What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country, for example)?
Education for Rural Development for the Seti Zone, also known as The Seti Programme, was a pilot programme that aimed to show how education could be made more effective with an innovative integrated approach, which would lead to a necessary rural development, resulting in a better quality of life. The Seti Zone totals 4,861 square miles, covering 9 per cent of Nepal's total area and three geographical regions: the Himalayan, mid-mountain and Terai. With a population of 700,000 and a density of 144 persons per square mile, it had only two urban settlements with poor communications. Three out of five districts function as trading centres. The lack of development in the area was the major contributing factor to its selection for the project area (Regmi, 2011).
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
In 1971, Nepal's National Education System Plan was introduced as an attempt to increase the relevance of education to rural development. In 1978 and 1979, the UNESCO Secretariat created draft proposals for the project Education for Rural Development. After a draft revision in 1980, the Government, UNESCO and UNDP eventually signed the proposal in September 1981. Implementation began in October 1981 and lasted for four and a half years, ending in December 1985. By June 1985, the two mountainous districts of Doti and Bajhang in the far west of Nepal, both areas remote and deprived of communications, were involved in the project.
The project focused on development objectives and immediate goals, one of which was the promotion of rural development in Nepal by implementing a basic education system. It began as an experimental project in the Seti Zone with prospective expansion throughout the country. Three issues were selected as the driving forces to transform rural areas and make education the lead sector – the administrative system, the teacher as a change agent and the school as a community institution.
The Plan provided eight innovative approaches to achieve objectives, classified into three categories – support services, teacher improvement and community schools. At least 480 functional literacy courses were held, which resulted in 14,400 adults becoming literate. Curriculums, teaching guides and materials were created and distributed to the teachers in the zone. The basic framework was revised periodically. December and January of each year marked the preparation of a detailed annual operational plan. Most importantly, bi-monthly or tri-monthly operational plans set deadlines, assigned the tasks described in the yearly plan to staff members, specified dates and duration of field visits, calculated costs and estimated the budget with consideration for any non-regular activities. Each project activity was evaluated continuously.
Each year, a minimum of 11 supervision forms were completed for each satellite school, as well as 6 forms for every adult class. All the forms were analysed and sorted by project and staff, making it possible to track progress on specific aspects and identify problems. Staff members who went into the field provided evaluation findings and feedback in a written report submitted within 2-3 days of returning to the office. The project organised regular training programmes, seminars, workshops and sessions to discuss project activities (Regmi, 2011).
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
Stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the initiative represented both private and state sectors. Several government representatives participated, mostly from the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture and functioning as directors. District Education Offices provided supervisors and trainers for the courses and joined efforts with associate directors in planning and organizing activities. The project’s executive agency was UNESCO. UNDP and UNICEF provided support, along with the World University Service of Geneva. The final group of stakeholders were the staff members and project participants themselves (Regmi, 2011).
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Who does it benefit and how?
The initiative created 23 Education Resource Centres (ERCs) in the Doti and Bajhang districts of Nepal. The ERCs became the primary medium for promoting improvement in education. They were located in high schools and lower secondary schools, with consideration also given to satellite school locations, which had to be within a radius of three hours’ walking distance. Each centre served between 6 and 14 satellite schools.
Another successful, action-oriented activity was the functional literacy programme. It differed from other adults education programmes in Nepal with its unique approach. All participants carried out 18 different developmental activities, including latrine construction, cooking stove construction and village road cleaning. Some of the practical activities required additional inputs from the project such as fruit tree saplings and vegetable seeds. Classes held in 1982–83 totalled 18 and rapidly increased to 74 in 1983–84 and 103 in 1984–85. With a class capacity of 25 students, the average daily attendance was over 20. The majority of participants were women. More than half of the villages participating in the activities reported significant improvement in the physical and social environment. For example, participants constructed latrines in villages that previously had none, other villages benfited from flourishing gardens and adult student volunteers installed new water supply systems. Another small but significant initiative was a wall newspaper that included practical sections on problem-solving, information on village activities and an entertainment section with poems and stories. Adult class participants established village reading centres, built 26 schools and 14 playgrounds in Doti and 23 schools and 5 playgrounds in Bajhang (Regmi, 2011; UNESCO, 1985).
References
Regmi, K. D. 2011. Lifelong Learning in Nepal: Contexts and Prospects. [Online] s.l., Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED527446.pdf [Accessed 16 September 2021].
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/UNDP (United Nations Development Programme. 1985. Nepal: Education for Rural Development in Seti Zone. Paris, UNESCO.