The School

In Nepal, school education means two levels of education: basic education and secondary education. Everything a child studies from the first day in school up to class 12 falls inside these two levels. Study after class 12 is higher education, and it is not part of school education.

Schools of many different levels are running across Nepal. Some teach only the youngest children, some go up to class 5, some up to class 8 and some all the way to class 12. To understand how schooling is organised, we need to know which classes each level covers and what a school at that level is called.

Basic education begins even before class 1. Children who have completed four years of age receive one year of pre-primary education. This year is also called early childhood education. It is the first step of schooling, taken before a child joins class 1.

Follow one child through these levels. Asha turns four and receives one year of pre-primary education. Then she studies class 1 to class 5, and after that class 6 to class 8. When class 8 ends, she has completed basic education. In class 9 she enters secondary education, which continues up to class 12. When she finishes class 12, her school education is complete.

A school is named after the level of education it provides.

Look closely at the last row. A secondary school does not always begin at class 9. Many secondary schools teach every class from early childhood education to class 12 in one school, while others teach only class 9 to class 12. Both are called secondary schools, because both provide secondary level education.

Schools in Nepal are also divided in a second way. This division has nothing to do with the classes a school teaches. It rests on one question: does the school receive a regular grant from the Government of Nepal? On this basis, two kinds of school are running in Nepal.

A grant is money the government gives to help a school run. A community school receives this money regularly. An institutional school is opened from the start on the terms that it will not receive a regular grant, so it has to meet its costs from other sources. In everyday speech, institutional schools are often called private schools.

A school does much more than teach the lessons in books. Its work reaches families, communities and the whole of society. These are the main things a school does for society:

• It develops the knowledge, skills and competencies that every child in society needs to live a successful life.
• It makes children aware of their rights and their duties.
• It develops vocational skills, the practical abilities that help a person earn a living.
• It helps to protect culture and to pass it on from one generation to the next.
• It brings together children from families of different castes and ethnic groups, occupations, religions and cultures, and gives them the chance to discuss and interact about one another's customs, traditions and ways of life.

Picture a class 10 classroom. One student's family farms, another's runs a shop, and a third comes from a community with festivals of its own. When the friends tell each other about their festivals and customs, they come to understand one another's culture and learn to respect it. A child who stayed only at home would never meet so many different ways of life in one place.

Inside a school there are people who lead and people who help, rules to follow, work to share, and people of many backgrounds living side by side. Children practise here what they will later do in the wider society. At school they learn new knowledge and skills, gain many kinds of experience, and then enter social life again.

Children who return to society prepared in this way use their knowledge and skills in society itself. One may bring a better farming method home, another may spread good habits of cleanliness from house to house. In this way the school brings positive change and improvement to society.

A school does not run by itself. Many things have to be arranged, and various policies and rules have been made for each of them. These are:

• building the school's physical structures, such as classrooms
• supplying educational materials
• arranging teachers
• creating a suitable environment for students' learning

The work of running and managing a school is done by the head teacher. To help with the school's management, a School Management Committee and a Parent Teacher Association are formed. The whole responsibility for school level education, however, rests with the local level: the rural municipality or the municipality.

The head teacher's main work is to supervise the activities of the school's teachers, staff and students. To supervise means to check that work is being done properly and to give guidance where it is needed. For example, a head teacher may visit a class to see how a lesson is being taught, and later talk with the teacher about ways to make the teaching even better.

The head teacher plays an important part in almost every area of school life. The main duties are these:

• running the school according to the law and the rules
• making students follow discipline and good moral conduct
• creating a suitable teaching and learning environment in the school and in each classroom
• keeping friendly relations with teachers, students and the community, and guiding them
• making short-term and long-term plans for improving the school, beyond the daily administrative work
• organising extra-curricular activities alongside daily teaching
• building contact and relations with the School Management Committee, the rural municipality or municipality, and the educational administration bodies at district and province level
• preparing a child-friendly teaching and learning environment inside the school
• running various programmes to improve the quality of education

An example makes planning clear. Getting broken benches repaired before the new session begins is a short-term plan. Aiming to build a library and a science laboratory within five years is a long-term plan. A good head teacher handles today's work and also thinks about what the school should become tomorrow.

A child-friendly environment is one in which children can learn without fear, feel respected and enjoy learning. Clean and bright classrooms, equal treatment for everyone, freedom to ask questions, and chances to take part in sports and other activities all help to build it. The head teacher has an important role in preparing such an environment and in raising the quality of education.