Impact of COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Nepal - Challenges and
Coping Strategies
Abstract
The pandemic spread of Novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has
significantly disrupted every aspects of human life, including
education. The alarming spread of the virus caused a havoc in the
educational system forcing educational institutions to shut down.
According to a UNESCO report, 1.6 billion children across 191 countries
have been severely impacted by the temporary closure of the educational
institutions. In order to mitigate the impact, educational institutions
have responded to the closure differently in different contexts with a
range of options for students, teachers, managers and parents, depending
on the resources, both materials and human, available to them. Most of
the options have to incorporate innovative technologies (e.g., digital
and mobile technologies combined with traditional technologies such as
radio and TV) in order to provide at least some form of educational
continuity. As distance and online education is dependent on
technological facilities, including internet and Wi-Fi, the
discrepancies that exist in their availability are widening the gaps in
access and quality of education. This article investigates the impact of
COVID-19 on the Nepalese education system, with a focus on the school
education. Based on the published documents, reports and news
commentaries, the article provides a critical analysis and reflection on
the opportunities and challenges the pandemic has presented for the
technolization of the education systems. The findings indicate that the
pandemic has had serious impacts on students’ learning and well-being,
and that it potentially widens the gaps between advantaged and
disadvantaged children in their equitable access to quality education.
Furthermore, the findings suggest that Nepal has formulated a number of
ICT and education related policies since 2000; however, the challenges
it is experiencing in the advent of Covid-19 are mainly due to its
faulty implementation strategies and inability to implement those
policies. A discussion of the challenges and their potential managing
strategies is provided in the final section of the article.