पाठ्य सामग्री र स्थानीयकरणको समस्या

- दीपक अर्याल

विद्यार्थीहरूले के पढ्छन्, के पढ्न मन पराउँछन् वा पढ्न नै मन पराउनन्नन् भन्नेा कुराको जानकारी प्रत्येक शिक्षकले राख्न जरूरी हुन्छ। पाठ्य पुस्तकका एकहोरो सामग्रीहरूलाई विद्यार्थीहरूले कसरी लिइरहेका हुन्छन् भन्ने कुरालाई पनि शिक्षकले बाहेक अरू कसैले बुझ्न सक्दैन। त्यसैले पढाउने भनेको पाठ्य पुस्तक पढाउने वा घोकाउने र कक्षा उत्तीर्ण गराउने मात्र होइन बरू विद्यार्थीलाई पढ्नका लागि उत्प्रेरित गर्ने वा उत्साहित गर्ने पनि हो। के विद्यार्थीहरूलाई अन्य काममा अग्रसर भए जस्तै पढ्ने काममा पनि अग्रसर बनाउन सम्भव छ? त्यसका लागि कुन विधी उपयुक्त हुन सक्छ। उनीहरूलाई पढाइप्रति किन रूचि छैन, हुँदैन वा खास पाठ्य सामग्री वा विषयवस्तुसँग रूचि नभएपनि अन्य विषयसँग रूचि हुन्छ भन्ने कुरा जान्नका लागि लामो अनुसन्धान जरूरी छ। जस्तै कि, चित्र भएका तस्बिरहरू बढी हेर्ने, रमाइला कुराहरू, कथाहरू, कार्टुनहरू, फिल्महरू मात्र पढ्न मन पराउने वा त्यसका कुरा गर्दा खुशी हुने जस्ता विशेषताहरू साना-साना बालबालिकामा मात्र होइन ठूला बच्चाहरूमा पनि भएको देखिन्छ। त्यसमाथि आफ्नो टोल-छिमेकको, आफ्नो धर्म संस्कृति तथा सामाजिक परिवेशका घटना, कथा वा सामग्रीहरू पढ्ने रूचि पनि बढी रहेको पाइन्छ।

Filed under: Articles, Book, Communication, Culture, Education, Madhesh, Nepal, Place, Research, rural custom

डिजिटल डिभाइड र शैक्षिक भाषाको कुरा

- दीपक अर्याल

पञ्चायतकालीन शिक्षा नीति अनुसार केही वर्ष पहिलेसम्म नेपालको पूर्व-पश्चिम, उत्तर-दक्षिणतिरका सरकारी स्कुलहरूमा नेपाल सरकारले लागू गरेको पाठ्यपुस्तकमा आधारित शिक्षा दिने गरिन्थ्यो। विस्तारै त्यसभित्र मिशनरी स्कुल तथा २०४६ पछि नीजि स्कुलहरूको वर्चश्व बढ्दै गयो र विद्यार्थीहरूले पढ्ने पाठ्य पुस्तकहरूमा पनि भिन्नता आउँदै गयो र शिक्षा वा ज्ञान पाउने स्रोत, माध्यम र परिवेशमा फराकिलो अन्तर हुँदै गयो। त्यसो त पञ्चायती शैक्षिक नीति तथा पद्धतिले एउटै भाषा नेपालीका माध्यमद्वारा राजनीतिक, सांस्कृतिक वर्चश्व कायम गर्यो र खास क्षेत्र तथा जात-जातिका मान्छेहरूलाई मात्र फाइदा पुर्यायो भन्नेा कुरामा शंका गर्न मिल्दैन। तथापि पछिल्लो चरणको फरक-फरक शैक्षिक क्यालेण्डर, पाठ्यपुस्तक, पढाउने तथा पढ्ने वातावरण तथा सोसँगै भित्रिएको आधुनिक प्रविधिले विद्यार्थी तथा शिक्षकहरूका माझ ठूलो खाडल बढाएको छ र त्यसको प्रत्यक्ष प्रमाणहरू समाजमा देखिन थालेका छन्।

Filed under: Articles, Book, Culture, Debate, Development, Education, History, Nepal, Research, Subaltern studies

निजि र सरकारी स्कुल तथा गुणस्तरको मापदण्ड

- दीपक अर्याल

निजि र सामुदायिक तथा सरकारी विद्यालयका सकारात्मक तथा नकारात्मक पाटाका विषयमा निकै चर्चा हुने गर्छ। अझ, खासगरी एसएलसीको रिजल्ट आउने वेलामा वा आएपछि त यसका वारेमा गरिएका टिप्पणीहरूले पत्रपत्रिकाका पानाहरू भरिन्छन्। सरकारले सरकारी विद्यालयमा लगानी गरे अनुरूपको प्रतिफल नआएको, विद्यार्थीहरू बढी फेल हुने गरेको, शिक्षकहरूले बढि राजनीति गरेको वा शिक्षकको क्षमता नभएको मात्र होइन देशको शैक्षिक प्रगतिको आधार नै निजि विद्यालय भएको र यसले मात्र राम्रो नतिजा दिन सकेको तर्क पनि यो समयमा दिइन्छ। खासगरी निजि विद्यालयका वकालत गर्नेहरूले एसएलसीमा सरकारी र निजि विद्यालयबाट उत्तीर्ण हुने विद्यार्थीहरूको संख्यालाई आधार मानेर निजि विद्यालय सरकारी भन्दा कैयौं गुणा उत्कृष्ट भएको तर्क गर्छन्। यही तर्क प्लस टु वा सो भन्दा माथिका शैक्षिक संस्थाहरूमा पनि लागू हुन्छ। के दुई फरक धारका विद्यालयहरूको शैक्षिक स्तरको तुलना गर्दा “रिजल्ट” मात्र एक आधार हुन सक्छ? के कति प्रतिशत विद्यार्थी कुन श्रेणीमा पास भए भन्ने आधारले मात्र शैक्षिक स्तरको तुलना गर्न सम्भव छ? के यसरी आउने रिजल्ट विग्रनु वा बन्नु का पछाडि ती विद्यार्थी र ती विद्यार्थीका अभिभावकहरूको सामाजिक, आर्थिक वा सांस्कृतिक सहजता वा वाध्यताले पनि ठूलो भूमिका खेल्छ र त्यसले रिजल्टलाई राम्रो वा नराम्रो बनाउन सक्छ भन्ने कुरामा विचार गर्न हुँदैन?

Filed under: Articles, Book, Communication, Culture, Debate, Development, Education, History, Literature, Memory, Nepal, Philosophy, Politics, Research, rural custom, Subaltern studies

ज्ञानको श्रोत के हो?

- दीपक अर्याल

ज्ञान के हो वा यसको श्रोत के हो? के ज्ञानका लागि स्कुल, कलेज वा विश्वविद्यालयका शिक्षा अपरिहार्य छन् वा ती नै पूर्ण छन्? सामान्यत: वर्तमान शिक्षा प्रणालीले हामीलाई त्यहीँ सिकाउँछ। हो, पढ्न, लेख्नन आवश्यक छ तर वर्तमान शैक्षिक योग्यता मात्र ज्ञानको श्रोत हो कि होइन? त्यसमा भने विवाद गर्ने प्रशस्त ठाउँ छ। शायद हामीलाई मानसिक रूपमा वर्तमान शिक्षा प्रणाली वा यसबाट प्रात भएको शैक्षिक योग्यता नै ज्ञानको एक मात्र श्रोत हो भन्ने भ्रम पाल्न सिकाइएको छ। शिक्षा आफैमा ज्ञानको श्रोत हो तर त्यसको दायरा भने स्कुल, कलेज वा विश्वविद्यालयमा मात्र सिमीत छैन।

Filed under: Articles, Book, Communication, Culture, Debate, Development, Education, History, Memory, Nepal, Politics, Research, rural custom, Subaltern studies

A brief write-up on Dhawal Library

- Deepak Aryal

The world “library” as known today was not used in ancient times. According to the Oxford English dictionary, the word “library” was used in English as early as 1374 AD, as a place where books were kept for reading, study or reference. The earliest known body of written materials was assembled in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq and Syria) more than 5,000 years ago. In Asia, the earliest documented libraries were connected with temples and centers of religious learning.

The rulers of ancient times had keen interest in reading writing and collecting books and manuscripts, which are evidenced by the collection of manuscripts available in The National Archive of Nepal in Kathmandu. In 1986 BS (1930AD) some active youths tried to open a public library but it could not succeed and few young people were arrested. This is portrayed as a “Library Parba” in Nepal. However, some libraries were established before the end of Rana regime. Book Reading Veranda, Palpa, 1983BS, Pashupati Pratap Library, Kapilvastu 1993BS, Mahabir Library, Butwal 2004BS, Aadarsha Library, Biratnagar, 2003BS(1946AD), Pradipta library, Kathmandu, 2003BS (1946AD), Sharada Library, Kathmandu, 2003BS (1946AD), Sarbajanik Sikchya Niketan, 2004BS (1947AD), Sarada Library, Rautahat, 2004BS (1947AD), Himalaya Sarbajanik Library 2004BS, Padma library,Tanahu, 2004BS (1947AD), Tribhuvan-Mohan Library, Dang, 2005BS (1948AD), Shreeram Library, Bhojpur, 2005BS, were the main libraries which had established before Rana Regime.

Filed under: History, Nepal, Palpa, Research

Discourses of Birata and Shanti in School Level Nepalese Textbooks

-Deepak Aryal

“Aap to ‘Bahadur’ nahi lagate!” (You don’t look like Bahadur), he seriously doubted my self-introduction as a Nepali student who wanted to go to the YMCA Guest house of Jai Singh Road from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. It was my third visit to India and noone asked this kind of question in my previous visits. So, I was completely confused and did not have any clue why my taxi-driver both wanted to and hesitated to understand me as ‘Bahadur’ and how I was different from the Bahadur whom he knows or cogitates.

There is a large body of critical literature on theories and practices of ethnic stereotypes. Journalist Walter Lippmann (1922) likened ‘stereotypes’, coined in 1798 originally referred to a printing process or reproduction, to “pictures in the head,” or mental reproductions of reality. Salinas (2003) states in his book ‘The Politics of Stereotype’ that the stereotypes are mentally constructed which are activated in an automatic, unconscious manner and affect both the stereotyping mind and the stereotyped. The social identity theory of stereotypes and prejudice agree to view the development of stereotypes and prejudice as a function of socio-cultural factors and intergroup relations. Such as ‘Jews have large Noses’ (physical
appearance), ‘Negroes are stupid’ (their intelligence) or ‘Japanese are sly’ (their personality) (Rinehart, 1963).

Filed under: Communication, Culture, Debate, History, India, King, Madhesh, Nepal, Politics, Research

Oral Tradition and Communication

- Deepak Aryal

Oral tradition has become a domain of great interest to scholars of different disciplines of knowledge such as literature, psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. It has a huge scope for the discipline of communication too. This article presents an appraisal of oral tradition as a means of communication from one generation to another. While doing so, it deals with following issues: Can history be narrated based on oral traditions just as it is done with ‘written documents’? Are the oral traditions only the sources of historiography or do they have other implications too? It also discusses whether oral traditions can be taken as valid historical sources, and, if not, whether there are Deepak Aryal. Oral tradition and communication

Filed under: Communication, Culture, Debate, Memory

The nationalism debate

- Prashant jha

One of the first questions that Hindu extremist outfits in India ask in their training camps and propaganda exercises is, ‘Are Muslims Indians first or Muslims first?’ This question is rarely asked about Hindus, for it is assumed that a Hindu is a true Indian while a Muslim has to prove his patriotism and commitment to the ‘nation’.

That one question, and its implicit suggestion, has brainwashed thousands of young Hindus and veered them towards fanaticism. At its kindest, the answer to this question is assessed by whether Muslim-dominated areas are supporting India or Pakistan in a cricket match. If the area does not celebrate enough after an India win, it is seen as proof that the primary allegiance of a Muslim is to his religion, not to the country. At its most brutal, this attitude has resulted in mass killings and communal riots.

Filed under: Madhesh, Nepal, Politics

Great Kolkata Scholar interviewed

If you exclude Nobel laureates, India’s most major intellectual export to the West is arguably Partha Chatterjee. Many would say there is no need to exclude the Nobel laureates when maintaining this proposition. Kolkata rejoices in the fact that Partha Chatterjee prefers to remain very much a part-time export: he only spends about 3-4 months being professor at Columbia; the rest of the time he is mainly to be found in dhoti-kurta within his natural habitat. His devotion to Kolkata and his self-location within the city are evident from his speech at the Fukuoka Prize of 2009 ceremony in Japan, during which he speaks partly in Bengali to praise Kolkata as the city which made his kind of scholar possible. It’s worth experiencing the integrity and dignity of his address at this link.

Two incidental details in connection with the Fukuoka Prize: among scholars, this has only been won earlier by two Indians, Romila Thapar and Ashis Nandy (both ordinarily resident in New Delhi). It is awarded to scholars whose influence has been widely recognized as profound and monumental. Second, Partha Chatterjee had asked that the prize be bestowed on him at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, and the awarding body had agreed. Unfortunately, Chatterjee fell very seriously ill and had to be briefly hospitalized over the Kolkata dates, and the ceremony on the youtube video was held in Fukuoka, Japan.

Partha Chatterjee was instrumental in shifting Subaltern Studies from OUP to Permanent Black in 2000. He has, since, quietly and steadfastly supported Permanent Black, both via giving us his own books to publish, and by advising scholars and students to look seriously at Permanent Black. Most recently, Chatterjee was responsible for bringing to fruition the publication of Ranajit Guha’s collected English essays, The Small Voice of History (Permanent Black paperback).

This short interview with Partha Chatterjee reveals some facets of one of contemporary Bengal’s most reputed scholar-intellectuals, whose two new books, THE LINEAGES OF POLITICAL SOCIETY (see blog lower down) and THE BLACK HOLE OF EMPIRE, will be published by Permanent Black, Columbia University Press, and Princeton University Press.

Filed under: Calcutta, History, India, Interview, Kolkata, Personality, Philosophy, Politics, Research, Subaltern studies

With an eye on the footpath

Deepak Aryal, From Himal SouthAsian (May 2011)

Publishing in Nepal is generally thought to have begun when Jang Bahadur Rana, the founder of the Rana clan that would rule the country for close to a century, brought back a printer from a visit to Europe in 1850. However, much earlier than that, in 1821, the Mission Press in Serampore, in modern-day West Bengal, had published a Nepali-language translation of the Bible. In Nepal though, several books were printed only in the 1860s, among them the Muluki Ain (the Civil Code), and some translated versions of British military manuals, probably printed on the same press that Prime Minister Jang brought from England. Either way, these three factors would set the tone for Nepali publishing trends for the next two centuries: that the industry started with legal and military documents (implying government control over publishing), that it was in the Nepali language or translations into it, and that an important component of Nepali publishing took place in India.

Filed under: Development, History, India, Kolkata, Nepal, Research, Review

तेश्रो पटक पाल्पा पुग्दा

- डा. सुमन राज ताम्रकार (समकालीन साहित्य) 

कफी, करुवा, ढाका, अदुवाको लागि प्रख्यात थलो पाल्पा जान निम्तो पाएपछि सहजै स्विकारें । कारण एक त नेपालको पहाडकी रानी मध्ये एक, त्यसमाथि बालसाहित्य सम्बन्धी कार्यक्रम । २०४८ ताका पहिलो चोटी हेल्थ असिस्टेन्ट कोर्स सकिनै लाग्दा जागिर खोज्न र २०५५ मा दोश्रो चोटी हनिमुन ट्राभल्सको सिलसिलामा धनकुटा, झापा, इलाम, दार्जिलिङ्ग, विराटनगर, भैरहवा, बुटवल पोखरा जाने सिलसिलामा पाल्पा हुँदै गएका थियौं । यो पटक पाल्पा जान बिहान चार बजे नै उठेर काठमाण्डौ लागें ।

Filed under: Palpa, Tansen

रमणीय रेसुङ्गा

मुकेश पोखरेल

गाई पाल्ने गोपाल र साधु-सन्तहरूको बास छ यो शिखरमा। प्राचीन युगमा ऋषिहरूले तपस्या गरेको मानिन्छ, जसका कारण यसको नाम रेसुङ्गा रहन गयो। समुन्द्र सतहदेखि १७०० मिटर उँचाइमा ३४ सय हेक्टरमा फैलिएको रेसुङ्गा क्षेत्र गुल्मी जिल्लाका एघार गाविसमा पर्छ। रेसुङ्गा क्षेत्रलाई पर्वतीय घुमफिरका लागि उपयुक्त गन्तव्य मान्न सकिन्छ।

रेसुङ्गाबाट उत्तरतिर हेर्दा एकैदिनमा पुगिएला जत्तिकै नजिकमा अन्नपूर्ण प्रथम, दोस्रो र तेस्रोका साथै धवलागिरि, माछापुच्छ्रेलगायत १५ भन्दा बढी हिमाल देखिन्छन्। सूर्यास्तको बेला धवलागिरिको छायाँ त रेसुङ्गामै पर्दछ। चिसो हावापानी, घना वन र जैविक विविधताले त्यत्तिकै आकर्षित गर्छ। यो क्षेत्रको भ्रमणका लागि मङ्सिरदेखि वैशाखसम्मको समय उपुक्त मानिन्छ। अझ्ै फागुनदेखि चैतको समयमा पुग्नुभयो भने त डाँडाभरि लाली छर्ने गुराँसले तपाईको स्वागत गर्ने छन्।

Filed under: Butwal, Culture, Gulmi, Palpa