Impact of the 2015 Nepal earthquakes on individual children’s enrolment situation: Seeking ‘high-quality education’

• In Event: Impact of the 2015 Nepal earthquakes on individual children’s enrolment situation: Seeking ‘high-quality education’

Proposal

The ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) were announced in 2015. The goal of the education sector in the SDGs is to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ (SDG 4), and its focus has shifted from the ‘quantity’ to the ‘quality’ of education.

The movement seeking ‘high-quality education’ such as ‘from public to private schools’ and ‘from suburban to urban schools’ has been on the rise in many developing countries in recent years as a result of the decline in the educational quality of public schools and the increasing number of private schools. There are concerns that the future of children will differ greatly based on whether or not they can be served by this movement. The gap between the two groups is likely to widen. On the other hand, major natural disasters continue to take place around the world. When a natural disaster occurs, the damage caused may widen the gap further. However, there is little accumulated research on the movement of children who seek ‘high-quality education’ and the impact of natural disasters on them and this movement. Research on the impact of natural disasters on the enrolment situation of individual children seeking ‘high-quality education’ has not been reported yet.

This book examines changes in the educational function and the impact of natural disasters on individual children’s enrolment situations. It focuses on Nepal, where the movement of children seeking ‘high-quality education’ has been accelerating steadily. Nepal also bore the brunt of massive unprecedented earthquakes in 2015. The author has collected data carefully through school visits, interview surveys with principals, teachers, and children, as well as home visit surveys since 2014. Through the study of these data, the author clarifies five key points: (1) the actual enrolment flow of individual children in peacetime; (2) the characteristics of children left behind by the movement seeking ‘high-quality education’; (3) the actual state of the enrolment pattern of each child left behind by the movement seeking ‘high-quality education’; (4) the differences in the occupations and incomes of individuals served and left behind by the movement seeking ‘high-quality education’; and (5) the effects of the 2015 Nepal Earthquakes on the attendance and enrolment flow of individual schoolchildren.

The results demonstrated that (1) huge flow towards ‘high-quality education’ by transferring schools was occurring; (2) children who came from poor families, had illiterate mothers, were the only children of their parents and were girls were left behind; (3) while an estimated 75% of children had finished primary school, only 31% of them went straight through to graduation without repetitions or temporary dropouts. The study also observed some alarming enrolment patterns; (4) there was a huge gap between individuals served and left behind by the movement seeking ‘high-quality education’; (5) The earthquakes clearly separated those who could attend private school from those who could not, and inhibited children in vulnerable positions from even accessing public school. Based on the results, the study provides concrete recommendations for achieving SDG 4.

Author

• Naruho Ezaki, Kwansei Gakuin University