Pretty much every Nepali school textbook I have seen and read about, I have decided, actually hinders children's learning, forget promote -- and contribute to -- them! In this blog post, I show how a fifth grade textbook completely misses the mark.
The solution? Do away with the local and national level examinations in grades 8 and 10 and eliminate textbooks.
At under-funded and resource-strapped public schools in Nepal, teaching science in a way that brings the subject alive for students can be a major challenge. What the teachers at such schools do have is themselves and their students. There's no reason they shouldn't be using their own students (by having them model structures for example) in an effort to get across difficult and challenging science concepts and ideas!
Audio recording of some light magic I performed in front of Sanskriti International School science teachers on January 25, 2019, as part of the introduction to science teacher education program.
I have a Science Teacher Education program. Depending on the needs of the school, I can either hold interactive workshops on how to impart higher level thinking skills or hold interactive workshops on teaching the content of the prescribed textbook a little differently, a little more effectively using local resources, the teachers themselves, as well as the students.
I am back..into teaching. This time teaching teachers in Nepal instead of international students abroad. I figured educating teachers in Nepal on how to impart critical thinking skills on student might have a bigger impact than teaching students at one school. If you are interested in having me be involved in teacher education at your school, let me know!
The education system in Nepal is supposedly the most corrupt system in the country. If a system is corrupt and does not deliver what it's supposed to, one employs and implements best practices from around the world. In the education system in Nepal, it seems, the practice is to adopt the worst practices, with little or no regard for their negative impact on the education of our children. Here's one such practice prevalent in the system and what you as a parent can do to better prepare your children for the twenty-first century.