1. Context

Nepal is entering a new phase of political change wherein the drafting of a new constitution is in process. As per the mandate of the first constitution Assembly, Nepal has emerged into a Federal Republic State for which the second Constitution Assembly has just been formed. This Assembly is responsible to provide a set of constitution to the nation. In this context, the current education system needs reform and readjusting to this changing situation wherein different layers of government- central, federal, provincial and local need to take share of their responsibilities. These changes and reforms should be addressed in the new constitution.

 

In order to complete these tasks, there will be an Education Committee within the Constitution Assembly. There is a need to gather suggestions from various stakeholders of the education sector to influence educational reform. As part of this process, UNESCO is one of the stakeholder organization to support this Committee in providing suggestions. As a partner organization, Samunnat Nepal aimed to organize a one day conceptual workshop for local level stakeholders in the area “School Management and Governance”. In this aspect, various suggestions incorporating the role of School Management Committee including their aspirations in the new Federal State with various tiers of Government were gathered.

2. Rationale:

The rationale of this workshop can be summarized as follows:

1. The role of School Management Committee in the new Federal system needs to be ascertained.
2. As the roles of these stakeholders are directly involved in school management, gathering their suggestions would be relevant, realistic and more applicable to their situations.

3. Objectives:

This workshop was aimed to clarify the role of SMC and gather suggestions from local level education stakeholders on the issue of school management and governance in Federalism.

 

4. Output:

Altogether 30 participants (18 male and 10 female) provided their input and suggestions regards School Management and Governance in Federalism. Participants were  from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts representing DEO focal persons (5), Head teachers/ Teachers/ Teacher Union (8), SMC chairpersons/ members (9), and child club representatives (6) from the 3 districts.

Altogether 36 participants (27 male and 9 female) were present from Kanchanpur, Kailali, Doti and Dadeldhura districts representing DEO of Kailali (1), Head teachers/ Teachers/ Teacher Union (15), SMC chairpersons/ female members (15), media personnel (5) from the four districts.