17-23 May 2013 #656

Class struggle

AMIR JOSHI
MY SCHOOL: Students in Dumja, Kavre attend classes. This primary school only has 15 students and there are about three other schools in a five kilometre periphery because of the scattered settlements in the district.

With only 1,000 days to go for developing countries to meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets, Nepal gets a high pass.

Except for sanitation and hospital birthing, Nepal is likely to meet all other targets for parameters like male-female parity in education, infant mortality rate, forest cover, and reduction in HIV and malaria etc by 2015.

Although going to school, these students of a primary school in Dumja of Kavre district (pic, above) lack even the basic facilities. The quality of education is below national standards. Enrolment is nearly 100 per cent, but the dropout rate among girls is high.

As experts look ahead at post-MDG Sustainable Development Goals, they see the need to strengthen local capacity to deal with development and not be continually dependent on aid.

Read also:

MDG The Next 1000 Days

Weak states, strong societies