Civic Education for the Young Generation

Seminars organised by Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies (NEFAS)

21 June 2004, Dharan
22 June 2004, Biratnagar

In both the towns, political party workers, journalists, non-government organization representatives and mainly teachers and academicians had been invited to join in the discussion titled "Civic Education and the Young Generation". Both the seminars were similar in organization and content. In both the places, Shiva Raj Dahal made his presentation on the subject where he laid out the risks that today's younger generation were being subjected to and the steps necessary to put them on the right track, particularly by inculcating the civic sense through their school curricula. The human capital flight and the taking up of arms by the younger generation had to be stopped, was his thesis. Providing the economic insight to the problems Dahal raised, the second presenter, Prof. Guna Nidhi Sharma, said that the rising poverty levels and inequities in redistribution of wealth were not receiving the appropriate policy interventions as expected, thus aggravating the problem even further. Another presenter, Bed Raj Acharya, focused his attention to local efforts in raising civic awareness and talked about utilization of local resources for local benefits.

The Dharan seminar was chaired by former deputy speaker of the Upper House Lila Shrestha Subba while the Biratnagar one was chaired by Prof. Pushpa Raj Sharma Khatiwada, both eminent personalities of the two towns. In both the seminars, Executive Director of NEFAS, Ananda Srestha, gave a brief introductory remark before the presentations began.

The following are some of the points raised by floor commentators in Dharan and Biratnagar, respectively:

Comments from Dharan Participants

• The paper talks about youth, but the psychological and social changes undergone by modern youth have not been included in the paper. The social deviations in youth should also be included, not just political deviations.
• The 3rd page in Dahal's presentation uses the term 'pluralism' and 'harmony' in society. Which of the pluralism are you discussing-gender, ethnic diversity or race?
• In the Objectives and Importance section, the 9th point discusses hindrances to social development. The author points out ethnic differences as a hindrance and lump it together with drug abuse. I do not understand why you equate the two?
• The main problem of the day is the section of the youth who have gone to the jungles (Maoist youths). But you do not talk about it much.
• The author appears to talk surfacially about the problems brought about by politicization in general and talk as if politics is bad. This is not fair. For example, even the SLC topper of this year has just said that he has a positive attitude to politics. Please look at the issues more deeply before you comment on them.
• The paper is positive on pluralism but unforgiving on political workers.
• I do not understand where civic education lies while the nation is itself facing a crisis. We are big on lecturing, but miserly in practice.
• Prof. Sharma raised an important issue about why economic growth of this small country was negative even while the neighbours are growing robustly.
• We do lack civic education. Youngsters are leaving the country. The women going abroad are reported to be sexually abused. How can we justify such abuse with the income we receive? Moral education is something we need to understand first, apply it in our life and then make others follow.
• What is the role of NGOs here? They are not in government and neither are they with the people. We are in the middle and cannot do anything except form pressure groups. If you could give us a prescription, it would be welcome.
• If you could classify the problems of the youth of different classes or groups, rather than generalizing it, it would have been better.
• We should also be familiar with what the government is doing at the moment regarding the youth. For example what does the Tenth Plan say on youth? If we can see what the plan contains, probably it would be easier to find the solutions to the problems.
• The write-up talks about politicization. "How do we involve the youth in politics?" appears to be the main theme of the paper. It does not say what civic education is. What are the components of civic education? There is no moral education, no economic education and other components needed to be imparted to the citizens. Civic education should impart a sense of responsibility, not just rights. Only such an education helps social mobilization.Discipline, patience and sacrifice are also necessary in citizens. These need to be imparted through civic education.
• We see that the civil society has played the role of providing pressure groups in many instances-even in mediating between the government and the Maoist students. You should have dealt on more of their roles in the society.
• People are going abroad in droves and the society is encouraging it, taking it as a social prestige issue to have family members gone abroad. Such practice needs to be discouraged.
• Youth can also play a vital role in controlling corruption, preserving traditional heritage, and empowerment of those in the margins by bringing them into the mainstream. They can also contribute in local conflict resolution and controlling anti-social behaviour and activities.
• The planning process has contributed to bringing about the conflict in the country, not development. Inequality has been on the rise, a prime reason for conflict.
• Under the present circumstances, the loudest voices are allocated most of the budget. Since the budget is constituency oriented, it is empowering the already empowered. Urban areas have more constituencies than areas like Kalikot. This market friendly attitude is making the state get out of areas where there are no markets.
• The paper does not appear to be specific about Nepal. I would like more data regarding the kinds of youth we have instead of just talking about youth in general.
• I do see the link of present day Nepal with the kind of education we have. The Maoists have been successful in creating a fear psychology among the masses. No one can come forward with their agenda properly during such times.
• We know the youth are the future but we also know that they are confused today.
• If we are able to translate NEFAS works in Nepali, it would be helpful for the youth everywhere.
• The SLC results show that the schools in hill districts did poorly. Where will the students go if they do not go to the jungles?
• I could not hear the word 'nation' or 'patriotism' in today's discussions. In Bihar of India, most children have the objective of being the ticket collectors of trains, a job which has gained a distinction of its own. In our country, it is teachers they want to be. It is from childhood that education shapes the minds of the youth.
• I suggest that NEFAS publish a book detailing the backgrounds of the parliamentarians of today. It would be valuable for civic education.
• Until education is made practical, people might not take it seriously. If you could include in your paper the demonstration effect being propagated throughout the economy by the brain drain and the losses thus incurred, it would be good. The youth would apparently like their parents to do the study work and they themselves enjoy life by going abroad. This needs to be reversed and youngsters injected with feeling about the possibilities that exist in Nepal.

Chairperson Lila Shrestha Subba's concluding remarks
An active civil society is the need of the crisis hour for the nation. And NEFAS appears to be realising this while organising its programmes.

The youth need to be energised for things positive and should be prevented from going astray. It is the society that makes an individual knowledgeable. If the youths are being diverted from their ideals, that can only be blamed on the way the whole society has been behaving.

I would want to make some comments of my own. How gender sensitive is the term youth? It would have been better to emphasize the gender aspect as we have unique problems of women in Nepal. Socialization is such that parents have been encouraging children to grow up and vie for doing something big-- earn big money, reach high posts of government etc., but not about making them good citizens. Hence, mothers should understand the importance of civic education so that their children start understanding that right from childhood. If they instill the civic sense in children, they grow up to be aware citizens. There are cases where families have been pressuring honest public officials to be corrupt. The society itself is giving rise to such attitudes. Although there are those who have remained steadfast in their resolve in spite of all difficulties, we do need to create awareness in the society regarding the civic sense.

Comments from Biratnagar Participants

• We have been manipulating data to suit our political needs. For example, in a bid to show that our poverty levels have not risen, we reduced the amount of benchmark calorie intake per capita from 2200 to 2150. Such is the planning method we have been following.
• A lot of youth manpower is being wasted through brain drain. The trend could lead to a situation where the nation will be left with nothing but the too young and the too old. To avoid this a proper management of the available resources need to take the youth into account.
• It was the political parties that used the state resources to take the nation to the crisis point it is in today.
• I think the presentations stressed too much on only two alternatives available for today's youth-either foreign employment or insurgency. You need to have a more positive outlook.
• From which point do we start civic education-down from the prime minister level or at some other lower level or the grass roots?
• If we look at ourselves, we left our own birthplaces and came here, to this urban center to live. We left our own past out of the equation while commenting on what today's youth are doing. When they leave the country, they are just following a trend set by us. It is another matter that we have to design new strategies to deal with the problems that have accumulated over the years.
• On agriculture development, why do you stress on farm subsidies? We need to be competitive because we live right next to the border. Subsidies hamper competitiveness.
• If people do not gain from economic opportunities they will go where they have better opportunity. If not here, they will go to Kathmandu, if not there, some other place.
• How do we develop strategies on tourism, hydropower etc.? We need to overhaul our strategies as they have not paid us well.
• You talk of education regarding the Constitution. Should the elections be a turf of fraudsters and thugs or more enlightened people? The constitution prohibits election of educated people. This ban needs to be lifted. If you open the elections for the intellectual circle to participate, many reforms will take place because of the enlightenment they possess. And, until they allow people like teachers and lawyers to take part in the polls, our problems can never get resolved.
• We do not know why the street agitation is being organised by the corrupt, and the paradox is such that even the King is seeking unity with such forces.
• The problems Prof. Sharma says are to do with inequities and disparities in every sector which have resulted in the insurgency. We did not see any attempt to close those gaps in the past decade. The paper has not taken up this vital issue. Youths should be taught communal harmony, coexistence, participation and the like. And unless that happens, our problems are not going to get resolved. The paper should talk about these issues in a stronger manner.
• In spite of the mandatory nature of the subject in schools, our problems are increasing. I think unless there is rule of law, the problems will not get resolved. So, the challenge is to establish the rule of law.
• The problem with civic education is that we do not have good teachers. English or science teachers teach the Social Studies subject in non-contextual languages like English. We have not taken civic education seriously. We even abandoned it once only to make it mandatory again after we saw that it had dangerous results.
• Good students are not encouraged to take up social sciences. They are rather pushed towards joining technical subjects.
• I agree that there is social stigma regarding manual labour and that dignity in labour counts. One would work as a beautician but not as a barber, although both are the same.
• Regarding corruption, no matter how you earn your money, you can wash off the dirt from your ill-gotten wealth by making some donations. One tradition of Nepalese politicians is the outright lying they can resort to.
• The good thing about the Maoist revolt is that people are aware about the needs of people at the lower rungs.
• We are as developed as anyone else in the world regarding principles and lecturing about them, but the problem is with our lack of adherence to those ideals.
• You allege that our education is designed to serve the foreigner rather than Nepalis. How can you say that? I am not convinced. But if indeed it is true, you should have made things more clear.
• I do agree that your recommendation about a holistic civic education is a necessity in the country. This in fact demands another paper on that particular aspect.
• If you go back to Nepalese history, the best outcome of all investments has been in the education sector. Still, we do not have the necessary manpower in the country.
• There must have been some weaknesses in the education of the generation that rules the country today as it has made them corrupt and insensitive to the needs of the country and one's own rights and duties.
• I do not understand why people are encouraging youngsters to become doctors and engineers. What will happen if everybody is a doctor? Even technical experts need to be imparted with civic education to give them a sense of social responsibility.
• Families do not allow children to participate in decision-making. This needs to change.
• I do not think that choices for the young generation are limited to only two-Maoist insurgency or foreign employment. There are other opportunities as well. We see that thousands of rupees are being earned by Indians working here. We can join them if we want to. Foreign businessmen have been prainsing Nepal as a land of opportunity where money is just flying about, but we are saying that only the Middle East is the source of employment.
• And I do not think that the society would say anything if we encourage youngsters to work. People would instead think that the youngster is a hardworking person. It is only us that are cooking up ideas of manual labour not being respected. It is not based on facts.
• Study is needed to develop one's personality, not just to earn a livelihood. We see a lot of people earning a lot of money in spite of a lack of education.
• I do feel that civic education is lacking in everyone here, especially the politicians, the bureaucrats and the society leaders. Again, is all the social evil perpetrated by only those who are unaware of civic education? No, in fact, well educated and aware sections like politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen are the ones involved in corruption and other deviant activities.
• We need to look at our own activities rather than criticising others, if we are truly seeking civic sense in society. In other words, civic education will be of no use if the teacher himself does not practice it.
• The main reason for the Maoist conflict is related with economics, although social and political issues are also there to supplement it. A lot of youth resources are getting trapped in the conflict. Also, outside forces are trying to interfere at this same point in time. INGOs and NGOs are coming up with non-issues to carry out their intervention activities.
• The youth are being led astray towards insurgency or foreign jobs. Youths from villages have been driven out. I do not think that anyone of us wants our children to stay home and join the Maoists or the military.
• I do not think there is an immediate resolution to the problems, whether in providing employment or any other sort of intervention in any other sector. The conflict needs to be resolved through political means. And once a resolution is in sight, employment opportunities need to be opened for the youth. It does not matter if the employment opportunities are available in the country or abroad. But the people in power are not going to understand the problems and act accordingly. They'd rather die than leave their positions. In fact, even we, university teachers, are not honest to ourselves.
• I think that in the present context, all the discussions should be have been aimed at the conflict that has been afflicting the nation and restoring peace in the country. Other discussions like civic education can wait. If people want to go abroad, let them. People come, like the Bhutanese refugees, and people also go. We earn a lot of money from remittance. Why make it an issue of worry? The Maoists are training teachers. Let them. The state has stopped training teachers for quite some time now. If the Maoists want to do it, let them do it. Yes, the Maoists have been killing people. But who is not? Those in the cities-- the policemen-- are also killing people.

Chairperson Prof. Pushpa Raj Sharma Khatiwada's concluding remarks
Public service is a form of sacrifice. But, the leadership and the experts who emerged after 1950 have all said that they have joined politics not to sacrifice everything, but for power. In fact, without sacrifice, no service can be expected from any leadership.

Government has remained directionless. It has never even planned for the next five years. I know of an advisor to the prime minister who could not advise the PM even once during his tenure. It is such leaders who implemented Reaganomics and Thatcherism in a country like Nepal and sold all the public enterprises in a very shady manner.

Civic education is not an issue that should be apportioned to school children only. Even the elderly need civic education. We need to make the elderly understand the need to abide by the Constitution. The main theme of it is to have individuals being cautious while doing anything public. We know of leaders who have continually backed people who have harmed their own ideologies at the expense of those who have sacrificed for the ideology.

Political change takes overnight. Economic transformation needs time. But how long must we wait? We have been waiting since 1951.

We talked about the rule of law, but if we have disciplined rulers, the rule of law will automatically be adhered to.