Public perception about education services in Nepal: Findings from Rolpa District
Bishnu Raj Upreti and Sony KC*
The state of Nepal provides free education up to primary level and takes minimum fee for secondary and higher secondary education. Since acquiring education is a basic right of citizens of Nepal, assessment of the perception of beneficiaries, especially from the rural areas is important for improvement in the education services as part of the internal state building process. Hence, this paper analyses the people’s perception on public education service provided by the state in the Budagaon and Liwang Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Rolpa district of Nepal in late 2013.

The paper is based on a qualitative study preceded by a longitudinal survey conducted in 2012 in Rolpa district. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 52 respondents about their views, perceptions, grievances about education services, and understanding of their knowledge, and experiences of the services they have received. The information was collected from School Management Committee (SMC) members and other key informants. The study looked at two specific questions: a) how do people’s perceptions, expectations and experiences of the state in conflict- context affect state legitimacy and state ability to provide education services?; and, b) under what circumstances does this lead to state-building? The interview notes were transcribed and translated, and then transcripts were categorized and themes were prepared based on open coding. These themes were used to analyze the information and prepare the paper.

The paper concludes that public education in Nepal requires reorientation in vision, policy, strategy and procedures as well as improvement in physical infrastructure. Despite the bleak picture of schools’ resources, there is an understanding that education is important to shape children’s future. The respondents were of the view that education services in the district (which was the headquarters of the insurgents during the time of the war) have recovered from the severe negative effects of the decade long armed conflict. A common response from the respondents was the need to improve access and resources and overcoming different administrative hurdles in getting services. It was interesting to note that in the study site, there were more girls enrolled in schools than boys because girls were sent to government schools and boys to private schools. The respondents were dissatisfied with the role of VDC (local government) as it was not effective in budget distribution and allocation to schools. Their views about School Management Committees were positive.
* * Dr. Bishnu Raj Upreti and Ms Sony KC are presently coordinating the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium project (SLRC) led by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) at the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research, Nepal