)
The school has separate classroom for each grade.
M2)
The school has a separate room for HM.
M3)
The school has a teachers' common room (separate).
M4)
Classrooms are clean and tidy.
M5)
The school has drinking water facility.
M6)
The school has sufficient toilet facility.
M7)
The school has separate toilet/s for girls.
M8)
The school has a library.
M9)
The school has a playground.
M10) The school has playing objects.

M11) The school compound is fenced.
M12) The school environment is nice and tidy.
50
FRP Report 11
M13) The school has scholarships.

M14) The school frequently organizes parent, teacher, and SMC meetings
M15) The supervision and monitoring is regular.
Capacity building
The capacity of a school is considered better if:
C1)
community support is available.
C2)
extra resources are mobilized.
C3)
relationships with the DEO and Resource Centre is cordial and frequent
C4)
there is harmony between the HM, teachers, SMC and parents.
C5)
most of the teachers are trained.
C6)
HT's personality is good and creative.
C7)
HT's interpersonal skill is strong.
C8)
HT commands the respect of teachers, SMC members and parents.
Indicator Matrix
School Name
Gokundeswor
SS
Rastriya
Saraswoti PS
Raghupati PS
Bal LSS
Access Quality
Management
A2, A3
Q1
M1, M2, M3, M5, M6, M7,
M8, M10, M11, M12, M13,
M15
A2, A3, A4Q1, A2 M5, M9
A1, A3, A4
A1, A2,
A3, A4
A1, A3
Mills SS
Malpur LSS
A1, A3
M1, M5, M6, M9, M11

M1, M9
Q1, Q2 M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6,

M7, M8, M9, M10, M11,
M12, M13, M14, M15
M1, M5, M6, M9, M11
Margeswori PS A2, A3, A4Q1
M1, M5
Capacity
Remarks
C1, C2, C3, C4, A better school
C5
C5
A poorest school
almost at the verge of
collapse.
C5
A poor school
C5
A poorest school
enrolment is gradually
thinning.
C1, C2, C3, C4, A better school - model
C6, C7, C8
for HT's leadership and
school management
C2, C4
A Progressing school
C4
A poor school.
Bhanu PS
A1, A3, A4Q1, Q2 M1, M4, M5, M6, M7, M9, C2, C3, C4, C7
M10, M11, M12, M13, M14,
M15
A4
Q2
M5, M9, M11
A better school - model

school for external
resource mobilization
A poor school.
Rashtriya PS
A2, A3, A4
M1, M5, M9, M11
A poor school
Adarsha PS
A2, A3, A4Q2
M1, M5, M9, M11
A poor school
A2, A3, A4Q1
M1, M5, M9, M11, M14,

M15
M5
Sharda PS
Adarsha SS
Rashtriya PS
Mahendra PS
Kotigram PS
Janaki HSS
A1, A3
A2, A4
Q2
Q2
A1, A2, A3Q2
C1, C2, C3, C6 A better school. Also

RC school
C5
A poorest school.
M1, M4, M5, M6, M10, M15 C3, C4, C5

M5
M1, M2, M3, M5, M6, M7,
M8, M9, M10, M11, M13,
M15
A progressing school.
Close to DEO and RC
A poorest school.
C1, C2, C3, C4 A better school -. Also
RC school
51
The above matrix lists a number of indicators on which the corresponding schools
have met the minimum thresholds. The more the indicators meet the threshold the
better. The remarks column includes researchers overall impressions, based on field
observation.
The above matrix has been analyzed further to assess the schools that are relatively
good. Each school is regrouped as a new category: 1 (Good School), 2 (Progressing
School), and 3 (Poor School). The following criteria have been used to regroup the
schools:
Access:
Quality:
Management:
Capacity:
meets the threshold of at least 3 or more indicators,
meets the threshold of at least 1 or 2 indicators,
meets the threshold on none of the indicators.
meets the threshold of both of the indicators,
meets the threshold of at least 1 indicator,
meets the threshold of none of the indicators.
meets the threshold of more than 10 indicators,
meets the threshold of 5 to 10 indicators,
meets the threshold of less than 5 indicators.
meets the threshold of at least 4 or more indicators,
meets the threshold of at least 2 or 3 indicators,
meets the threshold of only 1 or none of the indicators.
Scoring the School

School Name
1. Gokundeswor SS
2. Rastriya Saraswoti PS
3. Raghupati PS
4. Bal LSS
5. Mills SS
6. Malpur LSS
7. Margeswori PS
8. Sharda PS
9. Bhanu PS
10. Rashtriya PS
11. Adarsha PS
12. Adarsha SS
13. Rashtriya PS
14. Mahendra PS
15. Kotigram PS
16. Janaki HSS
Access
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
3
1
Quality
2
1
3
3
1
3
2
1
2
3
2
2
3
2
2
2
Management
1
3
2
3
1
2
3
1
3
3
3
1
3
2
3
1
Capacity
1
3
3
3
1
2
3
1
3
3
3
1
3
2
3
1
Total Score
6
8
9
10
5
9
9
4
10
10
9
5
11
8
11
5
In the above table, the lesser the score, the better the school. In that regard, schools
receiving a total score of 6 or below can be considered as good. Similarly, schools
with a score of 11 or more are the poorest. Schools receiving 9 or 10 are poor. Finally
schools receiving 7 or 8 are progressing school. There are however a few exceptions
where one school scoring 8 and another scoring 10 are counted the poorest schools.
The first school that scored 8 is actually good in access and quality but poor in
management and capacity. Similarly, the second school scoring 10 is good only in
access and poor in quality, management and capacity. This scoring mostly meets the
52
FRP Report 11
researchers observation. Thus, it appears that school environment is much

influenced by the school management and school capacity.
Looking at the same table differently would also help understand the school
characteristics. In the table below the same good, progressing and poor scale of
measurement as used in the above table is applied. Only the good schools placed in
the four major theme areas: access, quality, management and capacity.
Access
Good schools
2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10,
11, 12, 16
Quality
2, 5, 8,
Management
Capacity
1, 5, 8, 16
1, 5, 8, 12, 16
Exclusive points
Meets the threshold of at
least three or more
indicators
Meets the minimum
threshold
on
both
indicators.
M2, M7, and M12
C1, C2, and C3.
Most common points

All schools have at least one teacher
per class and the girls to boys ratio is
either 1:1 or less.
None
M2, M3, M5, M6, M7, M12

C4, C5.
Note: 1,16 are schools serial number; M2, C4 are indicators of the respective area.
The above table indicates that over 55 percent of the sample schools are good in
terms of access. All these good schools have meet the threshold of at least three or
more of the access indicators. In terms of quality only three schools qualify as good
schools. These good schools meet the minimum threshold of both the quality
indicators. In terms of management only four schools are as good. While these
schools meet the minimum threshold of more than 10 management indicators, three
things are exclusive to these schools only: 1) separate room for HT's office and
teachers' common room, 2) many toilets and separate toilets for girls, and 3) nice and
clean school environment is. Finally, in terms of capacity, five schools qualify as
good schools. While these schools have meet the threshold of four or more of the
capacity indicators there are three things exclusive to these schools only. They are: 1)
community support, 2) school extra support, and 3) cordial relationships with DEO
and RC. Another common point among better and progressing school is that they
have harmony among the teachers.
From the above tables it appears that achieving quality is a task tough because one as
only three schools out of 16 could meet the minimum threshold on quality indicators.
The second difficult area is management and the last is capacity. Achieving access
appears to be the least difficult are to achieve as many schools qualify as good in this
respect. Quality indicators are also the outcome indicators and therefore it is
normally contingent upon other input indicators. Thus, it implies that to achieve the
minimum threshold on quality indicators it is necessary to meet the minimum
threshold on other indicators, e.g., management and capacity. Although not a rule,
schools with better management and capacity also have better quality. There are
however, some exceptions too. For example school 1, 12, and 16 in the above table are
good in terms of management and capacity but are not as good in terms of quality.
School 16 is also good in access but fails to score higher on quality measures.
Ironically, school 2 is rated as good in terms of access and quality but is measured as
poor in management and capacity.
One possibility to this is that the process indicator, which is not used in this analysis,
might explain why there is the anomaly in some schools. These schools in spite of
being poor in management and capacity might have better classroom practices.
Nevertheless, the 16 sample schools can be labeled as first through fifth levels on the
basis of their being as good on the four major themes.
53
School level
Level
First Level School
Second Level School
Third Level School
Fourth Level School
Fifth Level School
School
8. Sharada PS, Morang.
5. Mills SS, Morang
16.Janaki HSS, Kapilvastu.
Gokundeswor SS, Dhankuta.
Rastriya Saraswoti PS, Dhankuta.
12. Aadarsha SS, Chitwan.
Raghupati PS, Morang.
Bal LSS, Morang.
7. Margeswori PS, Dhankuta.
10. Rastriya PS, Dhankuta
11. Aadarsha PS
Malpur LSS, Chitwan.
9. Bhanu PS, Morang.
13. Rastriya PS, Kapilvastu.
14. Mahendra PS, Kapilvastu.
15. Kotigram PS, Kapilvastu.
Rating
****
***
**
Note:
First level school (****) are good school in terms all four major themes access, quality, management, and capacity.
Second level schools (***) are good only in three of the major themes.
Third level school (**) are good only in two of the four major themes.
Fourth level schools (*) are good only in one of the four major themes.
Fifth level school schools didnt measure well on any of the four major themes.
Generally, public schools are found poor in terms of physical and educational
environment, retention and learning achievement. However, within this broad
generalization, there are some public schools that exhibit unique characteristics,
which could be lessons for other struggling public schools.
The most exclusive indicators of better performing schools are: they all have
community support, they obtain extra resources, their relationship with DEO and
RC is cordial and frequent, there is harmony among teachers, HM, SMC members
and parents. Most other school lacks these fundamentals. As a result, a series of chain
effects is predictable on the poor schools go through the resource constraints their
management is gradually slackening, and they do not have harmony among
teachers. Only those schools where the leadership is good and the HT is proactive
and dedicated would remain alive.
What is missing in the poorly performing school is community support and the
ability to generate the extra support. Lack of sufficient fund and inability to generate
extra resources makes the school environment, poor and slackens teachers selfesteem/motivation. These poorly performing schools also show lack of harmony
among teachers and good leadership.
54
FRP Report 11
CHAPTER V:
SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION
What makes a school effective has been a concern in both developed and developing
countries. The developed countries have consistently been applying more astute
methods based on concepts such as clear school mission, high expectations for
success and instructional leadership to assess school effectiveness. Schools in the
developing countries are, however, still grappling with the basics such as
infrastructure, educational resources and the quality of schools at large.
Literature suggests that assessment of school effectiveness relies very much on the
minimum threshold of educational and physical resources available in schools. It has
been said, with some emphasizes that in developing countries school-related factors
largely determines the quality of education vis--vis learning achievement. An
assessment of the concerns shown by stakeholders such as the school community,
parents and teachers invariably support our previous finding that public schools
point to stark conditions in terms of psychical and educational resources. In this
study, physical resources in schools have been assessed in terms of the availability
and conditions of a number of physical facilities such as toilet, separate toilet for
girls, furniture, drinking water supply, class size, classroom environment, school
environment, playground, compound wall, and so forth. Similarly, educational
resources include, among other things, quality and number of teachers, availability
of textbooks and reading materials, library, sports materials, scholarships, and so on.
The study has found that only 25 percent of the sample schools qualified as
moderate, (not even better), schools in the ranking better, moderates, and poor.
It is important to note that PEP, BPEPI and BPEP-II have consistently invested
heavily in the construction of school buildings. BPEP block or earthquake block can
be identified in almost every school community. The impact of this massive
investment on school enrolment cannot be denied. Evidently, enrolment has
increased substantially in public schools over the years. Studies are not clear as to
whether the increase in enrolment was triggered by construction of school buildings
or is just a natural process related by population growth and growing educational
awareness. What is evident from our analysis is that construction of school building
has done little towards reducing student retention, encouraging graduation and
boosting learning achievement. Data on student grade repetition and early school
dropout are consistently high. Students learning achievement and graduation rates,
on the other hand, have remained low. This suggests that school building alone does
not deliver the basics necessary for improving retention and learning achievement.
While physical access to education is important to ensure that no one is left
unschooled, access to educational resources is even more important to ensure that
students receive quality education imparting some life skills. Access to education
resources looms large on a majority of students in the public school community.
Therefore, the next intervention on access calls for a strategy shift from construction
of school blocks to supply of materials and educational resources to schools. And if
the construction of is continued, it should come in a package which includes supply
of educational materials and resources as well. For this, a, school should be
conceived and developed as a centre for education education for cognitive
development and for the development of a social being.
55
The following is a sum-up of the headings: access to education, education quality,

school management, supervision and monitoring, community awareness, HT's
leadership, and synthesis of indicators.
Access to Education
Access to schools is generally increasing. However, in some pockets of Dalits

and the deprived such as Mushar equitable access is yet to be ensured. Concerns
of these communities are mostly of equitable access rather than physical access.
Educational inputs alone are not enough to educate children of these

communities. Their social, cultural as well as economic concerns also need to be
studied and addressed properly.
Quality of education, however, remains the first thing to be ensured for a

majority of public schools. The general perception of a better school, (even among
educators in the field), is surprisingly confined to school building. Even after
visits to over 50 schools, the research team couldnt portray any better a public
school. Most schools visited had bare walls, old furniture, and dirty chalkboards.
Even those that were identified by a group of RPs as the best schools in the
district were found having nothing other than a recently built school building.
Thus, a majority of school goers are deprived of quality education.
Under the schools as the focus, the Joint MTR mission (3-14 Dec, 2001)
suggested some strategic shifts. The recommended strategic shift entails, among
other things directing resources to the schools, which is yet to happen.
Measured on the 13 schools physical facility indicators and 10 educational

resources indicators none of the schools qualified to be considered as satisfactory.
Of the 16 schools recently visited six complained of indiscriminate opening of

schools, which led to a decrease in student enrolment and cut on the quota size.
If public schools continue exhibiting the unimproved input-output structure,

they might soon run-out of students. Such phenomenon is sure to become
widespread. It is, therefore, high time strategies to prevent public education from
experiencing the dire consequences were pursued. Only planned interventions
such as stopping indiscriminate opening of schools and seeking private-public
partnership could be the best alternatives. Flexible policies including the
provision of leasing out public schools could be worth considering.
Education Quality
Quality of education measured in terms of learning achievement in public

schools is generally poor. Student achievements in Math, Social Studies and
Nepali are low. On an average, the score in all the three subjects is 43.3%.
Separately, in grade 1, the average score in Math is about 42 percent, in Social
studies about 42 percent and in Nepali about 44 percent. In grades 3 and 5 also
the average score is not very different in the three subjects.
Learning achievement is poor regardless of class-size and teacher-student ratios.

At the primary level, the student-teacher ratio is found to be as high as 81:1 in a
Terai school and as low as 17:1 in a Hill school. Similarly, the class-size was also
found to be as low as 18 students in a Hill and 99 students in a Terai school.
56
FRP Report 11
Both Terai and Hill schools have two things in common: educational resources
and physical condition. The schools in both the geographical belts exhibit serious
lack of educational resources and environment conducive to teaching and
learning. School effectiveness researchers agree that there is a minimum
threshold on which educational resources and facilities in schools do matter as
far as student achievement is concerned. Since many schools lack the minimum
threshold, it is likely that the quality measures such as number of teachers and
teacher training are not producing the desired effects on learning achievements
(Terai and Hill schools).
Supplementary to the above assertions, delay in delivery of text materials to

schools continues to be the major impediment in quality drives. Many school
communities (teachers and parents) criticized the textbook delivery and the
repayment scheme of the government. One of the schools bought copies of the
textbooks using its own funds and distributed them to the students.
No less important, there is a tendency in primary school teachers to teach the

higher grades (lower secondary and secondary classes). The phenomenon is more
prominent in primary schools attached to lower secondary or secondary school.
Finally, students daily attendance in schools is considerably low. As many as 69

percent of grade 1 students, in an average, are attending less than 110 days out of
a 220+ day in a year.
School Management
SMC members (in most schools SMCs are newly formed) lack basic knowledge of
their roles and responsibilities.
The minutes of SMC meetings are limited to the SMC members. The minutes
dislose deliberations on school physical conditions and no discussions on how to
improve students learning achievement.
For many SMC members visiting the school meant participating in the SMC
meeting. The education Act (7th amendment) has given greater roles and
responsibilities to the SMC and schools have been seen as community things.
Hence, orientation to SMC members (in the changed context), about their roles
and responsibility is necessary.
SMC members also need to be oriented that their duty does not consist only of
participation in SMC meetings and that they are supposed to bring parents or
villagers concerns to the meetings and send SMC meeting resolutions to them.
Supervision and monitoring of school level activities appear to have three basic
problems: a) lack of conceptual and methodological clarity in teachers, headteachers, SMC members and parents, b) RPs are overburdened doing a host of
activities planned as well as ad-hoc, and c) resource clusters now have too many
schools which makes RP's school visit (even one in a month).
Community Awareness
Increasing enrollments in public schools of children from diverse ethnic groups

and families of different social and economic backgrounds suggest that the
community in general is aware of education. Two schools located in the suburbs
57
complained of decrease in their student populations in the last few years.

Depleting student enrolments in public schools is testified that parents are aware
of education and that they chose quality education against poor education.
HT's leadership
The success story of the two schools presented above prove that HTs can play
and have played effecctive roles,
Their strong interpersonal skills, leaderships, vision and aspirations have

together brought about change in the schools. Mills school sets a good example
for other HMs, to learn how school management and administration could be
improved, how teachers' morale could be boosted-up and how local resources
could be mobilized.
Sharsda school, on the other hand, specifically presents HT skills of obtaining

funds and resoures for a small school.
It is important that the public schools are resourced with minimum basic supplies of
resources and educational materials. It is even more important that the HTs
possess leaderships quality, interpersonal skills and personality. Schools which
had started from a scratch have shown considerable improvement over the time
just because of HT's increasing competence.
The synthesis of the indicators reveal that the successful schools have just a few, but
very important, distinct characteristics. The most exclusive indicators of better
performing school are they all have community support, they have acquire extra
resources, their relationships with DEO and RC are cordial and frequent, and they
have harmony among teachers, HM, SMC members and parents. Most other school
lack these fundamental characteristics. As a result, a series of chain effects is
predictable: suffer resource constraints, their management goes slacking, and they
have no teaher harmony. Only those schools stay alive where leadership and HM,
are proactive and dedicated.
What is missing in the poorly performing school is community support and the
ability to generate extra support. Lack of funds and inability to generate external
resources keep the school environment poor, slacken teachers selfesteem/motivation and eventually yields poor outcomes. These poorly performing
schools have also shown lack of harmony among teachers and weak school
leadership.
Thus, from the above deliberations, it can be assumed that the community support
and extra resources are important elements of school effectiveness in Nepal.
Community support and extra resources, on the other hand, are found best
mobilized in schools where the leadership, (HT and/or SMC) is strong. The
leaderships is strong there where HT is dedicated and has an impressive personality.
HT having a vision and dedication can take the school to a new height. The
successful HTs have maintained harmony and a team spirit among teachers and
SMC members. Moreover, the HTs having a cordial relation and a frequent
interactions with DEO and RC can, no doubt, do better.
58
FRP Report 11
REFERENCE
Coleman, J.S. et al. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington D.C.:
U.S. Government Printing Office.
Cynthia L., UlineDaniel M., Miller Megan, Tschannen-Moran, (Oct 1998). School
Effectiveness: The underlying dimensions. Educational Administration Quaterly;
Thousand Oaks.
Darling-Hammond, Linda (Spring, 1994). Performance-based assessment and
educational equity. Harvard Educational Review; Cambridge.
Edmonds, R.R. (1979). Effective schools for urban poor. Educational Leadership,
37(1), 15-24.
Fuller, Bruce and Clarke, Prema (1994). Raising school effects while ignoring culture?
Local conditions and the influence of classroom tools, rules, and pedagogy. Review
of Educational Research, vol.64, no.1, pp 119-157.
Hanushek, Eric A. (March 1998). Conclusions and controversies about the
effectiveness of school resources. FRBNY: Economic Policy Review.
Heyneman, S. & Loxley, W. (1983). The impact of primary school quality on
academic achievement across 29 high and low income countries. American Journal of
Sociology. 88, 1162-1194.
Hyneman, Stephen P. and William A Loxley, (1986). The search for school effects in
developing countries: 1966-1986. Seminar Paper no. 33, IBRD, Washington DC.
Jencks C.,et al., (1972). Inequality: A reassessment of the effect of family and
schooling in America. London.
Merla Bolender (1997). A study of the evolving image of a new school within the
context of school effectiveness: A summary of a masters thesis. STA Research Centre
Report # 97-08.
Riddell, Abby Rubin (Nov. 1989). Focus on challenges to prevailing theories: An
alternative approach to the study of school effectiveness in third world countries.
Comparative education Review.
Riddell, Abby Rubin (Oct. 1998). Reforms of educational efficiency and quality in
developing countries: An overview. Compare; Oxford.
Samuelson, R.J. (1998). Stupid students, smart economy. The Washington Post,
3/12/98.
Scheerens, J. (1999). School Effectiveness in developed and developing countries: A
review of the research findings. The World Bank: Washington, DC.
Teddlie, Charles and Reynolds, David. (eds.) (2000). The International Handbook of
School Effectiveness Research. Falmer Press, London.
59
ANNEX I - CASE STUDY: CHITWAN DISTRICT

Background
For this analysis we have chosen to reflect only on the first research area, i.e.,
assessment of community concern. Community concerns are assessed under three
sub-headings: access to education, education quality, and school management.
Basically, reflections made during interactions by parents, schoolteachers the SMC
members have been discussed as community concerns.
Some issues about grade one is also touched upon briefly. Similarly, thoughts have
also been given to school supervision and monitoring, and on the general state
community awareness.
In depth study on the other two research areas such as, school monitoring and
supervision, and school management will follow.
Access to Education
A majority of the people living in this school community are Chaudharis (Tharus).
Next it is Tamangs. Though not in the majority, high castes such as Brahmins and
Chhetris live in the community. The poorest in the community are Majhis, also called
as Musharin the area. Mushars are one of the socially deprived ethnic groups.
About 30-35 Mushar families live in this community. The major occupation of
Mushars is fishing and wage-labor is their secondary occupation. Normally, they do
not possess any land or livestock and nor do they have permanent houses to live in.
A Holland-based organization has helped these. Mushars living to build their
houses. The organization has also provided food and NRs 100 to kick-start a
permanent living. The support is provided to the Mushars annually (almost).
In the community there is one secondary school, one lower secondary school and one
primary school all in close proximity. There is also one private school in the
community. All the schools are within the commuting distance and offer several
choices for the parents. Thus, school location does not seem to be a problem in the
community.
This school under study was established in 2014 BS (1957/58AD) in Mainaha village
of Chitwan. It received formal approval for running primary grades only in 2028 BS
(1971/72AD). In 2051 BS (1994/95AD), the school was upgraded, to lower
secondary. This school is currently serving the Chaudhari, Tamang, Lama, Brahamin,
Chhetri, Gurung and Mushar communities. The school catchment roughly includes
Sauraha, Wadera, Laukhane, Malpur, Bagmara, Sisawa, and Badreni villages of ward
nos 1, 2 and 9 of Bachhyauli VDC of Chitwan.
The school has a permanent building and owns an area of 1 kattha and 17 dhurs
donated by social workers Mr. Jangi Lal Shrestha and Amrit Lal Shrestha. The
Holland-based organization has also helped this school build additional classrooms.
Enrolment in this school is spectacularly high. Last year there were 99 students in
grade 1. This year there are 66 students in that grade. Fifteen students, who are
regularly attending the grade one, have not been enrolled because they are underage.
Last year the total primary enrolment was 536 students and this year it is 502
students in this school. Every year there are over 100 students (average) in each of
the primary grades in this school. Girls enrolment is also higher in every grade in
the school.
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FRP Report 11
Primary Enrolment
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Total
Year 2001
99
134
Year 2002
66*
91
136
93
74
536
124
133
88
502
* 15 students, who are underage but attending grade one regularly, are not included.
The above statistics suggests that access to education is not a problem in this schoolcommunity. However, some of the Mushar children were reported as not attending
schools. Those who are not attending schools have just chosen not to attend.
Basically they are school leavers. Why they chose to leave school remains to be
explored. But what is clear is that they have all seen schools at least once. There are
about 30-35 Mushar children of school-going age in the community, of whom only
about 20-25 are currently in school. Of the 20-25, 13 are enrolled in this school.
Most of the deliberations on access to education centered on equity either by
gender or by ethnicity, and sometimes even by income quintile. In terms of gender
and ethnicity the school community provides equitable access. Discrimination based
on gender or ethnicity in enrolment and for education does not prevail in the
community. However, probe a judicious into access would reveal that children in the
school community, are less fortunate with regard to educational resources and
quality education. Children in the school community are discriminated. For example,
over 80 students are kept crammed in one single classroom (grade 1). These students
have only one class teacher. There is no educational materials in the school and the
teachers are mostly untrained. Inappropriately, however, in order to graduate from
this school, a student needs to go through a host of school chores such as minimum
daily attendance, taking tests, series of evaluations and so on-like in any other school.
General access to education is important to ensure that no one is left unschooled.
Access to educational resources is even more important to ensure that they receive
quality education i.e. education imparting life-skills. Access to education resources,
however, still looms large on a majority of students in the school community.
Education Quality
Educational quality is indeed a matter of concern for many in this school community.
The achievement level of primary school children is generally low. Not only parents
but also schoolteachers and SMC members agree that education quality vis--vis
learning achievement of the school is generally poor.
Community concerns and school statistics on the issues of education quality are
discussed under three sub-headings: learning achievement, teacher quality and
educational wastage.
Data collected on student achievement last year also reveal on achievement which is
rather low. Last year the students of grade one achieved a mean score of 33.2 in
Math, of 38.5 in Social Studies and of 39.6 in Nepali, whereas the average scores of all
sample schools (20 schools) in Math, Social Studies and Nepali were 39.0, 42.4, and
46.6 respectively. Although the average scores of all sample school are generally low
the average score of this school is even lower. The table below summarizes the
achievement levels.
61
MATH %
This School
Total
SOC %
NEP %
AVGSCR
303
220
303
303
Mean
33.2
38.5
39.6
35.5
Minimum
10.0
6.7
10.0
10.0
Maximum
100.0
90.0
91.7
86.7
% of Total
14.2%
11.5%
14.2%
13.8%
1819
1734
1820
1846
Mean
39.0
42.4
46.6
42.2
Minimum
.00
.00
1.00
1.67
Maximum
100.0
100.0
100.0
99.3
% of Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
The physical facility is reasonably better. The school receives regular support from
the local community and international agencies. It is also conveniently located yet
the learning achievement of this school is poor. A number of responses that came
from the schoolteachers, parents and SMC members are worth mentioning. The
response of a parent whose children receive poor grades every time is interesting.
There is no coordination between teachers and students. Perhaps students are
afraid of asking the teachers. My son is in 6th grade but his writing is very poor. My
daughter is in 4th grade and she doesnt know how to write 'eighty-five'. I always
advise my kids to ask the teachers. I have never seen them doing homework. There
is no homework given. How can they improve if there is no homework? Perhaps
our schoolteachers do not like to give homework to students.
Other parents and one of the SMC members also agreed to the above and showed
similar concern. The general belief of parents is that homework keeps their children
engaged in school work at home. Since the parents are illiterate, there is nothing they
can do except advise or scold their children to study at home. If there is homework,
the parents can at least ask them to do the homework and see if they are doing
something with paper and pencil.
The teachers did not disagree entirely with the parents remark but, however,
I dont agree with the parents saying that we dont give homework. I give
homework regularly. Yes, I dont write it on each students notebook. In stead, I
write it on the blackboard. I have known some students cant write it properly.
But thats all I can do due to the number of students in the class is too large.
claimed that it was not entirely their fault. HM: There are over 70 students in each
class. Giving homework and checking it regularly is impracticable because it needs
one whole day to giving and checking homework. A grade 1 teacher couldn put up
with to the parents complaint and said:
The above discussion reveals that both the parents and the teachers have realized
that more attending school is not enough for children's learning improvement.
Support at home is also necessary. Parents, because they are mostly illiterate, want
that teachers should assign homework so that their children are engaged at home
doing work. Teachers, on the other hand, are overburdened and find it impossible to
provide homework to every child. Teachers there advised to provide homework at
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FRP Report 11
least to those students who have lagged behind. While this may not be a long-term
solution, it will somehow give a headway toward improving learning achievement.
Given that classes are so much overcrowded, it is doubtful that anybody could have
done any better in the class. Handling over 80 students (who come from a wide
range of social and economic backgrounds) in a single class is really difficult and
maintaining a peaceful environment for learning in the class is a challenge for any
teacher. Teaching the class is perhaps another thing.
The teacher student ratio in the primary section of this school is over 62 students per
teacher. The education act (7th amendment) has stipulated a national policy of 50:1
for a Terai district like Chitwan. As the ratio is critically high, it points to a deficit of
about three additional teachers in the primary section in this school. Moreover, the
continuous assessment system (CAS) and grade teaching one also in effect in this
school, which complicates the link between government programme policy, school
resource and support mechanism. In principle, the student-teacher ratio of 30:1 is
considered an ideal class-size in terms of CAS. Trainers and facilitators placed an
emphasis, during orientation and training programs, on the 30:1 ratio for
implementing CAS effectively. In reality, schools are implementing CAS for as many
as 81 students in one single class. A teacher may provide one-on-one attention or not;
CAS is in its own place. The general notion of schoolteachers is that CAS is an
alternative to grade examination, a method of student evaluation-to pass or fail.
Thus, the problem with regard to CAS is two told: 1) lack of support mechanism and
2) lack of the understanding that CAS is not just an alternative to evaluation
mechanism but also a way of monitoring students cognitive development and
improving his or her learning achievement.
Obviously, teachers are too overburdened to pay individual attention and are unable
to provide remedial or extra coaching for the students lagging behind. Consequently,
poorly performing students never get enough feedback and training and so they are
not able to catch up with their better peers and eventually fail. For as many as 24
students CAS is not much help. They are repeating in grade one this year.
The story of the Mushar children in the school community is somewhat different.
The Holland organization has been providing them notebook, pencil, school dress
and summer and winter clothes every year. This school also provided Dalit
scholarships of Rs 250 each to four students last year. In spite of all this the Mushar
children are consistently poor in daily school attendance and in terms of learning
achievement. Many of the Mushar children enrolled in the school do not have good
attendance record and also exhibit learning achievement problems.
In his answer to the question, Why one the Mushar children are poor in learning
achievement despite the support they receive? one of the SMC members said:
The problem with Mushars is that they are unable to intermingle with others
such as Tharus, Tamangs living in the (same) village. They have always thought
of themselves as deprived, and as socially and economically backward. There is
no change in their attitudes and the children remain the same in the class.
Organizations supporting Mushars pay no attention to socializing and socially
uplift their Material support will only make them and their children more and
more depending on external support.
63
The response of a Mushar woman was somewhat different. She claimed that her
child went to school regularly and went out to work only when the school was off.
The SMC Chair added, They ask eldest child to take care of his or her siblings at
home when they have to go for fields Mela-pat (shopping, entertaining, or
religious rendezvous)". The lady noted, accepting the Chairs version. The value of
and priority to education is less with the Mushar families. Their daily routines such
as fishing, collecting fodder in the forest, hunting small animals, etc. also reveal their
rootlessness. searching fodder in the forest including hunting small animals
occasionally also reveals their vary characteristics of being rootless.
There is no denying that Mushar are among the poorest of the poor and that they
need support to survive. At the same time, it is true that regular support invisible
hands has made then less prove to their enlistment in the social and economic
development of the community. The supply-driven approach has proved less
effective as well as less sustainable. Therefore, the concern of socializing Mushar
shown by one of the participating SMC member is particularly remarkable. "To
socialize Mushars', the member suggested, it is important that we do something from
within the community and not through invisible hands.
The root cause of the problem with Mushar families and their children seems to be
twofold: a) the families are not only economically and socially backward but are also
illiterate. Consequently, family support to childrens education at home is extremely
limited, and b) the way they live an isolated life in the community prevents them
from participating in the economic and social development activities taking place in
their own community. Consequently, they become less aware of their roles and
responsibilities and cannot value education.
The above discussions reflect several elements that hinder to learning achievement
(in the school.) The elements include a) lack of awareness in parents and lack family
support, and b) and the teachers' inability to pay individual attention to students in
the class. Lack of parental awareness and support at home is not a unique
phenomenon of this school; it is common many schoolcommunities. Thus the high
teacher-student ratio is evidently the greatest hindrance to education quality in this
school.
Educational wastage (repetition and dropouts):
Of the 99 students enrolled in grade 1 last year, only 75 (7 6%) got promoted to grade
2 and 24 (24%) are repeating the grade. Of the 24 students repeating grade 1, 13
(54%) are female, 12 (50%) are underage, and 8 (33%) belong to disadvantaged
groups such as, Majhi, Kumal, Darai and Bote. Three families migrated due to
(recent) floods in the area.
40
30
20
Grade in 2002
Count
10
1
0
2
Male
Female
Gender
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FRP Report 11
Two children did not show up after the Dashain vacation. One had gone to join a
private school, and the reason why the other one did not return is unknown. The
actual dropout is one student out of 99 students enrolled last year. Thus, the dropout
rate is less than 1 percent in this school, against the national average of 13 percent.
Despite CAS and grade teaching, students repeating grade 1 testifies that the major
cause of wastage in education, is not the dropout but grade repetition at least in this
school..
70
60
50
40
30
C
o
u
n
t
20
Grade in 2002
10
1
2
0
Continuing Student
Irregular
Attendance Status
One of the parents was particularly adamant about teachers being a threat to the
kids in school. During their class observation, the researchers saw the teachers in
class holding sticks in the hands. In the first phase of this study it was noted, among
other things, that the fear-factor is predominant in students. It was only the presence
of the class teacher that kept the students in the class through out the class-hour.
Hence, the desire of a parent for a friendly school environment (including teachers
friendly attitude) is particularly important.
HM, agreeing to most of the above deliberations, said three things about the school:
a) the student pressure is high, b) the class management is weak, and c) if we cant
check all HW there is no point in giving it. He also emphasized that the parents
should monitor their children at home.
In this school educational wastage as such did not seem to be a major problem,
except that about 24 percent repeated of students grade 1. Half of the repeaters were
underage, who could be 'eliminated' by opening pre-school or a similar class in the
same school. Thus, only the remaining half, i.e., 12 percent of the total enrolment in
grade 1, seems to be the real wastage (in this school.) This ratio is well below the
national average of 41 percent repeating grade 1.
Teacher Quality
There were altogether 12 teachers in this school last year. One of them resigned about
six month ago. This teacher went to join a private school. Of the 11 teachers currently
in the school, 3 are lower secondary teachers and the remaining 8 are primary
teachers. None of the teachers has received complete training. One has completed
package III and the two have completed package I only. The remaining 8 teachers are
untrained. These untrained teachers are all temporary teachers. Only three teachers,
including HT have the permanent employment status.
Teachers are regular in this school. Parents, RP and SMC members agreed that the
teachers are generally regular. No more than two teachers went on leave at one time.
The teachers' attendance register did not show teacher absenteeism. Teacher
absenteeism is a major problem in schools, but it is not a problem in this school.
However, in the round table discussion parents did not hesitate complaining of
65
teachers being lethargic and refraining from assigning homework to students. For
many parents it is not the teachers' attendance or qualification and teaching
experience that matters; it is the daily assignment of homework to students.
When asked about the general quality of the primary school teachers, parents of the
poor (Mushars included) were reluctant to blame teachers for the poor achievement
level of their children. But some active and educated parents did blame HT for poor
school management.
Other issues such as primary teachers teaching lower secondary grades were also
brought into discussion. There are only three lower secondary teachers for 216
students of the lower secondary grades. Teaching in the lower secondary grades is
not only lucrative because of economic incentives but also rewarding because it
signifies a higher teacher status. But the incentive and status psychology has
hampered to teaching- learning in the primary grades.
Teachers qualification, experience and training does not seem to be a concern for the
community (including SMC). Here again inadequate teacher supply to in the school
is a prime concern.
School Management
An interaction session, (round table) was organized to discuss school management
and the roles and functions of SMC, HM, and RP. In the interaction SMC members,
HM, schoolteachers, RP, and were present parents. The SMC members and parents
seemed to be satisfied with HM. However, they laid stress on coordination between
the teachers.
In the interaction session complaints came from almost all stakeholders. The teachers
and SMC members expressed concerns with the lack of awareness in the parents and
guardians in the village. The parents complained of the schools' inability to inform
them their of childrens progress. They also complained that the school did not
organize parents meeting. RP was of the opinion that the SMC meetings focused
mostly on improvement of the schools physical facilities. Issues related to the
improvement of education quality, the learning achievements of poorly performing
students, parents awareness and participation are rarely brought to the SMC
meetings. HT commented that RP visited to the school only once in three months.
In the round table discussion, it was felt that there was no communication between
teachers and parents and between SMC members and the villagers. SMC members
were found to have no interaction with the villagers either before or after the SMC
meeting. It seemed as if Mushars were something not within the SMCs jurisdiction.
Its not that SMC members were unaware of what needs to be done. The stakeholders
laid stress on leadership. The teachers did not discuss school matters with the
parents even outside the school hours. The formation of SMC seems to have made
everyone easy-going. School matters discussed in the SMC meetings only
rationalized/legitimized school activities (past or future). Moreover, the SMC
meeting sought also relief from deciding whoever should take the school matters to
the parents and villagers and how.
There is a problem here: parents are illiterate and do not know what (and how much)
their children have learned, nor do they approach the school teachers for this because
they are either shy or have no time. Due to the huge enrolment, it is practically
impossible for the teachers to pay individual attention students they cannot even
66
FRP Report 11
report students' progress to the parents. Finally, the SMC do not talk of what goes
outside the school boundaries and seldom share school matters with the villagers.
Case of a Private school
Answering the question (asked to the gathering) "what major differences do you find
between a private school and this school?, the SMC chair said, In fact, the
fundamental difference is that in a private school students are taught in a much
smaller class (like a tuition group) whereas in this school we teach as many as 99
students in one single classroom. Parents are less concerned about class-size and
more concerned about the regular homework that a private school assigns to its
students. Private schools regularly monitor students progress and inform the
parents about their childrens progress or weaknesses. Public schools do not do that.
The principal of a private school was asked the question, What are major strengths
and weaknesses of public and private schools?" He had a different set of
observations to present. He claimed:
Public schools are permanent. They trained teachers and receive regular support
and feedback from DEO, RP and even from MOE/DOE. Many private schools are
not permanent. No one knows when they'll down. Some private boarding schools
have dedicated people who have put their career at stake for developing the
schools into excellent institutions. Only the private schools with commitment and
dedication have thrived. Most of the public schools do not have committed and
dedicated HT and teachers. HTs in public schools need empowerment. Political
appointments have to be stopped. Most experienced, qualified and dedicated
teachers should be made HMs."
Talking about teacher training, the private school HT said:

Teacher training is important but even more important is time-on-task and
class preparation. In our school, we do not need to remind the teachers what to
teach and how. They are always prepared and, if any problem surfaces in class
conduction, we sit to discuss and provide suggestions. Teaching in school
requires both qualification and skill. Selection of teachers is therefore a very
important process.

It was realized by almost all participants that regular monitoring and supervision
were very important. For many, however, monitoring and supervision of school
activities was the responsibility of HM. Parents were virtually silent when
monitoring and supervision issues were being discussed. Even the SMC members
were found not fully knowledgeable about monitoring and supervision and about
how and when they should be done.
RP's visit to the school is limited (only a few visits in a year). The school under study
was lucky to have the RP visit about three months ago. That was possible because the
resource centre is located about 15 minutes walk from the school. Schools that are far
remain a question RPs, on the other hand are also overburdened. They have to
supervise as many as 34 schools attached to a resource centre (private schools, not
included). The number of schools in the school cluster has been increasing every year
making RPs visit (once every month) virtually impossible. An RP has to do all sorts
of work, collection and compilation of school data, conduction of teacher training,
attending parents' day, forming SMC, and a few more (including school monitoring
67
and supervision). Other administrative works which include providing logistics are
another aspect. RP's complaint was that the data collection work alone consumed
almost 100 days in a year.
Thus, the general feeling is that the concept, purpose and value of school monitoring
and supervision have not yet been fully understood by schoolteachers, SMC
members and parents.
Issues in Grade 1
In grade 1 there were 99 students last year. Of these, 24 are repeating the grade. The
continuous assessment system is in effect in grades 1-3 in the school. The reason why
24 students failed in grade 1 is simple. A grade 1 teacher said, "Some of them cant
even write their names and cant even hold a pencil properly. How could I pass such
students?" When informed of the excessive fail situation DEO said, "Student do fail
in grade 1, He only nodded in acceptance and did not utter a word. The CAS
guidelines do not clearly state what to do if a student has over 70% of dailyattendance in school and is in appropriate promotion age but still cannot write his or
her name or even cannot hold a pencil properly. Similarly, the CAS guidelines do not
speak about how many students a teacher should or could handle.
Together with the CAS, grade teaching is in effect in the school. But, in reality,
teachers disperse the classes after the tiffin. Worse of all, school does not receive
exercise books on time.
Summary of the discussions
Access to education access to education in this school community is generally
satisfactory except for some Mushar children.
There are three public schools and one private schools closely located in the
community this provides a range of choice for the community.
Student enrolment in the school is considerably high.
Some Mushar children are still out of school.
Enrolment of girls in the school is also fairly high.
But access to educational resources is minimal. There are no educational

resources except teachers. A few books are kept in a so-called library which
is only a bookshelf half empty. Similarly, there are no educational materials
graphs, charts and playing objects.
The concept of joyful learning is non-existent.
Education quality in the school is, in deed, a major concern for the majority of
stakeholders. Crowded classrooms and the insufficient number of teachers appear to
be the major cause of poor educational quality in this school.
68
Learning achievement is generally in this school.
Twenty-four students are repeating grade 1 this year.
Teachers in the school are mostly untrained it is not a major concern for the
community teacher insufficiency in the school is their primary concern.
Teachers do not give homework and do not even check students homework,
if any.
FRP Report 11
Teachers complain that it is practically impossible to check everyones

homework.
Crowded classrooms, inadequate attention to students, and teacher

insufficiency are the main reasons for the poor education quality in this
school community.
Lack of awareness in parents and lack of support at home are the major issues
(common to other communities as well).
a)
Continuous Assessment and Grade Teaching in schools have yet to produce

the desired result.
Twenty-four students are repeating grade 1. Of there, 50 percent were in

the correct age; they could have been promoted provided they had
received some extra support.
Class teacher said that those who failed did not have the minimum level
of competency and that extra coaching could have helped thus
promotion.
During CAS orientation and training a ratio of 30:1 why suggested as an

ideal class-size for CAS. However, the, school run CAS with as many as
81 students in a single classroom. At the primary level this studentteacher ratio, was 62:1 and in grade one it is as high as 81:1.
Grade teaching: teachers disperse classes after the mid-day interval.
Class teachers are overloaded and therefore cannot pay individual

attention to students in the class (with over 80 students).
CAS is being taken only as an alternative to student evaluation or

examination.
Ideal environment for CAS is non-existent in schools. Even at the

piloting stage of CAS, schools were confused about process and support
mechanisms. Comprehending CAS uniformly is equally important
across the board.
Issues
b)
Early Childhood Development centers do not seem to be effective in stopping

underage enrolments in grade 1.
Currently, there are 226 ECD centers are operating on government

support in Chitwan.
Underage students are still coming to public schools. Fifteen underage

children are regularly attending grade 1 in the current school.
SMC members, schoolteachers and even DEO agreed that some parents
produce fake age-certificates to get their underage children enrolled.
There is a clear line of demarcation between ECD and Pre-school in the

Education Act (7th amendment).
However, SMC and schoolteachers are unaware about pre-primary

education and confused with ECD they think that it is only a
community thing.
69
School management SMC is recently formed in a majority of schools in Chitwan.

SMC
SMC meetings mostly discuss on school infrastructure and physical

facility improvement. Class conduction and improvement of learning
achievement is rarely figure in the agenda. It is possibly due to the lack
of technical know-how in SMC members.
There is no mechanism for the dissemination of the outcomes of SMC

meetings to the villagers and parents. Similarly, listing parents
concerns and presenting them to SMC meetings is rare practice.
Due to teacher insufficiency teacher in the school HT is required to take

a full load of classes often in replacement of the teachers that are on
leave.
Has less time to think of other aspects of school management.
HT
Supervision and monitoring

Teachers, HT and SMC members were found confused between

While everybody realized the importance of monitoring and evaluation,

they conceptually mix-up between monitoring and supervision.
SMC/Parents
SMC member are not fully aware of their roles and responsibilities.
Visiting the school to participate in the SMC meetings is basically what
the majority understood as their responsibility.
Parents, on the other hand, either lack awareness or do not pay

attention to school matters.
HT is not fully aware of the importance of monitoring and supervision.

Even if he is, he does not have time to do it rightly.
In general, over 100 work days of RP go to teacher training
The next consumer of RPs time is data collection (in schools).
The third in is the ad-hoc activities such as formation of SMCs,

attending school functions (including parents' day), etc.
A fair amount of time is also spent on commuting with between RC and

DEO for various purposes: organizing orientations, supporting SIP
preparation, collecting packages (training, data, and monitoring
packages).
Number of schools in the school cluster has increased over the years. It
has reduced the frequency of school visits.
There are as many as 34 public schools in one cluster (Pithuwa Resource

Center).
HT
RP
70
FRP Report 11
Community Awareness
Programmes
aimed at improving community awareness and
participation in the community development programmes have yet to
produce the desired results.
Some of the deprived families, e.g. Mushars, still live secluded lives
despite the continued support provided to them.
Conclusion
In this school community access is generally not a problem except that a few Mushar
children are still out of school. But that does not mean the Mushar children have
never seen a school. In most of the cases they are school-leavers. The enrolment of
over 500 students in primary grades signifies that there is no shortage of school-goers
in the community. However, the quality of education in the school is relatively poor.
Heavy burdens on class teachers seem to be a great obstacle to the improvement of
the quality of education. Classrooms are so over crowded the trainings we provide to
the teachers, the textbooks given to the students, and the kinds of evaluation method
we use are ineffective. To make all the quality measures (mentioned above) effective
it is important that the class-size is maintained at minimum possible level and that
the required number of teachers is provided.
School supervision and monitoring make another problem area. Many of SMC
members, parents, and even teachers do not know what they are and why they are
important. RPs, on the other hand, are overburdened they are involved in a range of
activities.
HT's role in improving school management and making the school effective is
critically important. Hence, selecting a qualified, experienced and dedicated senior
teacher for the HT chair is necessary. The first thing suggested by the stakeholders in
this regard was to stop political appointment.
Issues of community awareness and participation have remained unsolved despite
the extensive support that is available. The problem is that those who are in SMC do
not consider Mushar issues. Mushars in the village receive extensive support, mostly
from invisible hands. They also need is socialization: learning to live together and
sharing problems with other members in the village. Everybody in the gathering
agreed that this could be possible only if community awareness and support
programmes were implemented in the community.
The formation of SMC in the school has also relieved HT and the teachers from
several obligations (including interactions with the parents and guardians). School
activities discussed in the SMC meetings are hardly disseminated to the villages and
parents. It is also not customary among SMC members to discuss school matters with
parents and villagers prior to or after the SMC meetings. Thus those who are not in
the SMC never know what is going on in their school.
Issue in grade 1 is another area, which calls serious attention. About 24 percent of the
children enrolled in this school last year started their educational career as repeaters.
CAS and grade teaching have been of no use for as many as 24 students in this
school. The insufficient number of teachers in the school and lack of timely delivery
of exercise books are two major causes of the failure of 24 students. It reveals that the
objectives envisaged in CAS and grade teaching can be achieved only when the
minimum required resources could be ensured. CAS and grade teaching in a class of
over 80 students is simply unimaginable.
71
ANNEX II
CASE STUDY: MORANG DISTRICT
Morang is located in the eastern Terai region. According to a MOES/DOE report,
primary school enrolment in the district, in 2000, is estimated to be 116,229, of which,
53,670 (46.2 percent) are girls. There are 611 primary schools in the district. The same
publication of the DOE reports a total of 2,889 primary teachers in the district, of
which 854 (29.6 percent) are female teachers. The teacher-student ratio for the
primary level in Morang is 1:40.2. The teacher-student ratio is thus well below the
government-established norm for a Terai district, i.e., 1:50. However, the trained
teacher-student ratio is over 1:93.
Table 9: Some relevant statistics
Title
NER
GER
Teacher-student ratio
Trained teacher-student ratio
Student per school
Teacher per school
Female Teacher per school
Female Teachers in Percent
Promotion Rate in grade 1
Dropout Rate in grade 1
Repeaters Rate in grade 1
School
49.3
230.1
345.2
6.0
4.0
57.1
Morang
81.6
103.0
40.2
93.4
190.2
4.7
1.4
29.6
55.2
12.3
32.5
Nepal
80.4
119.8
37
71.5
139.7
3.8
1.0
25.3
44.6
13.6
41.8
Promotion rate in grade 1 in the district is slightly over 55.2 percent. The remaining
44.8 percent can be considered as educational wastage as a majority of them either
repeat or drop out. Gross enrolment rate in the primary level is 103 percent and the
net enrolment rate is about 82 percent. Thus, the gross and net enrolment rates are
relatively good in Morang district compared to national rates which are 120 and 80
respectively.
In the district five schools were selected as sampled school for this study. They are:
Mills Secondary School, Sharda Primary School, Bhanu Primary School, Bal Lower
Secondary School, and Raghupati Primary School. Each school is discussed at some
length in the paragraphs below.
This school was established in 2003 BS under the name of Mills Primary School and
its catchment roughly includes ward nos 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of Biratnagar SubMetropolitan city of Morang district. The school began its classes with three teachers
in a labourer quarter. The primary objective of the school was to educate children of
the labourers working in the Morang Cotton Mills. The school was granted approval
only in Falgun 7, 2007 BS and was upgraded in 2014 BS to a middle school and
renamed as Mills Middle English School. In the year 2020 the school was upgraded
into a secondary school. It was gradually becoming unmanageable to run the school
in small labour quarters and in 2021 the school shifted to Juddha Park which was
spread over an area of about 15 Katthas. Some of the social workers and
educationists such as Mr. Juddha Bahadur Shrestha, Mr. Tripurananda Vaidya, Mr.
Lila Man Singh, Mr Nara Bahadur Rai, Mr. Dhruba Kumar Thapa, Mr Shyam Lal
Singhaniya, Mr Dhebar Chand Jain, Mr Moti Lal Maru and Mr. Baikuntha Mangal
Joshi donated NRs. 7,500 each for school building construction. Industrial enterprises
72
FRP Report 11
such as Morang Sugar Mill, Raghupati Jute Mills Biratnagar Jute Mills donated NRs.
7,500 to 15,000 for school building construction. With these support eight classrooms
were constructed and some furniture was bought.
Physical Facilities
Due to the shortage of classrooms, the primary classes run during the day time (11
to 4 PM) and the lower secondary and secondary classes in the morning (6 to 11 AM).
In 2026 BS Ashok Textile Industry constructed one classroom on the northwest side
of the main building and in 2028 BS Biratnagar Jute Mill constructed a servant
quarter for the security of the school in the south western part of the building. In the
same year the government constructed a workshop building. Likewise, Mr Juddha
Bahadur Shrestha constructed a marble Saraswati temple and Mr Sudhakar Thakur
constructed the roof. In 2046 BS Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan constructed a building
consisting of 5 rooms. In 2047, with the partnership of Earthquake Rehabilitation
Centre constructed two building blocks consisting of 4 rooms on its own cost. On the
initiative of Mr Anandahang Yomyang, British Gorkha donated Rs 39300 for the
furniture, Mr. Gorakh Bahadur Singh, former HT, donated Rs 25000 for library
establishment and one steel cupboard, and Mr Gyanchand Dugad, the former SMC
chairperson, donated one steel cupboard. Presently, the school has five permanent
buildings and 19 rooms, of which 16 are used as classrooms and one for HT, one for
teachers common room and one for science equipment. Every year the school
purchases books worth Rs 5000 to Rs 6000. Plan Nepal provided scholarships to the
school and also a doctor. It deposited Rs. 100,000 and the school itself deposited Rs.
50,000 as fixed deposit/revolving fund for scholarships and awards to the intelligent
and deprived students. Likewise, Mr Laxmi Kanta Lal Das donated Rs 51,000 and
later his daughter-in-law, Dr. Pawan Kumar Karna, contributed Rs. 51,000 for the
Anil Smriti Pratibha foundation revolving fund. Recently, ward no. 20 of
Biratnagar Municipality donated 2 chairs, one cupboard, and one table to the school.
Likewise, on the initiative of Ex student organization, the school formed an ECHO
Friendly Organization Club to keep school-environment clean. Young Organization
also donates some clothes for the deprived students of the school.
Access to education
The school is currently serving about 80% of the children of the labourers, amongs
them Chaudharis, Shahas, Mahatos, Yadavas, Newars, Tamangs, Lamas, Brahamins,
Chhetri, Gurung, and Muslims. Most of the people living in the community are
Shahas followed by Chaudharis and Mahatos. Though not in the majority, Brahmins
and Chhetris live in the community. The working people in the Mills spend on
drinking alcohol when they have off time. Some of the students work in the Mills in
the night and attend school in the day. Some girl student work as housemaids and
attend school only in their leisure time. There is one boarding school located near the
school and two private schools are within a few minutes walk. Access to education
in this school community is not a problem because there is no such child who does
not attend the school. Some parents have even produced fake certificates to enroll
their underage children. Access to educational resources is however minimal. Some
materials such as map, globe, playing object and alphabetical charts were displayed
in the teachers common room but not in the classroom. A few books were kept in a
so-called library, which was only a bookshelf. Some textbooks were kept in the
teachers common room. Nevertheless, this school may be said to possess
educational materials more than other public schools in the district do.
73
Education Quality
Educational quality is indeed a matter of concern for the school. According to the
HT, there is no qualified and dynamic teacher for the primary level and most of the
teachers are untrained. School has managed extra coaching classes for students to
improve their learning achievement. The result has yet to be seen. The school has
developed a quality control circle approach to maintain quality control. The circle
monitors class performance of the teachers and learning achievement of the students.
The SMC/ teachers/parents are satisfied with the roles and functions of the quality
control mostly because it provides necessary feedback to the teachers. Due to this
quality control, some of the students from the boarding schools have reportedly
shifted to this school. Those who did not get the opportunity are waiting for the next
year.
The grade wise enrolment in this school is very high in 1999 to 2002. The total
increase in primary school enrolment in 1999 to 2002 was 20.6 percent but the
increase girls' enrolment was only 0.6 percent. In grade 1, 4 and 5, however, the
growth in girls in enrolment was not good, whereas in grades 2 and 3 girls
enrolment increased only by 15.1 and 7.6 percent respectively.
Table 10: Total Primary Enrolment Trend, by sex 1999 - 2002
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
1
Total
143
98
150
144
2
Girls
77
40
58
65
Total
137
154
120
193
3
Girls
73
78
45
84
Total
133
120
168
125
4
Girls
66
63
71
71
Total
115
118
117
163
5
Girls
63
59
63
62
Total
102
106
106
135
Total
Girls
65
58
46
64
Total
630
596
661
760
Girls
344
298
283
346
Source: Field Survey, 2003
In grades 1, 2, 4 and 5 the total enrolment increase was 0.7, 40.9, 41.7 and 32.2 percent
respectively but in grade 3 the increase was negative growth ( 6.0 percent) On an
average, there continues to be fluctuation in enrolment in each of the primary grades
in this school.
Data collected on student achievement last year also reveal rather lower achievement
levels in this school. On an average, students in grade 1 achieved a mean score of
33.2 in Math, 38.5 in Social Studies and 39.6 in Nepali, whereas the average scores, of
all sampled schools (20 schools) in Math, Social Studies and Nepali was 39.0, 42.4,
and 46.6 respectively. Although the average scores of all the sampled school, is
generally low but this school has still lower scores than the average. The table below
summarizes the achievement levels.
Table 11: Achievement Scores
Mills Secondary
School
Total
74
N
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
% of Total
N
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
% of Total
MATH %
303
33.2
10.0
100.0
14.2%
1819
39.0
.00
100.0
100%
SOC %
220
38.5
6.7
90.0
11.5%
1734
42.4
.00
100.0
100%
NEP %
303
39.6
10.0
91.7
14.2%
1820
46.6
1.00
100.0
100%
AVGSCR
303
35.5
10.0
86.7
13.8%
1846
42.2
1.67
99.3
100%
FRP Report 11
There are 13 teachers in this school, 3 male 10 are female, and none of the teachers
have received complete training. Among them, one has completed the bachelor level
in education and one has completed 150 hrs' training. The other teachers are
untrained. Four teachers are temporary and 9 are permanent. The qualification of 9
teachers is only SLC, only 2 have completed the intermediate level and 2 the
bachelors level. All the teachers have received refresher training conducted by the
resource centre and some have received grade and multi grade teacher training. It
shows that the qualification and trainings of the teachers in this school are generally
poor. The teacher student ratio is 1:54. According to the Education Act (7th
amendment) the teacher student ratio for the Terai is 1:50. It is normally believed that
teacher absenteeism is a major problem in the school and that education quality
largely depends on the regularity of the teachers. In this school 12 percent of the
teachers are found irregular. HTs and parents agreed that teachers were mostly
regular and their regularity was improving. Some of the teachers were not punctual
due to their age factor. According to a teacher, the school was very strict late comers
(student or teacher) were not permitted to enter the school premises. And no more
than two teachers have taken leave at one time. The following table shows the
teachers daily attendance in the school.
Jestha
Asadh
Srawan
Bhadra
Aswin
Kartik
Marga
Poush
Magh
Falgun
Chaitra
Open Days
Class running Days
Average Attendance
Baisakh
Months
Table 12: Teacher Attendance Record, 2059
16
15
14
17
16
15
26
25
21
4
4
4
26
26
21
25
25
24
4
4
4
21
21
18
24
23
22
24
24
22
22
22
16
14
14
12
Source: Field Data, 2003

Teachers reported that the language of instructions and students mother tongue had
caused problems in teaching. Most of the students speak either Hindi or Maithali
and they do not understand Nepali. HT said "that we have to use both the languages
in the class. But one of the parents agreed, my three children studies in this school
and they have no language problem because I speak Nepali at home.Teachers
complained, Students are not serious in their study in the classroom. They never
consult with the teacher. They bring their brothers and sisters in the classroom.
Parents are illiterate and rarely check children's home works. For some teachers, 40
minutes' class hour was not sufficient to pay attention to each student in the
classroom. They could not even report student progress to the parents. The teachers
suggested, "Parents should take care of their children because they spend only 5 to 6
hours in the school. "There is virtually nothing on display in the classrooms and
some of the graphs-charts, playing materials are kept in the teachers common room.
Teachers do not properly use them. Joyful learning is rare in the classroom. In grade
1 there is irregularity in students attendance-after the tiffin hour. Generally, in the
Terai area the labour class take their lunch in the afternoon and the students are also
used to take their lunch at the same time. To control students leaving after tiffin
teachers take reattendance after the fifth period. The children are reminded about
their absence and sometimes letters are sent to parents. Teachers' major concerns
with regard to students in this school appear to be three fold: a) difference between
the language of instruction in the school and the language of daily use among
75
students; b) parents' carelessness about their children daily attendance in school;

and c) crowded classrooms due to which individual attendance to students is
impossible.
HT's/Teachers' concern about community/parents
Teachers remarks about the parents: They are mostly illiterate, never check
children's homework, never discuss with their children about their performance.
They never come to the school to discuss their children's problems "Another issue
raised by the teachers: Due to the poverty of the parents most of the children do not
bring paper and pencil in the classroom. "Teachers strongly believed that, if the
student did not do their homework or class work regularly, then it would be difficult
to improve their learning achievement and eventually they would fail in the exam.
Parents realize this only when their children fail in a certain grade.
Parents raised issues about children's homework. They said textbooks were not
available on time. Some parents even complained. "Teachers dont give homework
and the teachers behavior in the school is rude. They do not care even when a child
looses books or pencils. "In the round table discussion one of the parents commented,
saying that there was no discipline in the school. "In his view, once the child enters
the school it is the teacher who should take care of the child and of his/her activities
in the school. My son is studying in grade 4 and in time first term exam he failed in
two subjects. He usually leaves school after tiffin hour. I asked my son why he left
after tiffin, and he told me that he did not like to go to school and that the teachers
never warned. In his view, the community school had no discipline and the quality
of education was eroding. But other parents' views were quite different. One parent
said, My two sons study in grade 2. They never leave after tiffin and are regular
they never miss the school. She argued that: although she was illiterate, her children
were doing well in the school. She is proud of her children and is satisfied with the
school. Another parent said, The role of the guardian is as important as that of the
teacher. My son is studying in grade 5. I take care of my child during the tiffin hour.
I take care of his homework. He is doing well in the school. "She said that either
father or mother should take care of the child at home. In her view the teacher should
maintain the after-tiffin record and give penalty if necessary. This shows that the
parent always kept in touch with her son before and after school and that her son
was doing well in the school. She argues that parents should visit the school and
remain informed of the child's progress and her or his behaviour in the school at
least once in 15 days or once in a month. She boldly criticized the promotion against
fail in one subject.
In the same group discussion, another parent said he neither complained nor visited
the school. ( His daughter was studying in grade 2) He had arranged private tuition
for his daughter. Another parent said his son was in grade 2 and was weak. So he has
given him tuition. This shows that those parents who show concern for their children
at home are doing better another parent said. I have three children studying in the
same grade. Only two are better and one is relatively weak. "The parent takes care of
his children's homework and other activities. One more parent said. My children
are studying in grades 7 and 9. My sons are never away from the school they
sometimes come home earlier and I ask for the reason. He added that generally his
children waited for their friends and became late in the school. The school gate
would be shut and they would not be allowed to go inside. According to him, the
76
FRP Report 11
school had good discipline. In conclusion, a majority of the parents expressed their
satisfaction over the school physical facilities and were happy that the teachers
mostly checked student homework. In the same discussion, HT: Said that About 700
students are studying in this school and it is quite difficult to identify the characters
of the students. They stay only 4 or 5 hours in the school but rest of the time their are
home. The responsibility of the parents is higher than that of the school teacher."
School Management
An interaction session was organized with SMC, HT and RP to discuss the school
management and their roles and functions. SMC is already formed in this school. But
there have been only one or two SMC meetings. During the SMC formation some
manipulation is found. It seems that SMC was formed on the basis of selection not
election.
It was realized by almost all the participants that regular monitoring and supervision
was necessary. For many, monitoring and supervision of school activities fell within
the responsibility of HT. There was virtually no reaction, no intervention from the
parents about monitoring and supervision. Even the SMC members are not fully
knowledgeable about monitoring and supervision and that how it should actually be
done.
Load of HT
HT in the Mills Secondary school has visited several countries and is inspired by
their education and school systems. He has traveled to Malaysia, USA and Mauritius.
He comes to school early in the morning because the secondary level runs in the
morning. He usually stays until 11 AM in the school. There is primary level in charge
in the school.. Primary leveler classes begin at 11 AM in the school. According to a
teacher, HT frequently inspects class and provides feedback. One of the teachers
agrees that this school was like a boarding school as things are punctual and people
were disciplined. SMC members, parents and teachers are satisfied with the present
HT.
RP's visit to school is like elsewhere, limited to one or two visits in a year even
though the resource centre is about 15 to 20 minutes' walk. HT and the teachers
complained that RPs did not even do 10 to 15 percent of his job. There are regular
HT meeting in RC and several issues are raised in the meetings but committed
actions are not done by RPs (in the school) and there is no follow up programme in
the district. One teacher commented, I have been working here for the last two
years but I have never seen RP visit the school."
RP's Perception
RP are overburdened, They have to supervise as many as 36 schools affiliated to a
resource centre. (RC doesnt include private schools). Number of schools in the
cluster has been increasing every year making RPs visit to each school once every
month virtually impossible. One resource person has to do all sorts of work
including collection and compilation of school data, conducting teacher training,
attending parents' days, forming SMC, to name a few over and beyond school
77
monitoring and supervision. Other administrative works including the provision of

logistics are another hassle. RPs complained that the training alone consume almost
100 work-days in a year.
Conclusion
Thus, the feeling is that the purpose and value of monitoring and supervision have
not yet been fully realized by schoolteachers, SMC members and the parents. Who
should do the monitoring and supervision? RP or from HT.?
Major Findings
Discussions on the major findings are organized here under three major heads:
access to education, quality education and school management.
Access to Education: Access to education in this school community is quite
satisfactory.
There is one private secondary school quite close and two private schools are
located within the catchments. Thus there is a wide range of choice for the
community.
Both boys' and girls' enrolment is high in this school.
Some of the students work in the factories late night. During daytime they
attend the school. Some students also work as home assistants and attend
school at their leisure time.
The environment outside the school is polluted due to use of drugs.
The tendency of underage children enrolment with the fake certificate is

fewer in this school.
Access to educational resources is however minimal. There are some

educational materials such as maps, globes, playing objects and alpha
numeric maps are displayed in the teachers common room. They are not
used in the classrooms.
Education Quality: Educational quality is one of the indicators of school

effectiveness.
78
Untrained teachers appear to be the major cause of poor educational quality

in this school.
Learning achievement is relatively poor among students in this school

compared to that of other sampled schools.
Parents believe that homework keeps children busy at home.
Teacher in the school are mostly untrained, but this is not a major concern for
the community.
Mainly in grade 1, students and the teachers have language problems

Children speak and understand Hindi whereas teaching is done in Nepali.
Textbooks are not available on time.
Classrooms are crowded.
FRP Report 11
School Management:
SMC has recently been formed in the school but there have been only one or two
SMC meetings. Class conduction, improvement learning achievements are agenda.
Supervision and Monitoring: It was realized by almost all of the participants
regular monitoring and supervision were very important. However;
that
HT and SMC members were found unaware of what and how to monitor.
Everybody realized the importance of both monitoring and evaluation but

they mixed-up monitoring and supervision.
SMC members are not fully aware of their roles and responsibilities as their
Visiting the school to participate in the SMC meetings is basically what they
understood.
Parents are not aware of responsibility or do not pay much attention to the
school matters.
RPs visit to the school is only one or two per year.

Sharda Primary School, Karsia Bazar
Sharda Primary School was established in 2039 BS and got officinal in 2042 BS This
school is within the jurisdiction of Dadar Bairiya resource centre (Shree Kishan
Primary School). The school was run with the aim to uplift backward society of the
village. In this school most of the students are from ward nos. 3, 6 and 7 of Bhaduwa
village of Dadarbairiya VDC and ward no 1, 2 and 3 of Sorabhag village. The school
starts at 10 AM and closes at 4 PM. In the vicinity of the school there are two
boarding schools.
Physical Facilities
Earlier this area was a Muslims crematory. With the expansion of Karsia Bazar the
community decided to shift the crematory to another place and thus the emptied
place was given to the school. After the availability of the site, HT teachers and
parents went on a delegation to the DEO office to seek some support for the school
building. Then on the initiative of the present SMC and HT/teachers the school
building was established. Currently, the school has 4 permanent buildings having 8
classrooms and one HTs/teacher common room. Of in four buildings, one having
two rooms was constructed by Plan Nepal for ECD classes. In addition, Plan Nepal
donated Rs. 9,000 for the construction of the school gate and compound wall. Other
three buildings were constructed by the members of the local community. The school
has no extra assets like agricultural land. However, the school has a total land area of
10 katthas, donated by Mr Ram Prasad Khatiwada. The land is used for extra
curricular activities. The school has planned to construct a low cost multipurpose
training hall on the same piece of land that will leave some area for playground. The
main aim of constructing the low-cost multipurpose building is to generate an
annual income of about Rs 20,000 for the school. The school has founded the Sharda
Matching Revolving Fund. For the fund UNICEF and HMG, hard donated Rs 9000
each. With this matching fund the school has been generating income by providing
loans of Rs 500 to rickshaw-pullers, maize sellers, bhuja sellers and other similar
professionals. Only those parents whose students study in this school are eligible to
receive the loan. Plan Nepal has also donated an amount on this matching fund. At
present the amount of the matching fund is Rs. 35,000.
79
Access to education
The school population consists of Rajbanshis, Chaudharis, Shahas, Paswans,
Mandals, Yadavas, Mahatos, Mushars, Baniyas, Bengalis, Magars, Muslims,
Kayasthas, Chamars and Majhis, the majority is of Rajbanshis followed by Bengalis,
Tharus and Mushars. Most of the people are farmers and working class groups.
Mushrooming of brick industries in the area has encouraged parents to send their
children to work to supplement their family income. Some of the Mushar students
also work in the hotels soon after completing grade 3 or 4. About 60 percent of
Mushar and Muslim students are not attending school. To bring children of these
families to it, the school has planned to organize awareness campaign, miking,
pamphleting, street drama and door-to-door campaign. About 15 to 20 percent of the
enrolments are underage. Parents of these children go to job and there is no one to
look after the hitter ones at home, they are forced to send them to school at a
relatively early age. Plan Nepal has organized several campaign programs to prevent
school dropout and help out-of-school children. Muslims like elsewhere in this
community also prefer sending their children to join Madarsa for their education.
Use of educational materials in the classroom is better than in the other public
schools studied. The school has maps, charts and other local educational materials.
These materials are displayed to the students and the teachers use reference
materials for educational purposes.
Primary Enrolment
The grade wise enrolment in this school is not so high as the total primary enrolment
(increase percentage is 6 calculated against that of last year). In grade 1, the increase
percentage is 14.6 but in grade 2 has a bad growth and its percentage is 13.6. In
grades 3, 4 and 5 the increment percentages are 1.6, 11.3 and 5.8 percent respectively.
1
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
100
85
134
157
48
39
64
82
56
74
75
66
29
35
31
21
46
53
62
63
21
22
29
27
57
57
47
53
23
25
24
25
48
40
49
52
25
14
20
21
Total
Total Girls
307
309
367
391
146
135
168
176
The total girls enrolment increase is 6.3 and in grade 1, the increase percentage is 22
percent; in grades 2 and 3 the increase percentage is negative. In grades 4 and 5 the
increase meant percentage is 4 and 4.8 percent respectively. There continues to be
over 8 students at the primary level in this school.
ECD Enrolment
Plan Nepal and UNICEF are both supporting ECD in this school. There were 35
students last year. This year, there are 30 students, 17 boys and 13 girls. One
facilitator is working for ECD. The ECD class starts at 11 and closes at 1 PM. The
facilitator works in ECD till 1 PM and then he switches on to the for primary section.
He receives only Rs. 1000 per month as salary.
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FRP Report 11
Education Quality
For the last 6 years the school has attempted to improve the reading and writing
skills of the students. Reading/writing contests take place the among students of the
same grade. HT agrees students do not leave after tiffin because they are not allowed
to go outside the school with their books. The students have to keep their books in
the classroom, Some children leave after tiffin because of the parents take their meal
in daytime. Most of the children are engage selling their formally products in the
hatiya bazaar. This makes them irregular in the class.
Teacher Quality
There were altogether 7 teachers in this school. One teacher works as a volunteer and
teaches ECD classes. These was a curtailment of one teacher on the teacher quota (by
DEO) and one teacher had been transferred to other school. The load of the teachers
is 6 periods per day. Out of 7 teachers, 6 are male and 1 is female. The teacherstudent ratio is 1:65.2 only. The teacher student ratio is comparatively high, grade 1
has two. sections; in the other grades have no sections. Of the 7 teachers currently in
the school, only one female teacher has received complete training, and the other
teachers are untrained. Two are temporary and the remaining 5 are permanent. The
teachers are only SLC graduates but they have received grade teaching, whole school
approach and refresher training. One teacher has received packages I, II and III often
training. One ECD teacher has received 6 days' ECD packages I and II training. HT
has received 12 days' HT management training and SIP training
Table 14: Primary Teachers
SN
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Name
Rabi Rajbanshi
Nityananda Mandal
Radha Kumari Singh
Arun Kumar Shah
Prithivi Chandra
Rishidev
Yog Narayan Thakur
Sanni Lal Chaudhary
(ECD)
Sex
M
M
F
M
M
Qualification
SLC
SLC
SLC
SLC
SLC
Experiences in Yrs
14
16
14
17
22
Training
Untrained
Untrained
Trained
Untrained
Untrained
M
M
SLC
SLC
10
3
Untrained
Untrained
The teachers were almost regular. HTs, parents, RP and SMC members agreed that
schoolteachers are generally regular in the school. It is normally believed that teacher
absenteeism is a major problem for the schools but it does not appear to be a
problem. When a teacher is absent for some reason, HT engages some senior student
to teach the junior classes.
Months
Baisakh
Jestha
Asadh
Srawan
Bhadra
Aswin
Kartik
Marga
Poush
Magh
Falgun
Chaitra
Open Days
Class running Days
Average Attendance
25
25
21
26
26
18
17
17
12
25
25
23
25
25
24
10
10
9
20
20
18
23
23
22
24
24
22
22
22
19
23
23
20
81
Teachers' concern about students' learning achievement

The teachers have to use two or more languages in the classroom. Most of the
students are from Rajbanshi, Chaudhari, Shah, Paswan, Mandal, Yadav, Mahato,
Mushar and Baniya, families speak their own languages for regular communication
both at home and in the school. Normally, about 80 percent of primary level students
get promoted and the remaining 20 percent fail. The parents of the failed students of
grade 5 parents come to complain only after the exam results are out. But the parents
of lower grade students never complain. School provides necessary suggestions to
the parents who come to complain, saying that the school has to maintain its
reputation. Then the parents are satisfied with this suggestion. The school provides
textbooks free to the students in the present of SMC/parents/HT. Later the schools
collects the amounts for the free textbooks from DEO. The parents need not to buy
the textbooks on their own and are free from the hassles of reimbursement. It is
found that about 70 of the percent parents can afford the purchase the textbooks.
This year the school had to invest Rs 22000 the purchase of textbooks for the
students. The school has a rule for the students who are absent from the school for 3
to 4 consecutive days. The student has to return the books to the school. The school
cancels the registration of the students who are irregular for over a month.
It is reported that about 60 percent of the Mushar and Muslim children are not
attending the school because of their poverty and illiteracy. Parents rarely check the
homework of their children and rarely discuss with the teachers about their
children's progress. Most of the children do not bring pencil paper in the classroom.
Parents send their keeping children out as labourers after they complete a particular
grade. In grades 3 and 4, 20 percent students drop out and go to work in the brick
factories. Some of the deprived students mainly (Muslims) work in restaurants for
survival. School teachers believe that without additional resources and infrastructure
not much can be done to improve retention and quality in the school.
In the round table discussion, parents complained that there was no discipline in the
school. In their view, community schools were amiable to maintain discipline which
is an important consideration for education quality. A second and most important
concern of the parents was that teachers deliberately ignored reporting their
childrens progress or weaknesses.
Regular monitoring and supervision is crucial to schools effectiveness. In this school
people from different organizations such as Plan Nepal, come for supervision. The
SMC chairman and some members also come for supervision and inspect teachers'
attendance. All the teachers are local and work in coordination with SMC/parents
and teachers. HT monitors the classroom once a month and provides necessary
feedback to them. HT had planned to set up a remote camera in each class room and
supervise the teachers performance in the classroom. The SMC chairman frequently
visits the school and keeps in touch with HTs. According to SMC chairman, when he
visits the school, he first looks out to see how many teachers have come to school. He
claims that, if HT does not perform well he will sack him or her. But the SMC
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FRP Report 11
chairman is quite positive towards the activities of HT. He feels that monitoring and
supervision are very important.
HT's view
HT has a plan to upgrade the school to the lower secondary level. For this in HTs
view, it is quite necessary that the basic infrastructure need to be fulfilled." HT has
taken the challenge to develop this school as a model school and compete with the
boarding schools in the area. The teachers do not want to transfer to this school
because this school has adopted stringent policies. A teacher should arrive before 10
and leave after 4. HT is proud that the school has produced two HTs and that it has
maintained its reputation.
RP's visit to this school is limited (only a few visits per year) even though the
resource centre is located near (about 30 minutes walk). HT and the teachers
complain that RP should be creative, provide input to the teachers in classroom
activities, and visit school at least once a month and monitor the classes of the
teachers. "They said that RP rarely come to the school and that they would
themselves visit RC and discuss with RPs on school matters.
School Management
An interaction session with the SMC chairman was organized to discuss school
management and the roles and functions of SMC, HT, and RP. the SMC chairman
and the parents seemed to be satisfied with present HT. The SMC meeting is
normally held once in a month and discusses the needs of the school. SMC seems
satisfied with the educational quality of the school. However, the members
emphasized the need of coordination among the teachers. Some of the teachers
however felt that HT was rude. Recently, the school was handed our to the
community. It was a new thing for SMC and HT. Before the handover the schools
had gone through the guideline on community ownership. HT and the SMC
chairman were keen on the handover of the school to the community. HT has
motivated by the DEO personnel and the concept of the handover discussed in the
SMC meeting. HT/SMC/ and teachers made frequent discussions the ownership
community. After several discussions in the SMC meeting, SMC decided to conduct
a parents' (mass) meeting on the handover as an issue. The meeting of parents and
other stakeholders was held three times, and lastly about 80% parents decided on the
handover. In the same meeting the school made a commitment to improve the
quality of the school and loving the school at par with a boarding school. According
to HT the guideline laid emphasis on community ownership.The government has
committed to provide Rs 100,000 as financial support to the school but till now the
school has not received any amount. After its of the school handover to the
community the school has formed an account committee, a public awareness
committee, a parents' committee under the chairmanship of the SMC chairman. The
committees are working to boost up the quality of education in the school. In
addition, the school has made some provision of scholarships for the poor and
talented students. Although, primary education is free, the school collects fee,
including Rs. 50 per annum as exam fee and saraswati puja donation. According to
HT, collection of Rs. 50 has made from parents having faith in the school.
83
SMC Formation
The SMC has recently been formed in this school and the name of the school
management committees members are: Mr. Krishna Bahadur Rajbanshi (chairman),
Jagadish Prasad Mandal (member), Bindeswor Thakur (member), Asha Devi
Rajbanshi (ladies member), Devi Rajbanshi (member), Sajan Lal Mandal (advisor),
and Rabi Rajbanshi (member-secretary).
Major Findings
Discussions on the major findings are organized under three major heads : access,
quality and management.
satisfactory.
Plan Nepal has donated a building for ECD classes and BPEP has already
built two buildings.
There are two private secondary schools around with this school, which
provides a choice for the community.
About 60% mushar and muslim students do not attend the school and prefer
working either in the hotels or in brick factories because of the poverty and
illiteracy of their families.
About 15 to 20 percent underage children

brothers and sisters.
Access to educational resources is minimal. There are some educational

materials such as maps, globes, playing objects and alphabet charts displayed
in the teachers common room. They are not used by the teachers in the class.
The school has recently been handed over to the community, which is
something new for the management.
attend the school with their
Education Quality: Educational quality is one of the major indicators of school

effectiveness. Inefficient and untrained teachers appear to be the major cause of poor
educational quality in this school.
84
Learning achievement is poor compared to that in other sampled schools.
Most of the students are irregular due to the difference in meal time at home.
Most teachers in the school are untrained but it is not a major concern for the
community and to the HT.
The teachers have to use two languages (Nepali and Bhojpuri) in the
classroom.
About 30 percent student can not afford the purchase of textbooks.
Most of the parents do not pay attention to student homework and rarely talk
with their children on their daily performance.
Most of the children do not bring pencil and copies in the classroom and the
aim of the parents is to keep their child to labour after they a particular grade.
The major issues in the school are lack of scholarship, nutrition, furniture,
unavailability of textbooks on time and lack of school playground for the
children, lack of furniture and a lesser number of teacher.
FRP Report 11
Parents complain of the school's inability to inform their childrens progress.
School Management:
If some teacher is absent HT sends a senior student to teach junior class.
SMC has felt the need of coordination between teachers and HT.
SMC members are not fully aware of their roles and responsibilities in the
context of management shift to the school community.
The school operates the Sharda matching revolving fund which provides
loans to the rickshaw pullers, maize sellers, bhuja sellers.
Supervision and Monitoring: All the participants have realized that regular
monitoring and supervision are very important.
Like in other school, HT and SMC members were found unaware as to what
and how to monitor.
SMC members are not fully aware of their roles and responsibilities as their
Visiting the school to participate in the SMC meetings is basically what they
understood.
Parents are not aware responsibility of or do not pay much attention to the
school matters.
RPs visit to the school limited.

Bhanu Primary School, Bhanumarga, Urlabari
This school was established in 2035 BS in Bhanumarga area of Urlabari, ward no 5.

The founders of this school were Mr. Laxmi Prasad Sapkota and Mr. Lava Prasad
Khatiwada. They also donated land for this school. This school is serving students
from Rajghat and Mangalbare, which are nearby 5 km away.
Physical Facilities
The school has two permanent buildings with 4 rooms. One building has thatched
roof. The permanent buildings were donated by Karitus Nepal (an INGO providing
support to the Bhutanese Refugees Camp) since the school is near the Bhutanese
refugees camps, it is thought that it may help some refugee children join in this
school. The school has only one toilet used by both students and teachers. Earlier,
Plan Nepal also by provided clothes and bags to the poorest students. The economic
condition of the school is very poor and the school cannot collect fees from the
parents because most of the parents are poor and deprived. The school is barely
collecting annual exam fee. Plan Nepal has been providing scholarships to poor
students.
Access to education
This school is currently serving Chaudhari, Brahamin, Chhetri, Dhimal, Satar, Rai,
Limbu, Mushar community. However, majority of the people living in the
communities are Brahamin, Chhetris and Mushars. Most of the people are farmers
and working class groups.
85
Primary Enrolment
Enrolment in this school is comparatively low. In grade 1 (in the year 2002) the
student enrolment declined by about 11% (in the year 2001). The total primary
enrolment in the year 2001 was 186 and in 2002 it was only 169. The number of
students fluctuated in each grade (1999 to 2002). However, on an average the change
is negative. Likewise, girls enrolment is also very low in most of the grades. In
grade 1 there were 19 girls in 2001 and in 2002 there were only 17 girls. The total
primary girls' enrolment last year was 93 and this year it is only 81.
1
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
49
77
47
42
28
38
19
17
36
32
42
27
14
19
25
12
36
33
37
44
14
13
23
25
42
29
32
27
18
14
13
14
33
30
28
29
20
10
13
13
Total
Total Girls
196
201
186
169
94
94
93
81
The above statistics shows that the student enrolment is decreasing . Indiscriminate
opening of schools (private as well as public) seems to be the major reason for the
decrease n the enrolment. According to HT, due to the expansion of an Urlabari
market as an urban centre the boarding schools popped up. This school is little bit far
and parents who could afford preferred sending their children to boarding schools.
Only the poor ones are left in this school. This indicates that the poor education
quality in the school is a major reason for the decrease of enrolments.
ECD Enrolment
Earlier in the year 2000, this school had conducted an ECD programme The
programme was smoothly run and the number of students was 21 boys and 31 girls.
When teacher quota system came, DEO did not count the ECD students and the
school got a curtailment of one teacher. Then the school had to stop ECD classes.
Education Quality
HT, If the schools gets one more building, one extra teacher and the compound
wall, then it can improve its educational quality. In a primary school there should be
one-class-one teacher modality. The parents, In the boarding schools classes are
regular whereas in the community school the classes are irregular. The
community/parent perception: Free primary education in public schools cannot
provide quality education. Ironically, the school is loosing its pupil and the
enrolment is depleting year after year. It appears that the emphasis should be on
improving quality of education.
Teacher Quality
There are altogether 4 teachers in this school and one has been transferred here from
Sankhuwasabha district. The maximum load for a teacher is 7 periods per day. Of the
4 teachers, two are male and two female. The teacher student ratio is 1:42, which is
below the national norm, i, e., 1:50 for a Terai school. None of the 4 teachers, has
received the complete training. Only HT has completed package III training. One has
completed package I training and one teacher has completed 150 hrs training. All the
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FRP Report 11
teachers are permanent. Three are SLC graduates and one an IA. It shows that the
teacher training is relatively poor in this school.
SN
1
2
3
4
Name
Mohan Kumar Khanal
Radhika Adhikari
Hom Nath Gautam
Kalpana Bhandari
Sex
M
F
M
F
Qualification
SLC
SLC
IA
SLC
Experiences in Yrs
19
11
16
13
Training
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Most of the school teachers daily were found regular. HT, parents, RP and the SMC
members also agreed that the teachers were generally regular. Teacher absenteeism
which is a major problem in other schools does not seem to be a problem in this
school.
Chaitra
26
26
23
Falgun
26
25
22
Magh
6
6
5
Poush
Bhadra
11
11
11
Marga
Srawan
15
15
15
Kartik
Asadh
18
18
18
Aswin
Jestha
Open Days
Class running Days
Average Attendance
Baisakh
Months
12
12
7
23
23
18
24
24
23
25
25
22
23
23
19
25
17
23
HT feels that the modality of one-teacher-one-class is the best for improving the
quality of education.
To increase enrolment SMC has planned to enroll free, the children whose parents
cannot afford the entrance fee of the school and to provide scholarships to the
poorest students. HT: The school cannot provide the jobs to the parents of the poor
students but can motivate the parents to enroll the children in the school. Last year
some of the parents admitted their children to the boarding schools and later on due
to their poor home economics they got the children transferred to this school. If the
parents enroll their children in a boarding school, they take care of their cleanliness
and if the same parents enroll their children in the community school they do not
take care of their cleanliness." According to HT, from the next session the school will
launch campaign to give the message to the parents that the school is the
community's and asset to bring the out-of-school children to school. HT and teachers
agree that there are some underage students because the school is bound to enroll
them. Some of the underage children produce fake certificates. The students are
regular and they do not leave after tiffin. If a student leaves after tiffin, he or she has
to produce the guardian's letter in the school.
Teacher concern about school
The school has only four teachers and each teacher has to take 7 periods a day. Since
it is difficult for the teachers to take 7 periods per day, they do multigrade teaching.
Grades 1, 2, and 3 have multigrade teaching and the class hour is only 45 minutes.
The 45 minutes' time is too short for the multigrade teaching. There is no educational
material for the class and it is difficult to teach the class. Quality of learning is a
problem. There is no dropout in this school. Last year one or two students left the
87
schools because their parents had gone on new jobs. These students had to be
transferred from this school.
The people from the deprived show concern about school activities and generally
gather in the school if the school asks them to. When they are in the school they help
with the cleaning by doing other works. When they are called to this school say
Why did you call us ? Did my child do any wrong ?" Generally, it is found that the
achievements of deprived students are better than those of Satars and Dhimals, who
cannot give their time to the school.
Community concern about HT/teachers
In the round table discussion one parent suggested, The schools need to teach
discipline and provide quality learning to the students. According to him, earlier
the schools had one building and now it has three buildings. Thus the school has
improved in physical facilities but it has to improve also in educational quality.
Another parent raised an issue of teacher training. She argued that unless the
teachers are trained, the children could not learn properly in the class. But parents
from the another deprived community complained, saying that he had affectionation
for the school but that the teacher did not inform about the performance of the
students. He explained that his sons who were students of the school had now
completed intermediate and bachelor levels. Now his grandsons are studying in
grades 1 and 2 and the school never reports about his grandsons. One of the parent
thought "I am from a poor community and I do not get their help to the schools. I am
illiterate I tell my child to read and write. But I do not know of any homework . Yet
another parent : My two sons are studying in grade 1 and 2 and my daughter is in
grade 4. They do their homework and never fail in the exam but the textbook arrived
late and I take care of my children's tiffin times and also of their homework. One
more parent: The school does not have as many teachers as required and most of
the times the students are seen playing in the ground outside.
School Management
In an interaction session SMC members, ex SMC chairperson, teachers, and parents
showed their satisfaction with the present HT. However, they emphasized the need
of coordination among schoolteachers and parents. All agreed that without
coordination of parents and teachers the school could not run smoothly. A few things
emerged from this roundtable decision. Almost all of the stakeholders complained of
the growing decrease in the number of students in the school. They feared the cause
was the poor quality education in the school. The teachers and SMC members were
also concerned about the lack of awareness in the parents and guardians of the
village. They also complained that school rarely organized parents' gatherings.
Recently, this school chose to go into community ownership. It appears that the
school management was lured by DEOs regular pressure rather than by the
program itself. The school had organized a mass meeting of parents, SMC members
and other stakeholders supported the handover of the management school to the
community. The community members, SMC members are committed to the school.
HT argues that the government should continue providing support to the
community school. He says "In the existing condition it will be difficult for us to
maintain this school. We may have to withdraw from the community ownership if
88
FRP Report 11
we do not government support. Some of the community members express the

opinion that before the handover, the school should be self sustained and the DEO
should re-evaluate schools financial, physical as well as educational strengths and
weaknesses.
SMC Formation
The SMC has been recently formed in this school and the names of the school
management committee members: are Mr. Agni Prasad Limbu (Chairman), Bhim
Bahadur Adhikari, member, Bhim Bahadur Neupane, member, Khurman Pokharel
member and Mohan Kumar Khanal (member secretary). SMC visit school at least 3
times in one month.
RP mostly visits the school and inspects the physical management and teacher
attendance. He observes the teachers classroom performance and solves the
problems if any. He stays till the tiffin time . This school has been selected as a model
school in terms of physical facility and learning achievement. In spite of the limited
number of teachers the school has achieved progress in learning achievement. The
students who complete grade 5 in this school can compete with their peers in other
schools, HT: We do not expect more from RP, but he should provide feedback to the
teachers for quality learning of the students. In RC regular meetings and
interactions take place, on school problems. And this year RP has planned to map the
school districts. This will help HT develop educational quality and find out the
number of-school children in the school district. HT is going to launch door-to-door
campaigns from the coming session. And this school needs a compound wall and
one more teacher. According to HT: SMC/teachers and himself will visit each
household.
Major Findings
Discussions on the major findings are listed up under three major concerns: access,
satisfactory.
Karitus Nepal (it is an INGOs supporting the Bhutanese refugees) had

donated a building.
The school had only one toilet for both the students and the teachers.
The school was handed over to the community but the community is not able
to provide support to the school for obvious reasons.
Plan Nepal is providing scholarships, clothes and bags to the poorest

students, but there is no response from it on the construction of buildings.
According to HT, Plan Nepal is giving scholarships to 14 students whose
parents are rich and not the poorest of the poor.
Primary enrolment is comparatively low and most of the parents want to

enroll their children either in boarding schools or in the school with
secondary grades.
Indiscriminate curtailment of the teacher quota has affected the learning

achievement of the students.
89
Access to educational resources is minimal. There are some materials such as

maps, globes, playing objects and alphabetical charts which are displayed in
the teachers' common room but used in the classrooms.
Education Quality: Educational quality is one of the major indicator of school

Learning achievement is poor compared with that of the sampled schools.
Even the school peon teaches the lower grades and the teacher training is
relatively poor.
Most of the students are often seen playing in the ground outside.
There are some underage children enrolled fake age certificate.
Most of the parents neglectful of their children's homework and rarely talk
with their children on their daily performances.
School Management:
SMC, already formed, has had one or two meetings. Class conduction,
improving learning achievements is rarely on the agenda in the SMC
meetings.
There is a need of coordination among the teachers and HT.
Supervision and Monitoring: It was realized by almost all of the participants that
regular monitoring and supervision were very important.
HT and SMC members were found unaware as to what and how to monitor.
There is a confusion about monitoring and supervision.
SMC members are not fully aware of their role and responsibilities, visiting
school to participate in the SMC meetings is basically what they understood,
as their responsibilities.
HT needs to develop the quality of education and find out the number of
students who are out of school.
Parents lack awareness and so do not pay much attention to school matters.
RP's visit to the school is limited. He contacts HT but never consults with or
provide feedback to the teachers. He never inspects the classes.
Bal Lower Secondary School, Sainik Tole, Rani
This school was established in 2017 BS in Sainik Tole of the Rani area (ward no 17 on
way to the Nepal-India boarder). This school is serving the students of Dariya,
Bakari, Sikari, Sainik tole, Abhibadan Tole, Athiti Tole, Jatuwa, Burma Tole, etc and
some parts of ward no 16, 17, 18 19 and 20 of Biratnagar Sub-Metrotolitan City.
Physical Facilities
The school has three permanent buildings and 9 rooms. The building is two storied
for the lower, secondary classes. One of the 9 rooms is HTs/teacher' common room
and the remaining 8 rooms are for classrooms. The school has only one toilet. On
holidays outsiders use it and make dirty. There is one toilet for the teachers, which
the students are not allowed to use. The school has no drinking water supply for the
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FRP Report 11
students. In the group discussion with the SMC/teachers/parents, one parent has
agreed to provide support for the drinking water facilities for the school. The school
has no compound wall and domestic animals come and graze and sometime animals
dirty the class room. There is no restriction on the students during the tiffin hour,
they can go anywhere they like.
Access to education
Most of the children in this school are children of labour and low-caste families (
having low economic status) such as Shah, Mahato, Yadav, Pasawan, Kamat, Newar,
Brahamin, Chhetri, and Muslims. A majority of the people living in this community
are Yadavas and Kamats. In this community the parents generally send their boys to
the "institutionalized' schools and the girls to the community schools. However,
some of the Chamar, Pasawan, Mushar, Mahato, Nuniya children are still out of
school due to the hand-to-mouth problem in their families. They cannot afford the
school dress and the admission charge. Most of the community people are work as
farmers and labourers because the mills and factories are nearby. Some of the
students work in the mills at night and in the morning time. Some of the students
work in other's houses. Some of the deprived student receive scholarships. In this
community illiterate women and they are unaware of the need of education. The
Rural Development Bank and Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City have jointly opened
a loan scheme for educating the illiterate women in the community. It provides 10
days' training and loans to the illiterate women. Some parents have benefited from
this scheme and they are sending their children regularly to the school. In the vicinity
of the school, there are 5 boarding schools and the parents prefer to sending their
children to the boarding schools and only deprived parents send their children to
this school.
Primary Enrolment
In the present context, the total enrolment in this school is comparatively low. In
grade 1 there has been a slight improvement in girls enrolment (compared to 2001).
In grade 2, there is slight decrease in the enrolment compared to last year 2002. The
total primary enrolment last year was 352 and this year it was 294 only. The
following table shows the decreasing trend.
Grade
Year
2000
2001
2002
1
Total
75
60
72
2
Girls
38
28
41
Total
73
86
70
3
Girls
33
39
37
Total
71
77
52
4
Girls
39
33
23
Total
58
66
49
5
Girls
26
36
22
Total
50
63
51
Total
Girls
23
32
22
Total
327
352
294
Girls
159
168
145
Likewise, the girls enrolment is low in every grade in the school. In grade 1, there
were 28 girl students last year and this year it is 41 girls. The total primary girl
enrolment last year was 168 and this year there are 145 girl students in this school. In
grade 1 has two sections. Those students who are strong in terms of performance are
placed as sectionA and (those who are weak section as section B. In these two
sections the teaching techniques are different. Students are promoted to grade 2 if
their performances are satisfactory. There is no ECD or pre-primary class in this
school and ECD classes are conducted by the Municipality in the vicinity of the
school. The class teacher admits that some underage children are attending the
school.
91
Education Quality
The quality of education depends not only on the school teachers but also on the
parents. The parents and SMC members agreed that the quality of education in this
school is poor. The educational materials in the school are virtually no existent. The
teachers feel the shortage of chalk and duster. On group discussion on Mathematics
teacher criticized HT, sayings "When I asked for the geometry instrument box for my
classes, no one responded. HT has carried the geometry box to her house. When I
asked her, she did not return it to school."
The educational quality of this school is quite low because of lower-caste students.
The teacher-student ratio in the primary section of this school is 36.8 students per
teacher. The Education Act (7th amendment) has stipulated a national policy of 1:50
(teacher-student ratio) for a Terai district. Considering the ratio is quite low, the
school is using some volunteer teachers.
Teacher Quality
There are altogether 8 teachers in this school and the in teaching loads of teachers it
5/6 periods per day. The teacher said "We are overloaded and the 45 minutes' class
time is quite insufficient for 1-3 grade students. We take 6 periods at the primary
level. We have to prepare lesson plans, check homework, class work and make each
grade 1 students practice. We feel tired and sometime even lazy. For the primary
level 4 teachers are male and the rest are female. In this school, the teachers who
were appointed for the primary level would also like to teach the lower secondary
grades. Some primary teachers are teaching lower secondary grades hampers the
primary level. This has happened because the DEO approved and upgraded but the
teacher has quota remains the same. In a group discussion the teachers argued "DEO
does not provide the required teacher quota to this school, so we are bound to teach
the upper classes as well. We are not getting any remuneration from the school" it is
generally believed that at the primary level female teachers are more motivated than
their male counterparts. The teacher student ratio is 1:36.8. Of the 8 teachers
currently in the school, one has completed the I. Ed. and one has undergone full
training. The remaining teachers are untrained. Out of the 8 teachers, 2 are
temporary and 6 are permanent. Five teachers are only SLC, 2 have completed the
intermediate level and 1 has completed the bachelors level. All teachers have
received refresher training conducted by the resource center. It shows that teacher
qualifications and trainings are poor. DEO never feels the need for training untrained
teachers. One of the teachers said, Who visits DEO frequently, receives an
opportunity for training.
SN
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Name
Ram Dayal Biswas
Rama Ghimire
Krishna Mohan Karki
Laxmi Vaidya
Yogendra Prasad Yadav
Jaga Narayan Mandal
Gyanu Koirala
Manju Thapa
Sex
M
F
M
F
M
M
F
F
Qualification
SLC
SLC
SLC
SLC
B.Com
I.Com
I.Ed
SLC
Experiences in Yrs
30
27
27
11
17
11
9
2
Training
Untrained
Trained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Trained
Untrained
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FRP Report 11
Teachers are mostly irregular. According to SMC members, a most of the teachers
are irregular and therefore the school has managed to get the volunteer teachers for a
smoothly run of the classes. The SMC chairman once found a many as 6 teachers
absent in a day; they were all permanent teachers. He argues, In this school the
volunteer teachers are regular but permanent teachers are irregular. A permanent
teacher thinks he is permanent, so no one can sack him. The volunteer teacher is
regular in the school because his children are studying here. Previously, he himself a
student of was in this school. If a teacher is absent, he takes the class. It was found
that due to the volunteer teacher, the permanent teachers are irregular. One of the
permanent teachers said, Due to the volunteer teacher the teaching is hampered,
because this teacher need not bear any responsibility and has no restriction of any
form. Because of the volunteer teacher the learning achievement in the school is
decreasing annually. But the SMC said, The volunteer teacher is a good substitute
for the absent teacher. Primary teachers have to take classes at the lower secondary
level also. So the use of the volunteer teacher is justified." In this school the teachers
have tendency to discriminate permanent, temporary and on-contract teacher shift.
The following table shows teachers daily attendance in the school.
Jestha
Asadh
Srawan
Bhadra
Aswin
Kartik
Marga
Poush
Magh
Falgun
Chaitra
Open Days
Class running Days
Average Attendance
Baisakh
Months
5
5
5
24
24
21
25
25
24
16
16
16
24
24
23
25
25
23
23
23
20
25
25
18
HT/Teacher concerns about students

In the round table discussion, all the teachers were expressed their views on the
students and the school. Most of the teachers including HT complained that parents
did not show any concern about their childrens work at home. One of the teachers
added, If a student is asked why he not submit her homework, he would say his
copy is lost stolen or damaged. It shows that the parents are not sincere. About 25
percent Nuniya and Yadav students are irregular in this school, because the students
go with their mother to their grand-fathers home. "Some of the labour class students
will drop out, because they have to work in others' houses. Some girls student marry
earlier and some orphan students discontinue because of they poor financial
conditions. In this school the students are irregular and leave after tiffin. HT "Two
year ago, out of 300 students (grade 1-8) 73 students left after the tiffin hour. When I
came to this school. I slowly controlled this by introducing a after tiffin roll-call I put
up a notice to say that if a student left after tiffin he or she will either be charged Rs. 1
per day or be punished (with stick) on the next day, so in this way the number of
leavers after tiffin is decreasing. The notice was given to the teachers as well". A
teacher: In this school most of the students are from the families of labourers and
farmers and the meal are not prepared in their house before school and so students
attend the school without having taken their meals. That is why the student goes
home for tiffin. "If a student goes home, he would not rarely come back to the school
and sometimes even the parents do not want to send their children back school that
days. Those students sent to work either in shops or in farms or are detained at home
for looking after their siblings. The next day, if the teacher asked the student the
93
reason for leaving after tiffin, he would pretend stomach ache and headache. In a
round table discussion, HT: To control the after leaving tiffin the teachers should
have strict and regular in the class. In the same discussion, the SMC chairman: "If
teacher is punctual, disciplined and dedicated in the class, then the student will not
leave after tiffin. Due to the irregularity of teachers it is be difficult to convince the
community. In the discussion one of the teachers: Earlier, there was no discipline
and punctuality among the teachers. The teachers raise the fees by themselves. There
was no record maintaining system. But after the formation of SMC, the environment
of the school is gradually improving. One lady teacher: Most of the students do not
do their homework and do not study at home. Parents are not sincere and if their
children fail in the exam, they come to complain of their failure. Some of the parents
come to the school to help their child cheating in the exam. This type of wrong
tendency is found in this school. The new HT "We have formed a Teachers
Examination Committee. This committee will manage the promotion of the fail
students. It will also arrange for a re-exam and sometimes meet the parents of fail
students.
In the discussion, one another lady teacher said, The parents who cannot afford
sending their children to the boarding school, send them in this school." This school
is serving to the poor and deprived students of this area. HT: "The school is trying to
conduct extracurricular activities and has managed to introduce English as an
optional subject for the primary level students.
In a group discussion, one parent complained, The teacher and HT are irregular in
the school. Teacher come often at 1 PM and the HT comes at 12 noon and leaves at 2
PM. There is a conflict between the teachers and HT. HT, does not respect the
teachers and the teachers does not respect HT. HT is doing whatever she likes in the
school. "When I visit the school I find most of the students playing in the
playground. So how will the quality of education improve in the school?" In the same
discussion, another parent: "First of all, the teachers must punctual and sincere and
should take classes regularly and then the quality of the education will improve and
automatically the students will be disciplined." Another parent: "In this school
permanent and politically motivated teacher have aim ego on their permanency and
think that no one can take action against them. "These teachers do not take class."
However, teachers go on leave with the prior approval of HT. Yet another parent
(emotionally): SMC chairman must supervise the school and he should inform us
on the present and future activities of the school". A teacher has been appointed as a
science teacher but he does not want to teach science. In this school the teachers are
receiving about Rs 4500 as salary every month and this amount is received from the
government. In the boarding school the primary teachers receive only Rs 2500 per
month and the boarding school do not receive any amount from the government. Yet
teacher of the boarding schools are sincere and regular. In this school the teachers are
neither sincere nor regular.
In the group discussion, one teacher complained saying, HT is irregular and takes
only two periods and never consults with the teachers while making the class
routine, annual school plan or SIP. "She only orders us as about on if we were peons
and discriminates in her social behaviour between teachers. If training is offered
whether by DEO or by central office, she herself will go to participate in that training
without informing us. She keeps any letter from DEO to herself. She makes decision
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FRP Report 11
on her own and keeps the educational materials of the school in her home. But HT:
"The teacher must be dutiful, regular and punctual. If the teacher is regular about
taking classes, 90 percent of the problems will automatically be solved." About 10
percent parents are conscious about their children. The school has developed an
evaluation form regarding discipline, uniform, cleanliness, regularity and homework
(of the students). This evaluation forms are sent to parents but the parents pay
attention to them. Most of the parents come only when their children fail in the
exam. Some parents request for the grade promotion of their girls, saying that
otherwise the girls would not get good husbands.
SMC formation
SMC has recently been formed in this school and playing a significant role in
bringing coordination of parents, teachers and HT in the school. The school
management committee has been formed as per the Education Regulation, 2059. The
SMC chairman is Mr. Surya Lal Yadav the member secretary is Mrs. Beauty
Shrestha. One of the teachers complained, "The community was not pleased with the
formation of the present SMC. The person who donated only Rs.100 to this school
has become a member of SMC and the person who donated Rs 80,000 has not
Political interference and internal manipulations are a general practice in this school.
The school environment must be good and attractive and SMC should be formed
impartially and in the interest of the school". A SMC member: "We supervises the
performances of the teachers HT attendance. We have suggested a deduction of the
salary of absent teachers. The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has been
established."
In the focus group discussion on monitoring a teacher added that, I have not seen
RP for two months, and when RP comes to the school he only meets HT and talks
useless matters." In the discussion, all the teachers, HT, parents and SMC realized
that regular monitoring and supervision were very important. A teacher:
"Classroom-inspections were done by RP in order to provide suggestions in time
with the Teachers Guide. RP write a few general suggestions in the school visitors
book but never follows them up himself." The teachers blamed RP, saying that he
cames to the school only give general introduction. But RP did not agree with these
comments. He claim that, he had done the supervision and provided professional
support to the school. He said he has developed an evaluation form in order to
report the parents about their children's progress.
Major Findings
Discussions on the major findings are given below under three major heads: access,
Access to Education: About access to education in this school the community is
unsatisfied.
The school has no compound wall and the domestic animals come and graze
around.
The school has two toilets for both students and teachers. They are also used
by outsiders.
95
Most of the children of Chamar, Pasawan, Mushar, Mahato, Nuniya families

are still out of school due to extreme economic problems. They cannot afford
the school dress and admission charge. About 25 percent Nuniya and Yadav
students are irregular.
Most of the students are working as labourers in the mills (in the night) and
as housemaids (in other's houses).
There are 5 boarding schools around this school and the parents have a wide
scope of choice.
The total enrollment and the girls enrolment are quite low.
There are some underage children attending the school.
Not only the parents but also the schoolteachers and SMC members agreed
that the quality of education vis--vis learning achievement in the school is
poor.
The educational quality of this school is quite low because of the lower caste
family students.
The access to educational resources is minimal. There are some materials such
as maps, globes, playing objects and alphabetical charts displayed in the
teachers' common room but they one not used in the classrooms.
Education Quality: Educational quality one of the major indicators of school

Learning achievement is poorer in this school than in the sample schools.
The teacher student-ratio is good.
Teacher Training is relatively poor and DEO never takes care to train the
untrained teachers.
HT and most of the teachers are irregular. They are neither punctual nor
disciplined and the SMC has engaged some volunteer teachers for a smooth
run of the classes.
Most of the parents do not show any concern about their childrens work at
home.
Most of the students are irregular and leave after tiffin because of untimely
meal at home. Students come to school without meal having taken thing.
Most of the parents come to school to complain of their children's failure in

exams.
Primary teacher teach lower secondary classes.
HT claims that most of the parents of girl students who failed the exam come
to say, "Please pass my child otherwise she will not get a good husband."
HT and teachers agree that there are some underage students enrolled on
fake certificates.
School Management:
96
SMC, which is recently formed, has meet only once or twice. Class
conduction, and improvement of learning achievements are not included in
the agenda.
FRP Report 11
The discussion with teachers showed that there was a lack of coordination
between HT and teaching staff.
SMC felt the need of coordination between schoolteachers and HT.
Supervision and Monitoring: It was realized by almost all of the participants that
regular monitoring and supervision are very important.
HT and SMC members were found unaware of what and how to monitor.
Everybody realized the importance of both monitoring and evaluation but the
monitoring and supervision concepts were mixed-up.
SMC is not fully aware of their roles and responsibilities. Participation in the
SMC meetings is basically what the understood as their duty.
RP's visit to the school is limited. There is no contact or consultation. No

inspection of classes.
This school was established on 2020-10-7 BS to educate the children of the laborers
working in the factories, especially Raghupati Jute Mills. The school was established
after the same name of Raghupati Mills in ward no 22 in the Rani area of Biratnagar.
It is close to the Nepal India border. There are four boarding schools (New Moon
Boarding school, Manokamana Boarding School, Rising Star Primary Boarding
school and Mittal Primary school) in the vicinity of this school. The school also serves
the surrounding areas of ward no 22.
Physical Facilities
The school has an old U-shaped building with 6 rooms, a newly constructed building
with 2 rooms, and a peons cottage. The new building, the compound wall and the
cross track for the students were all constructed by the ward committee of the
Municipality. The cross track was needed because the playground is swampy. Due to
budget constrain the compound wall is incomplete. Of the 6 rooms in the old
building, one is used as HT and teachers common room and the other rooms as
classrooms. In the new building the Municipality conducts non-formal classes for the
local people of Rani the area. In HT and teachers common room, there are one
cupboard, two racks, two tables and five chairs. There is only one toilet for both
students and teachers, and one tube-well for drinking water.
Access to education
This school is serving Chaudhari, Muslims, Newars and Rai communities of the
labourers in the Mills. Access to education in this community is not a problem. Some
of the Muslim students do not attend school due to poverty and also due to their
different cultural and religious orientation. Access to educational resources is,
however, minimal. A few maps and alphabetical charts were found in the common
room. Some game objects such as caromboard and chessboard were also available.
Primary Enrolment
The school has conducted different activities (in order to increase student enrolment)
such as door-to-door campaigns and awareness programs and so on. According to
HT, Apart from the labourers some other Muslim children have started to enroll
since 2055 BS. But the children of the Muslim community came a little later, only in
97
2058 BS. In grade 1, there are 74 students and only 50 students attend the class
regularly. The total primary enrolment last year was 283 students and this year there
are only 251 students in this school. Likewise, the total girls enrolment was 140 last
year but this year it was only 124. The following table shows the decreasing trend of
students enrolment.
1
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
Total
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
Total
Girls
77
78
74
74
40
38
33
36
54
61
69
60
24
34
46
29
48
55
58
43
19
20
30
23
39
41
52
49
19
15
23
25
31
36
30
25
12
20
8
11
249
271
283
251
114
127
140
124
Teacher Quality
There are altogether 5 teachers, 2 male and 3 female. They take about 6 periods per
day. The teacher student-ratio is 1:50. The teacher student ratio has remained
consistent. However, there is inconsistency in class size. In lower classes the number
of students exceeds 77 but in upper classes there are only 25 students. None of the
teachers has received complete training. Only two teachers have completed the 150
hours training and one has completed the first package only. Grade teaching is
common in grades 1,2 and 3 and subject teaching is practiced in grades 4 and 5. Two
teachers are working as a volunteers in replacement of one teacher who is on a long
sick leave. Three teachers are SLCs, one is intermediate 1 is bachelors. All teachers
have received the refresher training conducted by the resource centre.
SN
1
2
3
4
5
Name
Bishnu Kumari Rai
Ratna Kanji Lal
Deepak Rai
Om Kumar Katuwal
Neeta Rai
Sex
F
M
M
M
F
Qualification
IA
SLC
SLC
SLC
BA
Experiences in Yrs
27
27
11
11
11
Training
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Teacher Regularity
HT and schoolteachers are almost regular in this school. The following table shows
the daily attendance of teachers in the school.
Jestha
Asadh
Srawan
Bhadra
Aswin
Kartik
Marga
Poush
Magh
Falgun
Chaitra
Open Days
Class Days
Average Attendance
Baisakh
Months
24
24
22
22
22
15
13
13
10
6
6
6
26
18
22
26
26
24
20
10
19
24
24
23
24
24
23
22
22
18
26
10
13
HT/Teacher concern about student

The language of instruction in the class is Nepali and most students are Hindi
speakers. Thus the communication between the teacher and students in the class is
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FRP Report 11
rather difficult. HT: "We use both Nepali and Hindi in the class to facilitate
communication. In this school, two teachers are Rai one is a Brahman in spite of this
and that they have managed to run the bilingual classes. According to HT, "Students
leave school after Tiffin because the worker parents usually take the meal at 12 to 1
PM. Only about 35% students return after tiffin. School has also made provision of
penalty for absenteeism but just in name.
In the discussion, the HT complained, "DEO discriminates on teacher quota
distribution among schools. "There must be at least one teacher per class in each
school. Only then the classes will not be hampered teachers absence and the
students will become regular. She added, "One teacher is by on sick leave for a long
time. The school has financial crisis and there is no donor and DEO does not provide
any extra teachers." With the formation of SMC, the school has managed two
volunteer teachers. HT agree that teachers rarely used teaching materials in the
classroom and that school has no provision of extra-curricular activities.
One of the teacher: "Students are not serious in their study and the parents take little
or no interest in their childrens performance in the school. Some parents come home
late in the night when their children have already gone to bed. Another teacher:
"Parents only think about school expenses and send their child even without pencils."
In a group discussion of teachers HT: "Muslims usually have large families. Their
poor economic conditions force them to use as many hands as possible in wagelabour. The teachers' explain that the parents hardly visit the school even when
they are invited.
School Management
An interaction session was organized with the SMC chairman. Most of the time he
spoke about the physical facilities available in the school. He admitted that he had no
knowledge about his roles and responsibilities in the school in the changed context
created by the new Education Act (7th amendment). The poor school environment
with piles of garbage within the school compound indicates weak management and
lack of control by SMC.
HT realized that regular monitoring and supervision were quite essential. She said,
"RP should supervise teachers classroom performances. The SMC chairman should
supervise the teachers attendance and teachers should maintain discipline in the
school. RPs visit in the school is limited HT said, RP calls us to RC. He provides
some inputs but bothers to visit the school. She believes that RP must visit school at
least once in a month.
99
ANNEX III
CASE STUDY DHANKUTA DISTRICT
Dhankuta is located in the eastern hills. According to a MOES/DOE report, the
primary school enrolment in the district in 2000 was about 31,703. Of this 15,553
(498.1%) was that of grils. There are 305 primary schools in the district. The same
document reports a total of 1,114 primary teachers in the district, of whom 303
(27.2%) are female teachers. The teacher-student ratio for the primary level in
Dhankuta is 1:28. The teacher-student ratio is thus well below the government
established norm for a hilly district, i.e., 1:45. However, the trained teacher-student
ratio is a little over 1:47.
Table 25: Some relevant statistics
Title
NER
GER
Teacher-student ratio
Trained teacher-student ratio
Student per school
Teacher per school
Female Teacher per school
Female Teachers in Percent
Promotion Rate in grade 1
Dropout Rate in grade 1
Repeaters Rate in grade 1
School
20.3
61
122
6
5
83.3
Dhankuta
94.6
144.8
28.5
47.2
103.9
3.7
1.0
27.2
51.2
14.0
34.8
Nepal
80.4
119.8
37
71.5
139.7
3.8
1.0
25.3
44.6
13.6
41.8
The promotion rate in grade 1, is slightly over 55 percent. The remaining 45 percent
can be considered as educational wastage because a majority of them either grade
repeat or drop out. The gross enrolment rate of the primary level is over 144% and
the net enrolment rate is about 95%. The net enrolment rate is better than the national
average.
The school sampled Dhankuta schools are: Margeswori Primary School,
Gokundeswor Secondary School and Rastriya Saraswoti Primary School. Each school
is assessed in detail in the paragraphs below.
1. Margeswori Primary School, Chhara gaon
This school was established in 2025 BS (1968 AD) and is located in Chharagaon,
Debrebas ward no 4 of Dhankuta metropolitan city. The school received formal
approval only in 2040 BS. Earlier this school was run in a temporary building.
Classes were conducted in the morning because the local community preferred this.
Later in 2028/2029 BS (1971/72 AD) DEO, through a circulate to ordered to shift the
classes to daytime. In 2035 BS, Dhankuta Municipality donated Rs.25,000 to construct
a permanent building for the school. When the building became complete, DEO
appointed 3 teachers to this school. Presently, the school is serving the students of
Naga, Thoka, Devrebas, Kami Tole, Sarkari Tole, Chhara Tole and Khaniyabas.
Physical facilities
The school is located on a foothill. It has three permanent buildings. One building
with two rooms is used as HTs office and teachers common room. The second
building is used for the special education center and partly and a hostel for the
disabled children. The third building is used as classrooms. There are 4 mentally
retarded, 1 blind and 5 deaf students in the school hostel. The school has only one
toilet for all boys, girls and teachers. There is no compound wall, no playground and
no separate drinking water facility. The school has no extra income activities. It
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FRP Report 11
largely depends on government resources. Only occasionally do some donations

come from parents, businesspersons, and I/NGOS. The present SMC had collected
Rs 5000 from the Deepawali Bhailo and managed some bamboos for fencing the
school compound. There are some trees inside the compound wall but the SMC
chairman says that, they belong to the Forestry Department and that the school
compound has not been officially transferred to the schools.
Access to education
In this school, most of the students are from Rai, Gurung, Magar, and Newar
families. Most of the people in this locality are farmers. The neighboring schools are
Gokundeswor Bal Mandir School and Rashtriya Primary school at Kurmitar. After
completing grade 5 most of the student enroll in Gokundeswor Higher Secondary
School.
Primary Enrolment
The enrolment of students in different grades is given in the table below. The
number of students has slightly decreased because of the opening of a new school at
Kurmitar and the student from Khaniyabas one not attending this school. In grade 1,
there were 30 students last year and this year also, there are 30 students. sshe total
primary enrolment last year was 111 students and this year it is only 108. The
number of students has decreased in each grade this year.
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
1
Total
33
22
30
30
2
Girls
18
7
16
19
Total
20
22
19
18
3
Girls
10
14
9
8
Total
26
21
23
19
4
Girls
11
10
14
12
Total
24
22
21
21
5
Girls
11
10
11
11
Total
25
20
18
20
Total
Girls
16
11
7
10
Total
128
107
111
108
Girls
66
52
57
60
Girls enrolment is slightly increased, compared with the total student enrolment.
The total primary girls enrolment last year was 57 and this year it is 60. In grade 1,
there were 16 girls students last year and this year they are 19. The stakeholders
especially, teachers, HT and SMC members, find that enrolment of students is
continuously decreasing particularly after it was decided to run school in the
morning. Another factor responsible for the decrease in enrolment is the opening of
new schools in the vicinity and (most) parents' preference to send their children to
the boarding schools.
Teacher Quality
There are altogether 5 teachers in this school and the load of the teachers is 6 periods
per day. Of of 5 teachers 4 are female and 1 is male. The teacher-student ratio is 1:21.6
only. Only one teacher is trained and other teachers are untrained. Qualificationwise, three teachers are SLCs and two are intermediates. One teacher was transferred
to the special education centre after he completed 5 months' training in special
education. This teacher said, I have completed almost all the trainings but DEO
transferred me to the special education classes and I could not use the skills of the
trainings in the class. One teacher has completed the first package of the training
and another has completed 12 days' refresher training. In a group discussion, a lady
teacher: "Training is essential but I am not using the training skills in the classes
because the could not provide necessary materials. One temporary lady teacher
101
complained, sayings, We have to teach grades 1 and 2 but we did not have the
refresher training opportunities." Another teacher: "The refresher and subject teacher
training are quite important but the training contents are incomplete because for
grade 4 and 5 there is a content on playing the madal but we dont know how to play
the madal and nor have we received any training." All the teachers have received the
refresher training conducted by the resource center. In this school, 3 teachers are
working as volunteers (from SPW) in the field of environment. Their station is in the
school and they also take classes but their main job is to work for the community.
One teacher is working as a volunteer as a replacement of the teacher transferred to
the special education programme.
SN
1
2
3
4
5
Name
Julum Maiyan Pradhan
Pushpa Shrestha
Srawan Lal Rai
Mina Rai
Minu Pradhan
Sex
F
F
M
F
F
Qualification
IA
SLC
IA
SLC
SLC
Experiences in Yrs
28
26
13
13
9
Training
Untrained
Trained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
HT: "Most of the teachers are regular in the school: "The teacher quota size has not
been increased by DEO." Another teacher: "DEO should provide a quota of 5 teachers
for the primary level because one-class-one-teacher will contribute to the quality of
education and will not hamper the classes. This can reduce the divergences of
students playing and being noisy. The following table shows the teachers daily
attendance in the school.
OpenDays
Class running Days
Average Attendance
24
22
21
19
19
15
12
8
11
16
15
16
24
23
24
26
25
23
8
8
7
23
23
23
18
17
15
12
11
11
21
21
19
Chaitra
Falgun
Magh
Poush
Marga
Kartik
Aswin
Bahdra
Srawan
Asadh
Jestha
Baisakh
Months
25
12
22
Teachers concerns on student

In the focus group discussion stakeholders and teachers said, "There is no school age
children who is not enrolled in the school. But the underage enrolment on fake
certificate is almost a practice in this school". One teacher: "Owing to underage
enrolment most of the grade 1 students fail in the exam. The School should open
either ECD or pre-primary classes. If ECD classes one offered, then the retention in
grade 1 will be reduced". There is no ECD centre in the vicinity of the school and
SMC members do not know about ECD. Another teacher: "Grade 1 students are not
serious in their study and spend most of the time playing. Last year in grade 1, 10
students out of 30 failed in the exam. The failure students were very poor in terms of
regularity and they preferred playing games. Most students do home work in the
classes, not at home because the reasons is their parents use them for housework.
"We did not promote these students class 2 because it will be difficult for them to
survive in the school. Student mostly leaves after tiffin teaching in grade 1 is a
problem because most of the students are from Rai family and its is difficult to teach
them in Nepali".
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FRP Report 11

A pod group discussion with parents and SMC member concluded, "There is no
relationship between teachers and parents and enrolment is decreasing. But the
teachers perception was quite different. They blamed the parents, saying "They are
not providing support to their childrens homework. Parents should keen on
childrens homework". But one of the parents disagreed with this. He said, I am
illiterate and I every time I tell my children to complete their homework. Another
parent: "I often come to the school and help the school. HT is nice and cooperative
and is doing his best for the school." Another parent: I am conscious about my
children and I tell them to study at home.
According to a teacher, HT is quite cooperative and helpful. She making class routine
in consultation and supervises the classes of each teacher. She also provides feedback
to the teacher after the supervision."
In a group discussion one of the teachers observed, "Parents are conscious only when
their children fail in the exam. The school is making the parents aware in parents
parents' gatherings. When the parent come to the school we insist on their on
sending homework's of their children."
SMC formation
SMC has been recently formed in this school and is playing a good role in the
development of the school. The names of the SMC member are Mr Ratna Singh Rai,
(Chairman), Mr. Dilli M an Rai (Member), Mr. Bir Bahadur Shrestha (Member), Mr.
Srawan Lal Rai (Member), Ms Julum Maiyan Pradhan (Member Secretary).
School Management
SMC was constituted as per the Education Regulations 2059. A discussion with the
SMC members revealed that they were more concerned with physical facilities
development (Construction and maintenance) than with monitoring and
supervision. However, one SMC member said, "The school has no regular source of
income with which to manage the educational activities, except seasonal donations
from parents and government grant". The SMC members are found aware of their
roles and responsibilities. All the stakeholders are ignorant of the transfer of the
management of the school to the local community and SIP process. In the discussion
the teachers and SMC members admitted that they did not know about the school
handover to the community. SMC said that HT should provide leadership and
coordinate the teachers. He added that the community's role was vital. He observed
the HT was doing his best for the development of the school and consulted with the
teachers in the development of class routine, exam schedules and other works.
SMC, HT and RP have been doing the monitoring and supervision. But the
monitoring and supervision are not systematic. HT monitoring teachers' classroom
activities. One of the SMC members: "HT mostly supervises teachers attendance. Last
month two teachers were absent on permission from the HT." One of the teachers:
"RP's visit to the school is negligible. How will he be able to monitor our activities."
103
RP assist only DEO, not the teachers. when RP visits the school, he fill up the form
and gives some feedback to the teachers. One of the teachers: "The parents who live
near the school rarely visit the school. They do not consult the teachers. The school
sends letters to them but they ignore them."
Gokundeswor Secondary School, Siran Bazar
This school is the second oldest school in the country (after Durbar high school). It
was officially approved in 2004 for grades 6 to 10, and in 2046 primary grades were
started to fulfill the needs of the local people. Again, the school started ECD and preprimary classes in the same year. Dhankuta Municipality has provided a teacher for
conducting the ECD classes. In the pre-primary classes children are taught in English
medium. A part from the prescribed textbooks, some other books are used. Although
it is community school but the pre-primary level students have to pay Rs 60 (as fee)
per month. The school uses this amount provide pencils and copies to the students.
This school is serving the students of Dhankuta market, Khalde, Patle and other
near-by areas.
Physical facilities
The school has four concrete made buildings with 16 classrooms. Two buildings are
double-storey and two are single-storey. Of 16 rooms, one is for HT, one for the
teachers' common room, one for store, two for pre-primary classes (conducting
nursery and kg). There are two toilets for students and teachers and recently the
school got a tank for storing drinking water and a library for the student. The books
for the library were donated by the Municipality. DDC had constructed a fully
equipped science lab for the secondary level students. Although if a secondary level
school has no playground. The school is facing the problem of noise from the buses
running on the highway to Phidim. The school has local-made educational materials
but these are not properly used for the students.
Access to education
This school is generally serving the students of middle-class labourer families and
teachers; the students access to the school is easy Boarding schools are located
around the school.
Primary Enrolment Pattern
The enrolment in the primary level is high. The total primary enrolment was 170
students last year and this year it is 190 students. But in grade 1 the number of
students is decreasing due to the indiscriminate opening of boarding schools. Lat
year, in grade 1 there were 56 students but this year they are 37 only. But in the other
grades the numbers of students are increasing. The following table shows the trend
of primary enrollment.
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
1
Total
38
36
56
37
2
Girls
15
14
29
17
Total
30
28
34
63
3
Girls
9
11
15
33
Total
33
31
26
34
4
Girls
21
9
11
18
Total
20
27
26
29
5
Girls
13
19
6
13
Total
20
20
28
27
Total
Girls
11
11
19
6
Total
141
142
170
190
Girls
69
64
80
87
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FRP Report 11
Girls enrolment is also comparatively high in grades 2, 3 and 4, but in grades 1 and 5
this enrolment is low. In grade 1, there were 29 girls last year but this year there are
only 17 girls. The total primary girls enrolment last year was 80 and this year it is 87.
ECD Classes
The need of ECD classes (for nursery and kg) were realized by SMC. In 2046
Dhankuta Municipality provided one teacher for ECD classes. In ECD, the medium
of instruction is English and some interesting textbooks are used in this school to
compete with the boarding school. The parent needs to pay Rs 60 (as fee) per month
for pencils and copies. According to a teacher, DEO has given oral permission only.
The ECD classes are managed on its own resources. The Dhankuta Municipality
supported the above said teacher only till 2052. After 2052 the school itself has been
managing the ECD teachers salary. There are 27 boys and 27 girls in the nursery and
25 boys and 18 girls in the kg. The total pre-primary enrolment was 75 students last
year and this year it was 97 students. The following table shows the trend of preprimary enrolment.
Table 28: Total Pre-Primary Enrolment Trend, by sex 1999 - 2002
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
Nursery
Total
46
46
45
54
KG
Girls
23
31
30
27
Total
37
57
30
43
Total
Girls
15
32
15
18
Total
83
103
75
97
Girls
38
63
45
45
In a group discussion one teacher: "ECD is the base for grade 1 the parents who
cannot send their children to boarding schools prefer ECD. This school is developing
like a boarding school."
Teacher Quality
There are altogether 9 primary teachers (2 male and 7 female)each taking 6 periods a
day. The teacher-student ratio is 1:21.1. The teacher student ratio is low in this school.
Of the 9 teachers, two female teachers are trained and 7 teachers are untrained. Five
teachers have completed the 150 hours' training and 3 teachers have completed the
second package training. In this school 4 teachers are temporary and 5 are
permanent. The qualification of 9 teachers varies from SLC to B. Ed. Two teachers
SLCs, 2 are bachelors and 5 intermediates. All the teachers have received the
refresher training conducted by the resource centre.
SN
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Name
Krishna Kumari Dahal
Machhindra Bahadur Rai
Indra Kumari Shrestha
Jamuna Adhikari
Nina Shrestha
Sukarani Rai
Sindhu Shrestha
Erina Shrestha
Deepak Adhikari
Sex
F
M
F
F
F
F
F
F
M
Qualification
SLC
SLC
B.Ed
IA
IA
SLC
BA
I.Ed
IA
Experiences in Yrs
17
9
9
11
9
8
4
3
2
Training
Untrained
Untrained
Trained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Untrained
Trained
Untrained
The schoolteachers daily attendance in this school is good. The following table shows
the monthly attendance of the teachers.
105
Months
Baisakh
Jestha
Asadh
Srawan
Bhadra
Aswin
Kartik
Marga
Poush
Magh
Falgun
Chaitra
Open Days
Class running Days
Average Attendance
16
16
15
17
17
14
6
6
4
21
21
19
26
24
23
26
24
22
24
23
23
16
16
15
20
20
19
23
22
20
15
15
14

In a group discussion of the teachers, one teacher: "The difference between urban and
rural students is that urban students are more regular than rural students because
rural students need to work at the home and urban students do not. In market areas
there is competition between the community schools and other schools. This school
should maintain the quality of education. An urban student never leaves after tifin
without school permission. So there is the provision of a second roll-call after tiffin.
So the chances of leaving after tiffin are less." There is ECD in this school and there
are some underage children in grade 1 admitted on fake certificates. One of the
senior teachers: "The teaching technique is quite similar to that of the boarding
school and the teacher provides homework to each student. The student is also
serious about bringing his/her homework to the class. The teacher writes on the
students' copy for the parents if a student does not so his/her homework. The
achievement status of this school is quite satisfactory and incidents of exam failure is
less. Students from boarding schools also come to enroll in this school." The teacher
compared the school with a boarding school, saying, "There is no trained teacher in
the boarding school but we have trained teachers. The tendency to give penalty to
students is high in the boarding school but we never torture on students. Our
students can compete with the boarding school students in quality of education.
Another teacher: "In grade 1 there is no dropout in this school. But sometime if a staff
gets transferred from this district, then the children also try to get transferred from
this school." The school has a subject committee to further develop the educational
quality. The number of students is increasing due to the qualitative education.
According to a teacher, HT is quite nice, qualified, and experienced and she
supervise the classes and gives feedback in the teachers after the class. HT consults
us in making class and exam routines.
A teacher: Parents rarely visit the school and discusses on the student
performance. The student spends the whole day in the school and when he return
home, the parents never open his school bag of (at home). The community
participation is very low in this school.
SMC formation
SMC has recently been formed in this school and is playing a significant role in the
development of the school. The SMC members are: Mr. Om Bhandari, (Chairman),
Mr Doj Raj Bastola, (member), Mr. Man Bahadur Himang, (member) and Ms.
Sulochana Joshi (member secretary).
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FRP Report 11
School Management
The school management committee was formed in 2059/5/22 and the parentteachers association has not been formed. HT: The necessity of PTA has not been
realized as yet. SMC meetings focus only on construction of new buildings,
collection of funds etc". The school a provision of rewards for good teacher. A SMC
member: There is no sufficient classroom space. There is no separate toilet for girls.
There is a need for plastering the classroom and other floors."
In this school, only HT does the regular monitoring and supervision. RP generally
visits schools twice a year and gives feedback on teaching and other educational
matters. HT: "The SMC chairman visits school at least one time a day and observes
teacher regularity and class performance." The chairman knows RP's supervision is
weak.
Rashtriya Saraswati Primary School, Kachinde
The school was established in 2015 BS and is located in the midst of the tall trees near
the Saraswati temple in ward no 3 of Dhankuta municipality. The school is serving
the students of Kachinde.
Physical facilities
The school has 3 buildings having 6 rooms. One building collapsed last year due to
the falling trees by a hurricane. The school is located near a jungle area which is
isolated from the villages. Of the 6 rooms, one room is used for HT, one as the
teachers' common room and four rooms are used as classrooms. One class is
conducted in the shade of trees. There is one toilet and the condition of the toilet is
very poor. No one uses the toilet and the student will go the jungle edge. There are
no drinking water facilities in the school. The school has been facing the shortage of
furniture, classroom buildings, and educational materials. The class rooms are not
well ventilated. The doors and windows are not properly locked so nothing can be
left in the classrooms. Existing desks and benches are too old and about to collapse.
All educational materials are kept in HTs room. There is one cupboard, one rack,
two tables and 3 chairs, some textbooks kept in the HT room.
Access to education
This school is currently serving Rai, Magar, Sarki and other ethnic minorities. Most
of the people of the community work as farmers.
Primary Enrollment
Student enrollments in different grades are given below:
Grade
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
1
Total
19
23
21
14
2
Girls
11
13
9
6
Total
22
15
16
11
3
Girls
11
7
8
7
Total
17
15
14
14
4
Girls
12
8
8
7
Total
18
25
13
16
5
Girls
12
13
6
7
Total
21
19
26
13
Total
Girls
16
14
13
9
Total
97
97
90
68
Girls
62
55
44
36
107
The student enrollment is quite low in this school. The total primary enrolment last
year was 90 and this year it was 68 only and the girls enrollment last year was 44
and this year it was 36 only. In grade 1, there were 21 students last year but there are
only 14. Now A discussion with teachers, HT and other stakeholders, revealed that
the student enrolment was continuously decreasing. A due to the opening of new
primary schools in the village. The school has a out door-to-door campaign and other
awareness activities for the increase of student enrolment. However, these initiatives
did not prove that effective.
Teacher Quality
There are 4 female teachers in this school. The teachers should take 7 periods per
day. The student-teacher ratio is 1:17 only. Of the 4 teachers, 3 are trained and 1 has
only completed the second package training. Two teachers are intermediates and two
SLCs. All teachers are permanent and have received refresher training conducted by
the resource centre. Grade teaching and multi-grade teachings are used in each
grade. In a group discussion one teacher said, Multi-grade teaching is not effective
in the class. It is difficult to control the class and check homework. The other things
related to the teachers are as follows:
SN
1
2
3
4
Name
Achyuta Pokharel
Sita Shrestha
Sushila Sharma
Binita Pokharel
Sex
F
F
F
F
Qualification
SLC
I.Ed
SLC
I.Ed
Experiences in Yrs
30
16
13
9
Training
Trained
Trained
Untrained
Trained
All the stakeholders agree that students regularity highly depends upon the
teachers regularity. Schoolteachers daily attendance in this school is generally
satisfactory regular. The following table shows the teacher's daily attendance in the
school.
Jestha
Asadh
Srawan
Bhadra
Aswin
Kartik
Marga
Poush
Magh
Falgun
Chaitra
Open Days
Class running Days
Average Attendance
Baisakh
Month
13
13
13
3
3
3
11
11
11
25
24
22
26
18
26
24
24
23
18
9
17
10
10
9
22
21
15
25
2
17

In a group discussion HT: "Late arrival of students in the classroom has been a
problem. Parents eat their meals late. Some of the students come from far. The
number of students is decreasing day by day, so DEO curtail one teacher from the
teacher quota last year. Most of the parents find their children insecure in this school
and send their children either to Gokundeswor Secondary School or to some private
boarding schools. There are 4 primary schools in ward no 4, so the parents have a
choice." A teacher: None of the parents ever complains about his/her children on
their educational matter." Another teacher: "Even we enter the classroom at 10:30 we
find some students coming late. The students have a tendency to coming late for the
class. We look upon all children as our sons and daughters." Yet another: "If a
108
FRP Report 11
student can read and write he will not fail in the exam." Only a nominal numbers of
students are getting scholarships and out of the 12-13 Dalits, 2-3, Dalits received
scholarships last year. HT's attitude was negative on distribution of the scholarship
amount. She believed that the school should distribute copies and pencils but not the
money to each student. She added, "Parents use students' incentive money for their
own purpose, not for copies and pencils. "But some of the parents complained that
the teachers had taken the scholarship amounts.
Community concerns about school
In a focus group discussion, one parent: "The school's education quality is not
satisfactory. If my child does homework after school she wouldn't failed in the
exam." But another parent had reverse version: "There is no discipline in the school
and the school follows might is right . The students quarrel with each other during
the tiffin hour and the teacher never takes care about it. There is no English course."
No students come to complain any bad things or incident." Another parent: "Letter
from the school because my child does his homework each day. I often visit the
school and I fell I have contributed to the school by sending my child there." Another
parent: "My second daughter failed in the exam last year due to the weakness of my
daughter and I did not blame the school. I have no time to take care of my child."
Another parent: "We should not blame the school. we ourselves should be serious
and take care our child's homework at home. I have my child in this school. The
schools are quite near, only 15 minutes walk form my home. He never leaves after
tiffin." Another parent: "My son is in grade 1. He cannot pronounce Nepali words
properly and leaves after tiffin." Another parent: "The school has no security. The
children are not in discipline. I take time for them to reach home after school. My
daughter cannot read the combined letter rightly. Another parent: "My child take his
meal at 8:30 in the morning. He spends his time on playing and escapes from the
school."
SMC Formation
The SMC has been recently formed in this school and its members are playing
significant roles in the development of the school. The names of the SMC members
are: Mr Doj Raj Bastola, SMC (Chairman), Ms Achyuta Pokharel (HT Members) and
Ms. Jyoti Pokharel (Member) and....
School Management
An interaction session (with SMC members and community people) to discuss was
organized to the roles and functions of the school management. The SMC chairman
is very active in the development of school activities. But his children are not
studying in this school and he is also a SMC member of Gokundeswor Secondary
School. SMC chairman: "This school is only for the poor people and the government
should take care of this school." In the round table discussion it was stated that there
was no communication between the teachers and the parents and between the SMC
members and the villagers. The SMC members never interacted with the villagers
either before or after the SMC meeting.
In this school, HT supervises the teachers classroom activities and provides
suggestions. Parents were silent when school monitoring and supervision issues
were being discussed. The SMC chairman said that "he regularly visited the school
109
and supervised the student and teacher activities in the classroom. He added that the
educational quality was weak in this school." RP's visit to this school is found limited
to only a few visit per year.
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FRP Report 11
ANNEX 1
HTS/TEACHER
Quality
1. What is your perception on the educational quality of the primary level student?
Are you satisfied on existing educational quality of the primary level?

Why?
What possible measures need to uplift on the existing educational quality?
How and what mechanism should the teachers for the upgrade follow the
educational quality in the primary level?
How many of you have received training and teacher's license?
Do existing training support on your class performances?
Did you feel changes from grade teaching?
Are the teachers' quota based on the student number? If not then how you
manage your classes?
How many classes you have to take per week?

Access
1. How many students are out of school in this community?
What are the main reasons?
What procedures need to follow to bring these students in the school?
How and what apparatus are followed by the teachers to bring these
students in the school?
Retention
1. What is the position of student attendance in primary level?
Do the student leaves after tiffin?
If yes. Why student leaves after tiffin?
What class of student leaves after tiffin? Have you control them? How you
control?
2. How many students will fail in primary level? Why?
What classes of students fail in the exam?
What tactic could succeed these failure students?
How the failure student's parents react in the school?
Have you ever identify weaker students in the school?
What types of assessment was made for weaker students?
Do you assign daily homework in the class?
Do student perform their homework?
Do student perform their homework by themself or from others?
111
Do you find any weakness on teacher's activities in the school? What

weakness did you trace out from the teachers?
School Management
1. What roles and activities the HT need to play for educational development of the
school? What you are doing on:
Physical condition
Students learning activities
For parents
For SMCs
For RPs
For DEOs
On coordination with teachers
2. How you coordinate with the schoolteachers?
Have you ever discussed on students' learning situation?
Have you discussed on examination?
Collective decision-making process about school matters.
On the matter on the school construction.
Have you developed an annual plan of action in the school? How you
developed it?
3. Have you monitored the schoolteachers?
Why and how many times?
In which area.
What is the regularity of the schoolteacher?
What type of problems you faced and how you solve it?
4. How you make decision on schools matter?
Sharing classes for the teachers?
Selecting teachers for training?
Approve on leave for schoolteachers?
School opening and closing days?
Schools academic and administrative activities?
Award for students and teachers in the school?
What are the processes for selecting teachers on seminar, meetings and
workshop of DEO, DOE and MOES?
5. What types of activities have performed to keep coordination with the parents
and guardians?
112
Have you ever discussed with the parents on their childrens academic
performance?
Have you ever request parents on schools academic development

activities?
FRP Report 11
Do the parents keep instigation about schools matters?
6. How you coordinate with the DEO, SMCs, local leaders and academician?
1
How communities participate on school? Why?
In which areas community participate on school?
What type of activities has built up on community participation?
What are the achievements?

When RPs visit for monitoring?
In which areas RP concentrate for monitoring. What he does?
What he asks? Why?
Have you ever received any support from RPs? Which area they support?
When do the community/parents visit school? In which area they ask for.
Why supervision and monitoring is necessary? In which area it is important.

Grade 1
In grade 1 students enrolment is increasing? How it materializes?
What type of students enrolls in the school? Why?
What benefit are they getting from the school?
How you adjust student pressure in the class?
In grade 1 most of the students fail in the exam? How it materializes?
In grade 1 most of the students drop the school? Why? What classes of
student drop the school? Why?
What are the possible measures? What you have done? Why you didnt?
How this problem will be solved? Have you done anything?
Do you know where ECD is located?
What benefit have they acquire from ECD? Why?
113
ANNEX II
TEACHER/SMC/PARENTS
Quality
1. Are you satisfied on an existing level of educational achievement of the students?
What possible measures should needed to uplift the existing educational

achievement?
How teachers should activate on upgrading educational quality?
How parents should participate on upgrading educational quality?
2. What possible activities need to address on upgrading academic and economic

condition of the school?
What you have done?
How?
3. Have you ever discussed on SMC meeting about the teaching modality of the
schoolteachers?
Access
4. What type of students is out of school in this community? Why?
What possible measures should be needed to uplift the existing educational

achievement?
What mechanisms are followed to bring these students?

Retention
5. What is the status of students failing in primary level?
Why the students fail in the exam?
How this student could succeed?
Weakness of the teachers? What weakness did you find out?
Physical condition of the school?
What physical condition affect on failing the student?
Have you ever tried any activities to promote weaker student?

School Management
1. How many times SMC meeting was held?

2. What are the main academic activities supporting by the SMCs in the school?
3. What type of roles and activities the HT need to play for educational
development of the school?
4. How you coordinate with the school teachers?
a.
Have you ever discussed on students learning situation?
5. Did you monitor the schoolteachers?

114
FRP Report 11
a.
Why?
b.
What problems you identify from monitoring?
c.
Have you solved the problem?
6. How you coordinate with DEO?

1
Have you monitor and supervise the school?
In which aspects you monitor and supervise?
What type of suggestion you make to them?
Is supervision and monitoring necessary?
Why?
Which area is important for monitoring and supervision?
Do you know School Improvement Plan (SIP)
How you know?
Do you know decentralization concept?
How you know?
Did you punish regarding teachers discipline, educational inequality and his
character.
Have you ever discussed with RPs/school supervisors regarding school

supervision technique?
115
ANNEX III
RESOURCE PERSON
1. Which area needs to focus on monitoring and supervision?
Why
In which facet RP is necessary for the school?
Which portion you focus during class supervision?
How you evaluate the school's educational condition?
How you support on the weaker part of the school?
Have you ever discussed with SMCs, HTs, Parents/community during the school
supervision?
What are the educational issues of the school?
116
FRP Report 11
ANNEX IV
HEADTEACHER
1
How long is your service experience in this school?
What are your daily activities in the school? How many classes per week?
What is the remarking physical, financial and academic achievement during your
tenure?
Are you quite satisfied on the existing condition of the school?
Did you feel any difficulties on SMC formation? What type of support is
receiving from present SMC?
Are you satisfied on existing educational quality of the school? Why?
What measures need to follow to upgrade the quality of education?
What you have done for this?
How you evaluate the performance of teachers and students in the school?
How the teacher support on your activities?
How the parents/community participate in the school activities? What are the
reason of absenteeism of parents/community in the school?
Are primary student regular in the school?
How many student leaves after tiffin?
Why they leave after tiffin?
What types of students leave after tiffin? Did you control them? How you
control?
How much time did you spend with teachers, students and parents?
How to increase primary student enrolment in the school?
10 How to reduce dropout student in the primary level?

11 How you coordinate with the teachers on the school matter?
Have you ever discussed on the teaching-learning situation of the student?
Have you ever discussed on exam?
On the matter of collective decision-making process.
On the matter of school construction.
Did you develop annual plan of action in the school? How?
12 Have you monitored the schoolteachers?
Why and how many times?
In which area.
What is the regularity of the schoolteacher?
What type of problems you faced and how you solve it?
13 How you make decision on schools matter?

117
Sharing classes for the teachers?
Selecting teachers for training?
Approve leave for schoolteachers?
Deciding on school opening and closing days?
Managing schools academic and administrative activities?
Deciding on award for students and teachers in the school?
How you select teachers on seminar, meetings and workshop of DEO, DOE
and MOES?
14 What activities have you performed to keep coordination with the parents and
guardians?
Have you ever discussed with the parents on their childrens academic
performance?
Have you ever request parents on schools academic development activities?
Do the parents keep instigation about schools matters?
15 How you coordinate with the DEO, SMCs, local leaders and academician?
16 What is the process of your appointment and trainings?
17 Did DEO interact with you on the teacher's appointment?
1
How communities participate on school? Why?
In which areas community participate on school?
What type of activities has built up on community participation?
What are the achievements?
What is your perception on school handover strategy to the community?

When RPs visit for monitoring?
In which areas RP concentrate for monitoring. What he does?
What he asks? Why?
Have you ever received any support from RPs? Which area they support?
When do the community/parents visit school? In which area they ask for.
Why supervision and monitoring is necessary? In which area it is important.
118
FRP Report 11
Annex IV: List of Participants and Persons who participated

on interaction session:
Morang district (2059/10/5):
SN
Name
1.
Hira Prasad Dhakal
Status
DEO
2.
Tanka Prasad Gautam
School supervisor
3.
Dilli Raj Niraula
RP
4.
Inj Kumar Bastola
RP
5.
Narendra Neupane
RP
6.
Bishnu Bhujel
RP
7.
Ganga Bahadur Bhattarai
RP
8.
Govinda Adhikari
RP
9.
Raj Kumar Shrestha
RP
10.
Harinandan Achhami
RP
11.
Tanka Bahadur Dhungana
RP
12.
Binod Bhattarai
RP
13.
Ganesh Prasad Dahal
RP
14.
15.
Rudra Prasad Nepal

Yam Bahadur Thapa
RP
RP
16.
Hari Prasad Regmi
RP
17.
Ganesh Prasad Regmi
RP
18.
Sanu Kazi Shrestha
RP
19.
Mukti Nath Niraula
RP
20.
Durga Prasad Khatiwada
RP
21.
Surendra Luitel
RP
22.
Bijaya Kumar Mandal
RP
23.
Rishikesh Koirala
RP
24.
Raj Kumar Chaudhari
RP
Focus group discussion of RP/Teachers/Parents-Malpur Lower Secondary School,

Chitwan district (2059/9/6):
SN
1.
Name
Krishna Dutta Poudel
2.
Madhav Prasad Pandit
Teacher
3.
Madhu Bilash Neupane
Teacher
4.
Jhalak Singh Basnet
Teacher
5.
Chitra Ram Mahato
Teacher
6.
Niraj Basnet
Teacher
7.
Uma Bhandari
Teacher
8.
Bonumaya Magar
Teacher
9.
10.
Bimal Chandra Mahat

Bhim Lal Acharya
Teacher
Teacher
Status
HT
119
Pod group discussion of RP/Teachers/Parents-Adarsha Rashtriya Primary School,

Taurali, Chitwan (2060/3/18):
SN
1.
Name
Prem Bahadur Poudyal
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Janaki Khatiwada
HT
3.
Lava Chandra Adhikari
Teacher
4.
Kamal Bahadur Poudyal
Teacher
Focus group discussion of RP/Teachers-Adarsha Rashtriya Primary School,

Taurali, Chitwan (2060/3/22):
SN
1.
Name
Janaki Khatiwada
Status
HT
2.
Krishna Ram Chaudhary
Teacher
3.
Lava Chandra Adhikari
Teacher
4.
Madhukar Regmi
Teacher
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Adarsha Secondary School,

Divyanagar, Chitwan (2060/3/20):
SN
1.
Name
Gyan Prasad Khanal
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Hikmat Bahadur Singh
SMC Member
3.
4.
Purna Prasad Chapagain

Pashupati Sapkota
HT
Primary Incharge
5.
Mitra Bandhu Chapagain
Teacher
6.
Bima Ramdam
Parent
7.
Shreemaya Chand
Parent
8.
Lal Bahadur Chand
Parent
9.
10.
Lal Bahadur BK
Shikha Mahato
Parent
Parent
11.
Tika Ram Pokharel
Parent
12.
Gauri Subedi
Parent
13.
Sukmaya BK
Parent
14.
Prem Lal BK
Parent
15.
Chandra Bahadur Gurung
Parent
16.
Shiva Subedi
Parent
17.
Girdhari Mahato
Parent
18.
Ram Kumari Mahato
Parent
19.
Til Kumari Mahato
Parent
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Adarsha Secondary School,

Divyanagar, Chitwan (2060/3/20):
SN
1.
Name
Pashupati Saplota
Status
Primary Incharge
2.
Lata Manjari Ghimire
Teacher
120
FRP Report 11
3.
Bal Ram Poudyal
Teacher
4.
Padam Bahadur Bhandari
Teacher
5.
Ganga Gurung
Teacher
6.
Devi Prasad Kafle
Teacher
7.
Purna Prasad Chapagain
Teacher
Focus group discussion of RP/Teachers/Parents-Bal Lower Secondary School,

Morang (12:30 PM, 2059/10/6):
SN
1.
2.
Name
Toya Nath Ghimire
Manju Thapa
Status
Parent
Teacher
3.
Yogendra Prasad Yadav
Teacher
4.
Rama Ghimire
Teacher
5.
Laxmi Vaidya
Teacher
6.
Jaga Narayan Mandal
Teacher
7.
Gyanu Koirala
Teacher
8.
Ram Dayal Biswas
Teacher
9.
Mahendra Prasad Mahato
Teacher
10.
Krishna Mohan Karki
Teacher
11.
Pramod Kumar Mahato
Volunteer teacher
12.
Giridhari Jha
Parent
13.
Inj Kumar Bastola
RP
Pod group discussion of HT/Teachers/Parents-Bal Lower Secondary School,

Morang (12:30 PM, 2059/10/3):
SN
1.
Name
Surya Lal Yadav
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Chandra Kala Rai
Parent
3.
Gyanu Koirala
Teacher
4.
Rama Ghimire
Teacher
5.
Laxmi Vaidya
Teacher
6.
7.
Manju Thapa
Krishna Prasad Nepal
Teacher
Parent
8.
Sanichar Paswan
Parent
9.
Jaga Narayan Mandal
Teacher
10.
Krishna Mohan Karki
Teacher
11.
Giridhari Jha
Parent
12.
Dambar Lohar
Teacher
13.
Beauty Shrestha
HT
14.
Ram Dayal Biswas
Teacher
15.
Amrit Kumar Mahato
Parent
16.
Manish Shah
Parent
17.
Jibdhi Dera
Parent
121
18.
Jaya Narayan Mandal
Parent
19.
Bodh Bahadur
Parent
20.
Chanda Kamat
Parent
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Mills Secondary School, Morang (10:30

AM, 2059/10/8):
SN
1.
Name
Subash Koirala
Status
Teacher
2.
Pushpa Lata Shrestha
Teacher
3.
4.
Anjala Koirala
Sunita Chhetri
Teacher
Teacher
5.
Muna Shrestha
Teacher
6.
Pashupati Parajuli
Teacher
7.
Dharma Dev Pasawan
Teacher
8.
Shanta Nepal
Teacher
9.
Devaki Kattel (Thapa)
Teacher
10.
Sita Nepal (Dahal)
Teacher
11.
Benuka Giri
Teacher
12.
Dinseh Kumar Shrestha
HT
13.
Laxmi Thapa
Teacher
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Mills Secondary School, Morang

(3:30 PM, 2059/10/7):
SN
1.
Name
Sita Subba
Status
Parent
2.
Padma Gurung
Parent
3.
Harka Bahadur Subba
Parent
4.
Chandeswor BK
Parent
5.
Dev Nath Godhi
Parent
6.
Shamshere Bir Majhi
Parent
7.
Laxmi Tamang
Parent
8.
9.
Lanu Pariyar
Tule Tamang
Parent
Parent
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Sharda Primary School, Morang (10:30

AM, 2059/10/10):
SN
1.
Name
Rabi Rajbhanshi
Status
HT
2.
Arun Kumar Shah
Teacher
3.
Nitya Nanda Mandal
Teacher
4.
Prithivi Chanda Rishidev
Teacher
5.
Sanni Lal Chaudhari
Teacher
6.
Yog Narayan Thakur
Teacher
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FRP Report 11
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Sharda Primary School, Morang

(3:30 PM, 2059/10/11):
SN
1.
Name
Krishna Bahadur Rajbanshi
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Laxman Pariyar
Parent
3.
Morashari Devi Rajbanshi
Parent
4.
Puran Ram Mochi
Parent
5.
6.
Sahadev Saphi
Rajendra Rishidev
Parent
Parent
7.
Moti Chandra Mandal
Parent
8.
Hare Ram Mandal
Parent
9.
Badri Malakar
Parent
10.
Jagadish Prasad Mandal
SMC Member
11.
Bindeswor Thakur
SMC Member
12.
Asha Devi Rajbanshi
SMC Member
13.
Devi Rajbanshi
SMC Member
14.
Sajan Lal Mandal
SMC Member
15.
Ahamad Husain
SMC Member
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Bhanu Primary School, Morang (10:30

AM, 2059/10/21):
SN
1.
Name
Mohan Kumar Khanal
Status
HT
2.
3.
Ganesh Prasad Dahal

Sher Bahadur Bhandari
RP
Teacher (Srijana Lower Sec, School
Urlabari)
4.
Radhika Adhikari
Teacher
5.
Hom Nath Gautam
Teacher
6.
Chandra Prasad Dahal
Teacher
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Bhanu Primary School, Morang

(3:30 PM, 2059/10/21):
SN
1.
Name
Agni Prasad Limbu
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Mohan Adhikari
Parent
3.
Megh Raj Adhikari
Parent
4.
Laxmi Sapkota
SMC Member
5.
Bhim Bahadur Adhikari
Parent
6.
Durga Prasad Bhandari
Parent
7.
Bhim Bahadur Neupane
Parent
8.
Khurman Pokharel
Parent
9.
Mohan Kumar Khanal
HT
10.
Ganesh Prasad Dahal
RP
123
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Raghupati Primary School, Morang

(10:30 AM, 2059/10/22):
SN
1.
Name
Bishnu Kumari Rai
Status
HT
2.
Om Kumar Katuwal
Teacher
3.
Deepak Rai
Teacher
4.
Anita Thapa
Teacher
5.
6.
Jhalak Man Rai

Diwakar Karki
Teacher
Teacher
DEO-Resource Person Interaction Dhankuta District (2059/10/13):

SN
1.
2.
Name
Uddhav Bista
Gehendra Dahal
Status
DEO
School Supervisor
3.
Riyandra Guragain
RP
4.
Tilak Basnet
RP
5.
Ghanshyam Bhandari
RP
6.
Harka Dhoj Rai
RP
7.
Deepak Shrestha
Staff, DEO
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Gokundeswor Secondary School,

Dhankuta (10:30 AM, 2059/10/14):
SN
1.
Name
Sulochana Joshi
Status
HT
2.
Krishna Kumari Dahal
Teacher
3.
Indra Kumari Shrestha
Teacher
4.
Jamuna Adhikari
Teacher
5.
Machindra Rai
Teacher
6.
Dipak Adhikari
Teacher
7.
Nina Shrestha
Teacher
8.
Andrew Buttlers
Peace Corps
9.
Nina Shrestha
Teacher
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Gokundeswor Secondary

School, Dhankuta (3:30 PM, 2059/10/15):
SN
1.
Name
Om Bhandari
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Nagendra Basnet
Parent
3.
Bijaya Lal Joshi
Parent
4.
Doj Raj Bastola
SMC Member
5.
Jeevan Khadgi
Parent
6.
Sambar Bahadur Tamang
Parent
7.
Man Bahadur Himang
SMC Member/Parents
8.
Ram Bahadur Bhujel
Parent
124
FRP Report 11
9.
Samar Bahadur Tamang
Parent
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Rashtriya Saraswati Primary School,

Dhankuta (10:30 AM, 2059/10/15):
SN
1.
Name
Achyuta Pokharel
Status
HT
2.
Sushila Sharma
Teacher
3.
Binita Pokharel (Dhital)
Teacher
4.
Sita Shrestha
Teacher
5.
Doj Raj Bastola
SMC Chairman
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Rashtriya Saraswati Primary

School, Dhankuta (10:30 AM. 2059/10/16):
SN
1.
Name
Doj Raj Bastola
Status
SMC Chairman
2.
Dambar Bahadur BK
Parent
3.
Urmila Bhujel
Parent
4.
Kamala Rokka
Parent
5.
Bimal Koirala
Parent
6.
Ratna Kumari
Parent
7.
Mithu Bisankhi
Parent
8.
Jyoti Pokharel
SMC Member
9.
Arun Kumar Rai
Parent
10.
Indra Bahadur Rai
Parent
11.
Shankar Bahadur Tamang
Parent
12.
Sushila BK
Parent
13.
Ratna Tamang
Parent
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Margeswari Primary School, Dhankuta

(10:30 AM, 2059/10/17):
SN
1.
Name
Srawan Lal Rai
Status
Teacher
2.
Pushpa Shrestha
Teacher
3.
Mina Rai
Teacher
4.
Minu Pradhan
Teacher
5.
Julum Maiyan Pradhan
Teacher
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Margeswari Primary School,

Dhankuta (10:30 AM, 2059/10/18):
SN
1.
2.
Name
Ratna Singh Rai
Dilli Man Rai
Status
SMC Chairman
SMC Member
3.
Bir Bahadur Shrestha
SMC Member
4.
Amrit Bahadur Limbu
Parent
DEO-Resource Person Interaction-Kapilvastu District (2060/2/18):

125
SN
1.
Name
Mahendra Singh Shrestha
Status
For DEO
2.
Banarashi Lal Gupta
RP
3.
K.P. Bhattarai
RP
4.
Tek Nath Gautam
School Supervisor
5.
Shailesh Kumar Gupta
RP
6.
Hari Prasad Pokharel
School Supervisor
7.
Lok Raj Panthi
School Supervisor
8.
Dil Bahadur Karki
RP
9.
Kaushal Kishore Shreebastav
RP
10.
Suresh Raj Gautam
RP
11.
Krishna Prasad Adhikari
School Supervisor
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Shree Mahendra Primary

School, Kapilvastu (7:30 AM, 2060/2/26):
SN
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Name
Ganga Devi Sharma
Khem Lal
Ram Keshar Yadav
Ram Ugra Pandey
Durga Kahar
Amina Mu
Barsatu Kahar
Ram Milan Mahara
Ashig Koiri
Ram Bahadur Tapta
Status
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Shree Mahendra Primary School,

Kapilvastu (7:30 AM, 2060/2/25):
SN
1.
2.
3.
4.
Name
Sushma Sharma
Shanti Rupakheti
Tulshi Ram Sharma
Anita Thapa
Status
Teacher
Teacher
HT
Teacher
5.
Gita Lamsal
Teacher
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Rashtriya Primary School,

Jignihawa, Kapilvastu (7:30 AM, 2060/2/22):
SN
1.
Name
Phulkali Gupta
Status
Parent
2.
Ram Samukh Chaudhary
Parent
3.
Rambati Gupta
Parent
126
FRP Report 11
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Rashtriya Primary School, Jignihawa,

Kapilvastu in (7:30 AM, 2060/2/20):
SN
1.
Name
Biswa Nath Tiwari
Status
HT
2.
Brijendra Kumar Chaudhary
Teacher
3.
Ram Naresh Prasad Kohar
Teacher
4.
Badri Narayan Ojha
Teacher
5.
6.
Lalmati Kohar
Abadh Ram Yadav
Teacher (ECD)
SMC Member
Pod group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers/Parents-Kotigram Primary School,

Kapilvastu (7:30 AM , 2060/2/13):
SN
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Name
Ramsukh Murau
Kallu Nau
Bali Ram Yadav
Gun Narayan Dhobi
Direp Kumar Chaudhary
Mahadev Prasad Gupta
Ram Dev Yadav
Madhu Raj Shah
Sarita Devi Chaudhary
Jagadish Prasad Gupta
Status
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Teacher
Parent
Teacher
Teacher
HT
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Kotigram Primary School, Kapilvastu

(7:30 AM, 2060/2/13):
SN
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Name
Madhu Raj Shah
Sumitra Gupta
Sarita Devi Chaudhary
Mahadev Prasad Gupta
Jagadish Prasad Gupta
Status
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
HT
Focus group discussion of RP/HT/Teachers-Janaki Higher Secondary School,

Maharajgunj, Kapilvastu (8:00A, 2060/2/14):
SN
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Name
Bina Pandey
Kewal Ram Nau
Nanda Yadav
Sher Singh
Pralhad Kurmi
Kuddush Miyan
Ram Bahadur Gupta
Status
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
HT
8.
Ganesh Prasad Tiwari
Teacher
127
Resource Persons
Dr. Tirtha Raj Khaniya
Mr. Ram Balak Singh
Mr. Hari Lamsal
Editor (Language)
Mr. Ved Nath Regmi
Mr. Lokendra Pathak
Computer Support Staff

Mr. Suresh Shakya
Mr. Bhakta Bahadur Shrestha
Cover Design Layout

Mr. Gautam Manandhar
128
FRP Report 11

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School Effectiveness: A Synthesis of Indicators

Formative Research Project, CERID

Dr. Bijaya Kumar Thapa

Dr. Hridaya Ratna Bajracharya

Associate Researcher: Mr. Rom Prasad Bhattarai

School Effectiveness: Synthesis of Indicators Phase II

Basic and Primary Education Programme

Continuous Assessment System

District Education Office / Officer

Early Childhood Development

Formative Research Advisory Group

Formative Research Project

International Non-Government Organization

Ministry of Education and Sports

Primary Education Project

School Leaving Certificate

School Management Committee

Village Development Committee

LIST OF SAMPLE DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS ................................................................................. 3

STUDENT ENROLMENT BY ETHNIC GROUP AND GENDER......................................................... 13

STUDENT AVERAGE SCORE BY GRADE IN 2002......................................................................... 20

AVERAGE SCORE IN MATH, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND NEPALI...................................................... 25

SUBJECTWISE SCORE IN GRADE 1.............................................................................................. 25

PASS AND FAIL STATUS OF STUDENTS BY GRADE AND GENDER 2001.................................... 26

STUDENT PASS / FAIL STATUS BY GRADE AND CASTE GROUP IN 2001..................................... 28

STUDENTS PASS / FAIL STATUS BY GRADE AND ETHNICITY IN 2001. ...................................... 29

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY GRADE............................................................................. 35

10: AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY GRADE............................................................................. 36

DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENT ENROLMENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS .....................................................

STUDENT ENROLMENT BY GRADE AND ETHNICITY ................................................................... 14

ENROLMENT BY GENDER ........................................................................................................... 17

STUDENTS AVERAGE SCORE BY GRADE, GENDER, AND AGE 2002. ........................................ 21

STUDENT S AVERAGE SCORE BY GRADE AND ETHNICITY. ......................................................... 23

PASS /FAIL STATUS BY GRADE AND GENDER ............................................................................. 26

PASS/FAIL STATUS BY ETHNICITY .............................................................................................. 28

PASS/FAIL STATUS BY DALIT AND NON -DALIT GROUPING ...................................................... 29

PASS / FAIL STATUS AND STUDENTS AGE. ............................................................................... 30

10: PASS/FAIL STATUS AND ACHIEVEMENT SCORE ......................................................................... 31

School Effectiveness: Synthesis of Indicators Phase II

Bal Lower Secondary School, Sainik Tole, Rani

HT/Teacher concerns about students

Rashtriya Saraswati Primary School, Kachinde

School Effectiveness: Synthesis of Indicators Phase II

Such a phenomenon is sure to become widespread. Hence, it is time to pursue

School Effectiveness: Synthesis of Indicators Phase II

School Effectiveness: Synthesis of Indicators Phase II

Assessment of Community Concern

School Monitoring Supervision

How does community perceive and participate in school monitoring and

Some marginalized groups are

Programmes such as social,

Special provision of involving

Parents awareness has

Dropout and repetition rates

Awareness programme are

Poor and deprived children are

Parents are concerned and

Student enrolment is high but

Mobilization of resources through

SMCs have been formed in

Poor and deprived students are

School activities need include

Some SMCs are really active

A planned intervention through