"Jaagriti” is a Sanskrit word that means "Awakening” in English. Our project focuses on the 4th SDG goal “Quality Education” which is also guaranteed by the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 Article 31. The Act Relating to Compulsory and Free Education, 2018 guarantees compulsory and free education up to basic and higher secondary levels respectively. Our aim is to make aware of fundamental rights such as “free and easy access to Education” and hold the authorities accountable. Along with holding the authorities accountable, our goal is to work along with the local level government to provide what is stated by the state for the people.
To describe our project modality "Jaagriti" most easily, it would look somewhat as:
1) We, in the project, will initially study the government policies and measures taken for the implementation of The Act Relating to compulsory and Free Education,2018. Not just limited to it, we'll further study and analyze the implementation part as well. To study the implementation part, we’ll do both empirical and comparative studies.
2) In an empirical study, we along with our volunteers will visit different schools in Nepal. On our visit, we will conduct legal awareness on important provisions of the Act for students, teachers, and other staff as well. In the meantime, we will also conduct surveys with students and teachers along with the locals on implementation issues and get certain questionnaires answered by them. The same thing will be done on a societal level. Through this, we can do both legal awareness and collect primary data for our research.
3) In a comparative study, using Right to Information (RTI), we’ll collect information that affects quality education such as Budget allocation, the Recruitment process of teachers, Teaching-Learning methodology, Sanitation, Extra-curricular activities, special provisions for differently abled (deaf, blind), etc. as mentioned in the Act. Through comparative study, we can better figure out the problems in implementation.
4) Once we come to know the problems in implementation, we can also suggest certain measures to be taken by the Government of Nepal to better implement these laws. We have aimed to present a research report to the Education Ministry, concerned departments, NGO's, INGO's as to make a positive impact in policy level.