Progressive Education In Nepal: The Community Is the Curriculum

By Bertram C. Bruce

Nepal is a country with daunting needs in terms of basic education and other social services. At the same time, its cultural and moral wealth provide a strong basis for meaningful life and learning. In particular, it offers fertile ground for progressive education, in which learning grows out of experiences in the community. Thus, despite material poverty, the country holds the possibility of significant advances, even international leadership, in the area of progressive education. This book reports on recent educational innovations. There are 118 color photos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9780359249411

Book preview

Progressive

Education in Nepal

The Community is

the Curriculum

Bertram C. Bruce

2018

First published by Chequessett Neck Books, 2018

© Bertram C. Bruce, 2018

All rights reserved.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Chequessett Neck Books

130 Daniels Drive

Wellfleet, Massachusetts 02667

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-359-18244-2 (paper)

ISBN 978-0-359-24941-1 (ebook)

Printed by Lulu Press, Inc.

Acknowledgments

The work on education reported here represents the collaboration of many people. This includes the dedication to improving education in Nepal in specific sites and the work to organize workshops, conferences, school visits, and other meetings.

Umes Shrestha, Narottam Aryal, Nama Raj Budhathoki, Swastika Shrestha, Pavitra Gautam, Aakriti Thapa, Shisir Khanal, Raj Poudel, Kamana Regmi, Kumar Thapa, and many others we indispensable for the success of the workshops. Krishnakumar KC and Amrit Poudel made a special contribution in arranging the stay in the village of Dalchoki.  In listing a few people here, I'm inevitably leaving out many others.

I’d like to add that when I heard the initial plans for my first trip to Nepal, I couldn’t quite believe that it would all come together: workshops, community inquiry in a village, and a national conference. But that all happened better than I expected. The reality went beyond the original plan and came to include multiple organizations, visits to schools, follow on trips to Nepal for me, and the creation of the Progressive Educators Network of Nepal (PENN).

I would also like to acknowledge invaluable assistance in preparing this book. Kshitiz Khanal made good suggestions on the focus of the book itself, especially about making clearer the connection between progressive education and anecdotes about Nepal life. Mike Fisher provided both many detailed comments and general advice on the book. Hanni Woodbury and Daniel Dejean helped me with the introduction. Emily Bruce made useful comments throughout. Susan Bruce, as always, gave strong support throughout, edited the text, and took many of the photographs.

Dedication

Dedicated to the many people who are working to make education

in Nepal more accessible, relevant, and engaging.

Preface

If we could measure a country by the resourcefulness of its people, their devotion to family and community, the diversity of language, art, and music, or the kindness exhibited in virtually every interaction, Nepal would be very rich indeed. What it lacks in the material realm is offset by strength of culture that could be a lesson for those in many other countries.

Economical travel for a family

Nepal is a country with daunting needs in terms of basic education and other social services. At the same time, its cultural and moral wealth provide a strong basis for meaningful life and learning. In particular, it offers fertile ground for progressive education, in which learning grows out of experiences in the community.  Thus, despite material poverty, the country holds the possibility of significant advances, even international leadership, in the area of progressive education.

Most of the content comes from my blog (chipbruce.net) reporting on my work in Nepal, but many of the entries have been updated and they are now grouped into categories. The posts are one person’s impressions of a country and people far too complex to capture in a few visits or a short book.

You can see from the dates that I overrode the strict chronological order of posting. Also, there are posts and photos that never appeared on the blog.  On the blog itself, there are many more photos and videos available, as well as hyperlinks to the various organizations and additional information.

UntitledUntitled

Brochure of Various Buddhist Sites, Jenish Budhathoki (age 11)

(1) Introduction

The list of remarkable things about Nepal is remarkably long. You could start with the physical: It has 8 of the 10 highest mountains in the world, and overall has elevations ranging from 66 meters to 8,848 meters above sea level. It is a biodiversity hotspot deriving from the multiple ecoregions–arctic to tropical, including mountains, hills, and savannas.

A singer and tradesman, with his sarangi

There is a corresponding diversity of flora and fauna, with gorgeous butterflies and birds. There are diverse cultural groups and many languages spoken. The architecture, the food, the music, the arts, the history, the religions, and more are fascinating. Not surprisingly, tourism is the largest industry. Nepal is a top destination for mountaineering, trekking, rafting, and jungle safaris.

Spending time with friends

However, I experienced something perhaps even more remarkable. I was fortunate to be invited to join a group of young Nepalis who hope to build a movement to make education in Nepal more progressive, specifically to make it more relevant to people’s lives, more connected to community, and more supportive of inquiry that leads to sustained  and creativity.

How I became involved

I have had a long fascination with Nepal, what to me seemed a remote land of majestic mountains, jungles, ancient religions, exotic food, clothes, dance, and architecture. This interest only intensified as I got to know several doctoral students at the University of Illinois. They encouraged me to go there, to teach or do research, or just to visit. Although I was sorely tempted, I never seemed able to work out the timing, the work plan, the funding, or other crucial details. 

After I retired in 2011, I had more flexibility and began to consider how to make a Nepal visit possible. My student, Nama Raj Budhathoki, had completed his PhD and returned to Kathmandu. He enthusiastically encouraged a visit, and perhaps more importantly, was a good organizer. In addition to many emails and draft plans, he set up a skype call with Narottam Aryal and Umes Shrestha from King’s College in Kathmandu. They invited me to visit Nepal during the Fall of 2016. My time was self-funded, but the college provided me with an office and an apartment to stay in. I arranged to go for more than two months, which included a six-week work plan and some time for exploration of Nepal.

Working with faculty at King's College, Kathmandu Living Labs (Nama's nonprofit civic technology company), Karkhana, Teach for Nepal, schools such as Nisarga Batika and John Dewey School, and other organizations, we held a workshop to learn about progressive education and what it means for Nepal today. This led to the formation of the Progressive Educators Network of Nepal.

In the Spring of 2018 I returned for a second trip of nearly three months. We held a follow-on workshop, with both familiar and new participants. There was a shift in emphasis to more reflection on the work and writing about it. I plan to return in the Winter of 2019 to continue this work.

The genre of this book

The book is an account of these trips and workshops, visits to the different sites for learning, and my own learning through immersion in Nepal. As such, it ranges from personal observations of