Civic Education for the Youth

Seminar organized by Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies (NEFAS)

18 June 2005, Janakpur

Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies continued its debate on civic education by organizing its latest series of programmes in the central plains. In Janakpur, participants, mainly teachers, political workers and journalists, arrived at the seminar venue braving the intense heat of the Tarai summer to contribute their part in the NEFAS endeavour to publish a book that would prove useful for the higher secondary students in their course of study on civic education. Though the political participants were more keen on political views regarding the situation in the country and their standing regarding the political developments, the real stakeholders, i.e. the teachers and students showed more concern over the subject and the general environment in schools in different parts of the country. The discussion was chaired by a university teacher who is affiliated with the local R.R.B Campus. The presentation on the role of the youth in a democracy and the factors affecting them was done by Shiva Raj Dahal and a supplementary presentation by Prof. Gunanidhi Sharma on the economic factors affecting the youth of the country.

The seminar kicked off after a brief introduction by Prof. Ananda Srestha, the NEFAS executive director, to the theme of the seminar. He apprised the participants of NEFAS actiuvities saying that the academic organization "mainly deals with academic debates in development studies ultimately bringing out the outcomes in publication forms. We hope that these materials will prove useful to policymakers. It is this that has taken us to various places of the country to discuss civic education," he said. He asked for positive contribution to the presentation as the topic being discussed was part of the school curriculum.

This was followed by Shiva Raj Dahal's presentation which discusses the general tendency of the younger generation in the present context, the role of different societal actors in shaping their public behaviour and the political atmosphere that results out of youthful activities. The paper paints a bleak picture of the present day Nepalese youth as a huge portion is finding it opportune to leave the country in search of jobs while those without such opportunity and those disillusioned by the domestic situation have taken up arms against their own kith and kin. Dahal's conclusion is that these disturbing trends are linked with the kind of education we provide them, and therefore a matter which needs to be taken care of through the school curricula. Additionally, he pleads to the political actors to show some sensitivity to this scenario and work for their betterment instead of using them for their own narrow interests.

The floor discussion that followed showed that participants wanted the presentation to include more topics for civic education. But this has been a routine confusion among participants in almost every town that NEFAS has been taking the debate to. Usually they are not clear about the way that the seminar was being organized rather than a real concern that should be taken up by the paper presenter of the day. Not all papers to be included in the ultimate book on civic education is being presented in every seminar. Since the series of the civic education seminar has been a long one, each seminar sees the discussion on only one or two presentations which would later form separate chapters in the final book.

EXCERPT FROM FLOOR DISCUSSION

• As long as there is suppression there will be no meaning to civic education. Since we could not manage the Panchayat ills, we will not be able to manage the nation.
• The political parties did not respect the diversity. Leaders are chosen along loyalty lines. And until we start inclusive politics, nothing will happen.
• The number of youths leaving the country is a statistics that rulers boast of rather than try to stop it and use the vital human resource at home.
• Morality is something politicians need to uphold, but leaders have all been tainted with corruption.
• The paper talks of rule of law but not the need for education on legal matters and the Constitution.
• Treat the moral aspect while discussing corruption. We go to our offices but do not carry out our responsibility.
• The characteristics of a good citizen have been listed in the paper, but you have not mentioned the crucial role of democracy which is needed to produce a good citizen.
• You fear that Nepal is becoming a nation of labourers, but do not talk about ways of keeping the youth in schools or colleges to prevent that from happening.
• Our psychology is such that we want to be big men but not good men. Please include this kind of mentality as a hurdle to producing good quality citizens. Teachers are not given respectable positions in public functions.
• Why not have civic education for the elderly?
• What are the reasons for the brain drain in the youth sector?
• Nepalese children are used as forced labourers in India. What will happen to those children in the future?
• Women also make up a large part of the youth group. But there are problems like villages being emptied from the rural areas and widows facing serious problems because of the poor rights situation particularly concerning women. Women are also being trafficked while they are young.
  
• The paper does not provide any recommendations to resolve the problems identified.
  
• The reasons for the conflict have not been discussed in the paper. There is conflict everywhere- in the family, the villages and everywhere else. What is the reason for these conflicts? At the moment we have the political conflict reaching the zenith and there is no discussion on that. The administrative structure has not been devised along constitutional lines, rather along the lines envisaged by the Panchayat system.
• Although the constitution envisions inclusion of women in government institutions, the parties have been bypassing this provision by giving them tickets only where defeat is certain.
  
• The paper concludes with external relations issues such as unequal treaties and border encroachments. This should be the main focus of this seminar. I believe that every country faces external pressures. Do we show honesty in such issues or do we just blame it on others? Not even one journalist was elected in Janakpur during the Federation of Nepalese Journalists elections. How will you expect a Madhesi journalist to go to Tanakpur and fight for the country in such a state of affairs?
  
• What will be the impact of civic education on the nation in the future? It is the elderly generation which has initiated the discussion of civic education. Only when we will have been able to take the debate to the youth, the women, the children and the family levels can we expect it to start yielding fruit.
  
• The paper should have been split in two parts, "civic education" and "the role of the youth in civic education". The emphasis on the role of the youth is slightly overly placed.
  
• Politics is the supreme determinant of all issues. Since we are struggling to resolve the political conflict, we cannot expect everything to be right under such unfavourable situations.
  
• More youth should be participating in such seminars.
  
• You say that civic education is not just a political issue, but most of your paper deals with politics. You need to elaborate the other apolitical determinants that you claim.
  
• Please also discuss the rights that the state must provide the citizens and the young generation.
  
• Will civic education guarantee that the aspiration of the youth will be fulfilled? Should not the state provide the necessary opportunities for the young generation along with the civic education?
  
• The post-1990 youth turn away from politics and are continually preparing to leave the country for jobs. Only civic education can change the situation for the better.
  
• We have been treating political leaders as a different class than we do other citizens and youths too are victims of such discrimination.
  
• Education takes place in two ways- buy studying and by experiencing. Also include the latter in your paper.
  
• Are only government officials involved in corruption or are the people also corrupt? We have seen voters seeking money for their votes. If that is so, politicians will naturally extract their investments from the public position when they get there.
  
• Unless people become aware there can be no struggle. For them to be aware or organized, external pressure in needed. Internal conflict too could bring about changes. Please give some ideas about how "spontaneous struggles" can occur for change.
  
• You provide independence, autonomy and compromise as characters of a leadership needed to possess patriotic credentials. Please elaborate.
  
• You say that we are landlocked and that we are unfortunate in that sense. How do we change our mentality to overcome such constraints?
  
• The conflict of today is the result of the lack of morality in us. The obsession with self is the culprit.
  
• Let us try and provide alternatives to the search for jobs by the youth, before solving other problems.
  
• You should also show better alternatives of the leaders you criticize. Regarding the criticism against India, we are totally dependent on that country for everything. So why criticize? And until we are able to overcome that it is useless to criticize that country.
  
• We talk of unity, but our parties are good at factionalism, not unity.
  
• You talk of health facilities as an essential provision to be given to the people both rich and the poor. Why include the rich. They can manage their health by themselves?
  
• Regarding the use of language in the media, regional and local contexts should be taken in mind while doing so.
  
• The conclusion appears detached from the discussions above.
  
• We have been obsessed with new terminologies, but these governance issues were realized even in the past, even during Prithvinarayan Shah's time. For example, good governance issues like corruption.
  
• Please also identify and assign blame to particular persons for the deviations that have occurred in the Nepalese way of life.

Reply by author
The comments that have come on the paper will be included in the preparation of the final draft for publication. Our aim is to strengthen democracy, not debate on what is good or bad but just what is democratic and what is not.

• Democracy is a process and the leaders are only as good as far as they can do good. We have to ditch them if they leave track as we are not followers of the politicians but followers of democracy.
• The government is dependent on remittance to sustain the economy. But, even there, we are working for the least wages, compared to other nationals, in foreign lands.
• Many of the issues raised by the floor are dealt with in other chapters of the book. It would be repetition to include them in this paper as well.

The last session of the seminar was reserved for Prof Gunanidhi Sharma to make his presentation in providing the economic background to the theme of the seminar.

Gunanidhi Sharma: Youth is the only capable resource in the country that can provide us with the dynamic transformation that we need. It is the youth that has a history of struggle, whether it is fighting against imperialism or German fascism or even feudalism. The trend continues today. There is a section of the youth which has left the country while there is another one that has gone underground.

Nepal has an active labour population which makes up 54 per cent of the total. This is not an everyday but a rare statistics which can be used by the country. But we have not been able to use such vast resources. The state has not been able to manage a lot of things. And the result is that we see problems in every sector. And the youth are there in every sector, whether you are a Madhesi or the Dalit or what have you. We need inclusive policies. The state has favoured only those haves and the excluded have always remained outside the state realm. Who gets bank loans? Only those who have assets to be kept as collateral. And the trend continues generation after generation.

Socialization needs to be positive so that there is positive treatment of one group or gender by the other. It should be able to unify all the groups into one- the Nepalese. This is patriotism. And patriotism leads everyone to work collectively for collective benefit. Why is this not happening? We have obviously made mistakes. Those mistakes need to be rectified after identifying them whether it is in policy, economics, politics or history.

Inclusion does not mean including people only, it should be extended to mean that all resources-- labour, land and capital-- need to be able to participate in economic activities. Only then will balanced development take place. The initiative for this should be taken by the state and it is politics that determines the quality of initiatives taken by the state. In a democracy, it is the people who elect those leaders. And, if the Constitution hampers that from happening, it needs to be changed. If we do not change our ways according too the changes brought about by technology, then things start falling apart and conflicts appear.

Prior to the concluding remarks by the chair Prof. Anand Srestha gave away cash to one family of one of the Nepalese workers killed in Iraq by terrorists. The relief assistance was received from Nepalese in Australia and handed over through NEFAS. Other family members who could not produce the necessary documents to prove their relation to the terrorist victims have been asked to produce documentary proof before they receive the assistance.

Chairperson's remarks

• The country suffers seriously in every sector of public life because of chaos. If the civic education curriculum is introduced from Class VIII then a lot of problems get resolved. A task force may be necessary to introduce this education to different groups of people as an awareness campaign or as a school curricula or even as political training. An action plan can thus be formed. But, we have a problem of double standards as we say one thing but do something else.
• Although there is a debate between those that believe that man is an animal and others who see him as something of a higher order, without an aware people, independence from slavery is impossible.
• The problems that we see today cannot be looked upon in an isolated manner. They are just separate parts of the same system. The roots of those problems need to be tackled in a holistic manner.
• Cynicism, or ignorance or fatalism does not contribute to problem solving. You have to come forward, take upon yourself to do so and work actively for that.