School Curriculum Review to Collect 50,000 Expert Views

School Curriculum Revision: Suggestions to Be Collected from 50,000 Experts Nationwide

The School-Level National Curriculum Framework Review Task Force will collect suggestions from 50,000 experts across the country for curriculum reform. The curriculum is being reviewed as the five-year cycle of the National Curriculum Framework 2076 has been completed since the academic year 2080.

Task Force Coordinator Dr. Balchandra Luitel shared this information during an interaction program titled “School-Level Curriculum Review: Stakeholders’ Perspectives and Suggestions,” organized by the National Campaign for Education (NCE) Nepal. He said that, according to the work plan, extensive suggestions will be collected by forming committees under 12 major thematic areas.

According to Coordinator Dr. Luitel, suggestions will be collected on the following areas, and the curriculum format will be prepared within nine months:

• Competency

• Vocational and technical education

• Local knowledge

• Human values and moral education

• Art

• Sports

• Health

• Inclusion

• Disaster management

• Mother-tongue teaching methods

• Assessment system

• Curriculum implementation

The 98th meeting of the National Curriculum Development and Evaluation Council, held on Baisakh 11 under the chairmanship of Education and Sports Minister Sasmit Pokharel, had formed the task force under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Luitel, Dean of the School of Education at Kathmandu University.

At the program, task force member Dr. Meenakshi Dahal said that the suggestions received would be accepted. Educationist Dr. Bidyanath Koirala said the curriculum should emphasize making students independent and creative. Scholar Bimal Phuyal expressed the view that, since the scope of knowledge is broad, the curriculum should focus on the foundation of nation-building.

Similarly, Curriculum Development Centre Director Bijayraj Badu pointed out that reaching curriculum goals has become challenging because curriculum, textbooks, teacher training, school education monitoring, and evaluation are handled by different bodies. Education analyst Tika Bhattarai said the curriculum alone should not be blamed for the deterioration of education.

Former Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Sports Dipendra Bikram Thapa and Dalit NGO Federation Chairperson GB Bishwakarma emphasized that examples indicating caste discrimination should be removed from the curriculum. Nepal Teachers’ Federation Chairperson Laxmi Kishor Subedi, however, expressed dissatisfaction, saying that the federation had not been included in the task force.

Other members of the task force are:

• Dr. Lekhnath Paudel

• Dr. Amina Singh

• Pabitra Bahadur Gautam

• Dr. Pramod Bhatta

• Gyanendra Malla

• Sagendra Shrestha

• Richa Neupane

• Rewati Karki

Curriculum Development Centre Director General Yubaraj Paudel is the member-secretary of the task force.