- Basanta Bhujel
I still remember the proverb that the teacher used to say while teaching, This proverb on the one hand highlights the importance of literacy and on the other hand also indicates the harm caused by semi-education. The practice of Nepalis going far and wide to earn money has been around for a long time. At that time, a man fell ill at the place where he went to earn money. I couldn’t earn money because I couldn’t work. I had to send a report home, but I could only write the second letter. I didn’t know the size, shape. He wrote a letter at home “If you send money, I will live, otherwise I will starve to death.” Knowing so much is more important than not knowing how to write anything.
Where can we find a copy pen-like now when we know the alphabet? A thin wooden plank was used to make black pottery. It was softened by bringing pure stone and cooking it in milk. The same stone was used to write letters on the blackboard. I still vividly remember the day I went to school with a knife in my pocket, a plate around my neck, and a handkerchief in my hand. I had to stay for such a study. I remember sitting in the dormitory of Mahendra High School in Tamghas, the current district headquarters of Gulmi district, and the high school in Verse. A simple barn was made into a dormitory. Corn flour and rice were taken from the home. On Saturdays, they went to look for firewood. Dhan Bahadur, Man Bahadur, and I had the same stove. I still remember my friend Man Bahadur crying while burning his hands while cooking.
As old as Nepal’s educational history is, perhaps Gulmi’s educational history is just as old. Ridi’s Sanskrit school is very old. Students used to come from far and wide to study. But Sanskrit pathshala was not of much interest to anyone except Brahmins. By our time, there was an awareness that modern education (English) should also be studied, but there were not many high schools in our area.
Higher education has become a thing of the past. Those who ate would study up to SLC, after that some would go to Lahure, some would start working in Nepal. Only a few went to Banaras, India to pursue higher education. Later, schools began to open. Those who went to Benaras and got higher education got the opportunity to become teachers. He was brilliant because he came to India with higher education. Teachers had great respect and dignity. According to him, the villagers did not want to kill Hatpati. Those teachers later became great leaders. I have just given the example of Gulmi, this is the condition of almost all the rural frogs in the country. In Banaras, not only the politics of the country but also the judiciary to the bureaucracy has taken hold of those pursuing higher education. Later, his sons and daughters filled schools including Gandaki Boarding School in Pokhara, Budhanilkantha in Kathmandu, Siddhartha Bansthali, and St. Xavier’s. They did not have the ability to compete with the children of the farmers who were educated in the ordinary government schools of the village. He held high positions including the doctor, engineer, bureaucrat, and judge. Experts of various disciplines of the country also belonged to this category. This class also got the opportunity to go abroad and get a higher education. They have also competed well abroad. There are also good opportunities abroad. Among the great researchers and recipients of medals, Nepalis are also mentioned But this class did not understand the real terrain of Nepal. What kind of model development is needed for Nepal? What are the possibilities? I didn’t understand that. Due to which, on the one hand, educated unemployment has increased in the country and on the other hand, the country is becoming dependent on every sector. Agriculture has immense potential, but about two trillion rupees worth of agricultural produce is imported from abroad every year. There is immense tourism potential but 80 percent of the items required by tourists are imported from abroad and even high-level tourist manpower has to be brought from abroad. There is a huge potential for herbs, but about one trillion rupees worth of medicines are imported from abroad every year. Iron mines are plentiful but iron and iron products worth one trillion rupees have to be imported annually. Even chemical fertilizers have to be imported 100 percent. But about one trillion rupees worth of medicines is imported from abroad every year. Iron mines are plentiful but iron and iron products worth one trillion rupees have to be imported annually. Even chemical fertilizers have to be imported 100 percent.
The root cause of all these distortions is the lack of proper education. Education is the foundation of development. Investment in education is also an investment in infrastructure construction. But since the parties came to power, education has been extensively privatized. The practice of quality education for the rich and the poor has been introduced. Two classes have been formed while producing manpower. Those who have got the opportunity from Trinamool have contributed something to the country. Take for example Dr. Hark Gurung, Yogi Narharinath. Currently, Dr. Mahavir Pun, Kulman Ghising can be taken. Nepal no longer lacks educational manpower. The number of widowers has reached thousands. Doctors, Engineers have been produced by many households. We haven’t heard the news that engineers have become unemployed and have gone to work in restaurants in Australia. The illusion that one should not do physical labor after studying remains. There is still a tendency to humiliate people by saying, ‘Even if you are an educated person, you have plowed the land.’
There are reports that those who have not been able to get jobs even after obtaining higher education have joined the agricultural profession. They have shifted to commercial agriculture instead of traditional subsistence agriculture. Some have opened a cow farm, some have opened a chicken farm, some have opened a wild boar, some have opened a goat farm, some have opened an ostrich farm, some have opened a college farm. Some have planted apple orchards, some have planted bananas, oranges, sweet orange, mangoes, lychees, They have made orchards including pears. Paddy farmers have also increased productivity. Three metric tons of paddy have been produced per hectare by the traditional method and eight metric tons per hectare of paddy has been grown by using modern technology. Some young people who have returned from foreign employment have started enterprises using the technology they have learned. This is a very good sign for the country. Looking at the situation so far, the share of remittances for goods and services is much more than the remittances that our youth earn abroad and bring into the country. The country’s progress is not possible unless the inflows are more than outflows. This is the main reason why nationalism is weakening.
It is only because the rulers do not have will power, if they have will power, there is immense potential for employment in the country. Even if only irrigation is provided in the land, an additional 2 million people will get employment. If a poor cow or buffalo is managed in the house of a poor person, he does not have to go abroad for employment, he can start earning immediately by staying at home. If training in herbal collection and processing is given, millions of people can get employment immediately. China and India, which make up one-third of the world’s population, are our neighbors. This population should have been a market for us. No matter how much we produce, it is consumed in these two countries. Even then, our fresh vegetables and fruits are being sold at high prices in the Gulf countries. We only need to fill bottled water and sell it in the Gulf countries. Our drinking water is the best in the world, But we are also importing drinking water from abroad. For example, the water that our Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli regularly drinks is not indigenous.
Whose weakness did we get into this situation? Why are our leaders so careless? The time has come to warn. It has become as clear as the sun that the progress of our country is not possible by carrying short-sighted and dishonest leaders on our shoulders. Now it is necessary to find a new way of thinking by radically changing the system of governance. The responsibility of building the country has now fallen on the shoulders of the youth. If we don’t, who will? If not today, when? It has become necessary to mobilize the youth with the thought that. Do you want to ruin the future of yourself and your children by carrying the bag of an angel leader in the temptation of alcohol and meat? Displace these incompetent leaders and move forward in nation-building on your own? The time has come for the youth to think with a cold mind. After the time has passed, crying, shouting, regret is not going to happen. It is important to be aware of the time. If necessary, the country should be ready to sacrifice blood.
There is a conspiracy to stop the youth from going on the streets by showing fake terror of Corona. This common cold cough comes and goes, it is something we have experienced from birth, it is cold, cough, and fever. What kind of epidemics did we endure? It is said, ‘It is better to be a cow than to be crying. Lord Krishna has said in the Gita – ‘Do deeds, the fruit will come by itself, there is no need to hope.
(Bhujel is a retired engineer in the British Army)
