The challenge of keeping Nepalese girls in school | Emma Reynolds

poor, the marginalized, the girls and illiterate women have limited access to resources and opportunities. Cultural barriers and socio-economic women's education should be addressed to change this

, located between the Asian Development Bank of China and India, the economic giants, Nepal shares with India a caste system that discrimination remains a fact of everyday life. Its population of 30 million includes more than 100 ethnic groups, almost as many languages ??and castes and 60 sub-castes. Caste and gender remain key barriers to education. If you are a girl from a Dalit, or an Indian family, it is unlikely to go to school or complete primary school.

At the other end of the spectrum, power and money is concentrated in the hands of the Brahmin caste, including the most senior political leaders and the new Maoist prime minister, Baburam Bhattarai.

From the King's abdication in 2006 and the end of the civil war a decade, the political situation was in a state of agitation. No party won a majority in general elections in 2008, but the Maoists won the most seats. Since then, successive governments have failed ephemeral to solve basic problems, such as how to delegate powers to a local level, the disarmament of former Maoist combatants, and write a new constitution.

Acting Minister of Education, and most members I met during my internship VSO last month, admitting that education receives the attention it deserves. Resolution of political problems of the country, eclipsing other priorities. In addition, many politicians send their children to private schools in the capital and the political elite based in Kathmandu, rarely visit their constituencies.

This is compounded by the absence of elected local government, which led to the politicization of the school. Considering that the school board in the United Kingdom are celebrated as the largest volunteer force in the country, the reputation of the equivalent of Nepal is in stark contrast. The president or members of school management committees often tried to impose and maintain power at the local level.

Aa responsible local education

therefore spend most of their problems from time to fire policy. Consequently, the ability to implement change and improve standards is poor. Management is weak teachers and teacher recruitment is often political. A former education minister was sacked for corruption in the appointment of temporary teachers.

• However, there are some flashes of light. Despite political instability, recent advances in the education of children in primary education in Nepal. The World Bank estimates that in 2009 the enrollment rate in primary education was 90% against 74% four years earlier. The local community leaders in primary schools I visited, told me proudly the door to door campaign, which significantly increased the number of schools.

keeping girls in school beyond puberty, but it is a great challenge. As mothers of the commission of a primary school in the district of Rupandehi plains of Nepal, he said, girls' education is not a priority for many families. His daughters are often required to work in fields and at home. Many are married at an early age. In the same school, I met two of thirteen, married students. I doubt they have never seen the inside of a classroom of high school.

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