The Education Development and Coordination Unit and the Rural Municipality or Municipality Education Office

A school does not run by itself. Someone has to plan where schools are needed, arrange teachers, run examinations, check that lessons follow the curriculum and keep records of every school and teacher. In Nepal much of this work is done by two bodies that sit close to the schools. One works at the level of the district. The other works inside each rural municipality and municipality.

Both bodies took their present shape when the organisations dealing with education were restructured in recent years. Once Nepal had three levels of government, federal, provincial and local, the education offices had to be rearranged to match. The old office in each district changed its role, and a large share of responsibility for schools was handed to the local governments. Once you know what each body does, it becomes clear where a school turns for help and who checks its work.

Before the restructuring, every district had a District Education Office. That office was not simply shut down. It was transformed into a new body called the Education Development and Coordination Unit, usually shortened to EDCU. Today an EDCU has been formed in each of the 77 districts of the country.

How is an EDCU staffed? Each unit has one chief. Alongside the chief, a deputy chief, school inspectors and other staff are posted according to need. A large district with many schools may need more people, while a district with fewer schools can manage with fewer. That is why only the chief is fixed and the other posts depend on need.

Whom does the unit work under? The EDCU comes under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Inside the ministry, it is placed under the Center for Education and Human Resource Development. The unit in each district has been formed as part of the central government's own organisation. So it is not an office of the local government. It is the central government's body in the district.

What is its main job? The EDCU operates, manages, monitors and evaluates all the rural municipality and municipality education offices and all the schools inside its district. In other words, it is responsible for seeing that education across the whole district is running properly, and for putting things right where it is not.

Because the EDCU looks after education for a whole district, its work, duties and rights are clearly laid down. They are:

• Run educational programmes in the district according to the current policy of the Government of Nepal.
• Prepare the district education plan and get it passed.
• Record data about the schools in the district and send it to the ministry.
• Organise the training, workshops and seminars that the education workers of the district need.
• Make arrangements for holding the various examinations of the schools in the district.
• Keep records of the teachers in the district and recommend them for promotion or awards.
• Inspect schools regularly.
• Put into practice, and see that schools put into practice, the curriculum and textbooks prepared by the Curriculum Development Centre.
• Carry out any other work that is assigned to it.

These duties are easier to remember in four groups. Planning covers running programmes under government policy and preparing and passing the district education plan. Records cover sending school data to the ministry and keeping teachers' records. People covers training, workshops and seminars, and recommending good teachers for promotion or awards. Quality covers arranging examinations, inspecting schools and making sure the curriculum and textbooks are used.

An example shows why this matters. Suppose the number of pupils in a district's schools has grown, but no new classrooms or teachers have been added. It is the data the EDCU collects and sends to the ministry that carries this problem upward, so that a plan to solve it can be made. Keeping records may look like a small task, but big decisions rest on it.

Nepal now has 753 local levels. Each of them is either a rural municipality or a municipality. Because these bodies are formed through local elections, and run by the representatives the people choose, this structure is also called the local government.

Local governments have been given real power over schools. Every rural municipality and municipality has the right to open schools up to the secondary level, to run them and to supervise them. The full authority to conduct the basic level examination has also been given to the rural municipality or municipality.

Using such wide powers needs an office that works on education every day. So each rural municipality and municipality has one education office to manage, run and monitor the schools within its area. The office is staffed by the necessary employees of the Nepal Government education service. It works under the rural municipality or municipality, and its task is the management, operation and supervision of education there.

Since the local level is responsible for everything from opening schools to the basic level examination, this office has a long list of functions:

• Keep records of the schools inside the rural municipality or municipality.
• Prepare the local education plan and have it approved by the rural municipality or municipality council.
• Help run schools according to the policy of the Government of Nepal.
• Run programmes that build the ability and skills of the teachers in the area.
• Conduct and manage the basic level examination and hand out its certificates.
• Help develop school infrastructure such as buildings and classrooms.
• Help add and adjust the staff that schools need.
• Evaluate and monitor teachers and staff, and send recommendations to the higher body.
• Where needed, prepare a local curriculum and help put it into practice.
• Plan and carry out programmes of early childhood development education, non-formal, open and alternative education, special education, and lifelong and continuous learning.
• Put into practice, and see that schools put into practice, the curriculum approved by the Government of Nepal.
• Prepare and carry out a local education Act and rules, making sure they do not conflict with the education Act and rules made by the federal and provincial governments.
• Run and manage technical education and vocational training and the local libraries and reading rooms, protect and promote local knowledge, skills and technology, and carry out other assigned work.

The list shows that the local education office is the one closest to a school's everyday needs. If a school needs a new classroom and a science teacher, for example, helping with the building and with finding the staff is this office's work. The basic level runs up to class eight, so it is also this office that runs the class eight examination and gives out the certificates.

The right to make a local curriculum allows learning to suit the place. A municipality where farming is the main work, for instance, could prepare lessons on local crops and farming skills. This does not replace the curriculum approved by the Government of Nepal, which the office must still put into practice. In the same way, a local education Act may be made, but it must not conflict with the education Acts and rules of the federal and provincial governments.

Both bodies work for schools, but their level, the government they answer to and their powers are different. The table below sets the differences side by side.

Seen this way, the two bodies do not repeat each other's work. The local education office is busy with the daily running of the schools in its own area. The EDCU links those offices and schools across the whole district, checks them and keeps them in line with government policy. Pupils receive good education only when both do their job well.