(Name-mce) ListServ Multicultural Education in Nepal

[bill at billhowe.org]

http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=3159

 

Editorial 

       

Revisiting School Education   [ 2006-9-14 ] 

By Peshal Khanal

 

Education is a vital instrument of democracy. In a democratic society,
education, beyond all other devices of human origin, could act as a great
equaliser of human conditions. In the wake of the changing political
landscape of Nepal, the government is seeking to review its educational
policy. And multiculturalism is a debatable reforming principle to make
school education a democratic 'equaliser'.

 

Monocultural domination

The demographic picture of Nepal shows ethnic, cultural and linguistic
diversity. However, past governments imposed monocultural domination in
education. Indigenous activists have argued that they are invisible and
sometimes negatively depicted in the school's curricula. Children's
underachievement has been claimed as a deleterious effect of the cultural
mismatch between the one imposed in the schools and those of the different
ethnic groups. 

 

For years, our efforts at cementing the links between education and
democracy have proved elusive. In the same vein, we have talked much about
inclusive democracy, but mere proportional representation of people in the
country's politics is insufficient to achieve the democratic goals. Rather,
embracing pluralism is a noteworthy requisite, and the priority task is to
restructure the school education system through multicultural perspectives.

 

The multicultural education approach rests on two ideals ? equal opportunity
and cultural pluralism. The ideal of equal opportunity holds that each
student should be given equal opportunity to learn, succeed and become what
s/he would like, with full affirmation of his or her sex, race, religion,
caste, social background, and disability, if any. In addition, to providing
equal opportunity, it may be important to explore issues of power and
privileges. 

 

Sometimes power and privilege are accepted as invisible norms (rights) of
the dominant group, for instance, males, and this marginalises the
opportunity of the other groups. Secondly, cultural pluralism means there is
no one best way to be a Nepali citizen. It allows every cultural identity to
flourish. The society has no special obligation to maintain or support
cultural structures. Based on these two ideals, multicultural educational
aims at promoting an understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity;
helping all children achieve academic success; and promoting awareness of
social issues involving the unequal distribution of power and privileges
that limits the opportunity of those not in the dominant group.

 

Endorsement of the multicultural education approach should begin with a
policy commitment, and this should be followed by designing and implementing
appropriate instructional strategies. Curriculum materials should portray
the contributions and perspectives of a variety of Nepali cultural and
ethnic groups in a manner that does not reinforce and promote stereotypes or
exoticise ethnic and religious groups. 

 

The teachers' role is imperative in the successful execution of the
strategy. Not only their instructional delivery but also their attitude and
behaviour should be responsive to the ethno-cultural diversity. Therefore,
teacher education should incorporate multiculturalism as a fundamental
principle of instruction. 

 

The existing process of evaluating students is deciding in terms of
"winners"and "losers?. This is covertly favoring the upper or middle class
children. A more productive way to evaluate, from the perspective of
multicultural approach, is to determine which students need further
instruction and in what areas and then to implement that instruction and to
reevaluate. By using evaluation to guide instruction, it should be possible
for all children to be successful.

 

The multicultural education values language diversity. As language has been
a barrier for many children who do not speak Nepali as their mother tongue,
having a bilingual teacher to teach in such instances can be discussed. 

 

Normally, parents occupy a spectator role in regard to their child's
education, and parents living at or below the poverty line or from the
ethnic and minority background may be excluded from the school in a number
of ways. The multicultural education approach builds a partnership among the
home, school and community. This partnership seeks to include parents in
school activities and in the decision-making and policy formation
committees.

 

Additionally, a multicultural school provides students with a diversity of
role models, to fill both traditional and nontraditional roles. It radiates
life and diversity in visual display in the school. Since multicultural
education assumes teaching and learning as a cultural process that takes
place in a social context, maximum effort must be made to transform the
school as a microcosm of contemporary society. Therefore, in their
procedural norms, codes of behaviour, structural arrangements, and
distribution of power, privilege and responsibility, schools attempt to
mirror the ethno-cultural diversity.

 

Harmony

In the changing context of ethno-politics in Nepal, multicultural education
can bring harmony among cultural and ethnic groups and is likely to reduce
the different forms of social conflict. To implement multicultural education
fully, however, transformation of the school as a whole is essential. Above
all, changes will need to be made in the conception and attitude. The whole
process of transformation, therefore, should be deliberate, long-range,
ongoing and, most important, comprehensive.  





Bill Howe 
 <http://www.billhowe.org/> http://www.billhowe.org

 
Past-President 

National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
 <http://www.nameorg.org/> http://www.nameorg.org

 

 

 

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