Impact of COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Nepal - Challenges and Coping Strategies
2020
The pandemic spread of Novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has
significantly disrupted every aspects of human life, including education. The
alarming spread of the virus caused a havoc in the educational system forcing
educational institutions to shut down.
According to a UNESCO report, 1.6 billion children across 191 countries
have been severely impacted by the temporary closure of the educational
institutions. In order to mitigate the impact, educational institutions have
responded to the closure differently in different contexts with a range of
options for students, teachers, managers and parents, depending on the
resources, both materials and human, available to them. Most of the options
have to incorporate innovative technologies (e.g., digital and mobile
technologies combined with traditional technologies such as radio and TV) in
order to provide at least some form of educational continuity. As distance and
online education is dependent on technological facilities, including internet
and Wi-Fi, the discrepancies that exist in their availability are widening the
gaps in access and quality of education. This article investigates
the impact of COVID-19 on the Nepalese education system, with a focus on the
school education. Based on the published documents, reports and news
commentaries, the article provides a critical analysis and reflection on the
opportunities and challenges the pandemic has presented for the technolization
of the education systems. The findings indicate that the pandemic has had
serious impacts on students’ learning and well-being, and that it potentially widens
the gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children in their equitable
access to quality education. Furthermore, the findings suggest that Nepal has formulated
a number of ICT and education related policies since 2000; however, the
challenges it is experiencing in the advent of Covid-19 are mainly due to its
faulty implementation strategies and inability to implement those policies. A
discussion of the challenges and their potential managing strategies is
provided in the final section of the article.
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