Pedagogy
Indigenous (religious) education has roots trailing far back into Nepal’s
history. Religious and classical Sanskrit systems of education dominated
until 1853, the year that marked the entry of the British system of education,
which was introduced with the establishment of Durbar High School by Jung
Bahadur Rana after his return from a visit to Great Britain. The English system
introduced into Nepal followed the British model of education in India. The
earlier forms of education, including Buddhist Bihar, Hindu Ashram and
Gandhian Basic Education continued alongside the British model (College
of Education, 1956).
The religious system of pedagogy (i.e. methods used in the classroom to
enable students to learn), involved oral transmission, recitation, repetition,
rote memorization and drills. In the religious system, students had to
memorize, by rote, the given content. This system was also followed in the
British (secular) schools. One practice of the religious system of education
that did not continue after 1853 was the system of lesson progress, which
had until then depended on the ability of student (Alterker, 1956). Under
this system, a new lesson was given to a student only when the student
was able to present (fully understand) the previous lesson. This practice was
more individualized than the British system, because each student would
be provided the next lesson only if they showed they had understood the
previous one. Thus, teachers continuously assessed each student.
In 1954, the government formed the Nepal National Education Planning
Commission (NNEPC). The commission’s report demanded respect for
individual differences and intelligent adaptation of the curriculum to the
various local conditions and to the individual differences of children, and
called for the implementation of a thematic approach, active learning, the use
of the project method, and student-teacher cooperative planning (College of
Education, 1956). In effect, this was an early appeal for child-centred teaching
and learning principles.
Later reports, plans, programmes and project documents also provided
suggestions regarding classroom pedagogy in Nepalese schools. For
example, the diagnostic and reflective approach was recommended in 1961
(MOE, 1961); modern and researched methods were advised in 1971 (MOE,
1971); the integrated delivery approach was suggested in 1997 (MOE, 1997);
respect for diversity was proposed in 1999 (MOE, 1999); respect for differential
abilities and calls for inclusive education were put forward in 2003 (Ministry of