Critical review of MDG-Education in context to Nepal

1. Millennium Development
Goals(MDGs) on Education
Class presentation
Babita Thapa
Nepal
21 May 2013

2. Outline
 Overview of Millennium Development
Goals(MDGs)
 MDGs on education in Nepal
 Critical review of MDGs on education
 Conclusion

3. Overview
 UN Global conference, 1990-Global
development goals & targets
 Millennium Development Summit, 2000
Millennium Declaration
 Representatives 189 nations including
147 heads of state and Government
adopted the declaration
 Altogether 8 goals, 18 targets and 48
indicators(by Nepal government and UN
country team, 2003)

4. MDGs:
8
sets of goal for 15 years
Goal 1: Reduce extreme poverty and hunger by half.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development.

5. MDGs on education in Nepal
Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015. children everywhere, boys and
girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary
schooling
Indicator
1990 2000 2005 2010 2015
Net enrolment in primary
education
(Percent)
64
81
86.8
93.7
100
Percent of pupils starting grade 1 38
who reach grade 5
63
79.6
77.9
100
Literacy rate of 15-24 years old,
women and men
70
79.4
86.5
100
49.6
Source:
a NPC/UNCT 2005.;b DOE 2005.;c DOE 2009.;d MOHP et al. 2007 (2006 data).e CBS
2009 (2008 data).
(GoN/UNDP, 2010)

6. Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and
secondary education preferably by 2015 and to all
levels of education no later than 2015
Indicator
1990 2000
2005
201
0
2015
Ratio of girls to boys in
primary education
0.56
0.79
0.9
1.0
1.0
Ratio of girls to boys in
secondary education
0.43
0.70
0.84
0.93
1.0
Ratio of women to men in
tertiary education
0.32
0.28
0.50
0.63
1.0
Ratio of literate women to
men aged 15-24
0.48
NA
0.73
0.83
1.0
Source: a NPC/UNCT 2005. b DOE 2005.
c DOE 2009. d UNSD 2005 (based on UNESCO global database;
d.1: 2001 data)
e UGC 2005. f UGC 2007.
g CBS 2003 (g.1:1991 data; g.2: 2001 data). h CBS 2004.
i CBS 2009.
(GoN/UNDP,
2010)

7. MDGs ! whose interest for its initiation ?
 Pushed primarily by the triad (the United
States, Europe, and Japan)
 Co-sponsored by the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, & the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
 All of this has raised the question of whether they are
mainly ideological cover for neoliberal initiatives.
(Amin, 2006)

8. Is it for eliminating illiteracy? Or Is it only due
to the interest of donors or are we more
depending on donors?


Achievements as per set indicators
BUT,
Majors education projects and program are run in
support of donors.
Examples
 DFID supports in universal enrolment in
primary education and improved
educational prospects for girls
 USAID supports to the Ministry of
Education through the Early Childhood
Education Development (ECED)

9. Contd.
 Dependency theory of A.G.Frank saw the
world's nations is divided into wealthy nations
which dominate the poor nations
 Poor nation’s main function in the system is to
provide cheap labour and raw materials
 benefits of this system of relationship goes
entirely to the rich nations, which become
progressively richer and more developed,
while the poor nations, which continually have
their surpluses drained away to the rich nation
 underdeveloped nations to develop, must
break strong ties with the developed nations
and pursue internal growth
(Jeffrey, 2012)

10. Is Nepal ready to follow it?
Challenges due to gap in enrollment, retention,
Dalit/Janajati education, gender role and
literacy
Factors Jeopardizing the attempts to meeting
the Gaps
 The insurgency
 Weak implementation strategy
 Monitoring inefficiency
 Interrelationship between poverty and
education
 Fund and resources

11. Conclusion:
“If we see MDGs from functional
lens, achievement to date seems in
right track and encouraging as more
people already benefited but if we
see it critically, it is nothing but just
becoming more dependent on rich
nations with the name of
development as told by A.G. Frank”

12. References
Amin, S. (2006, March). A Millenium Development Goal: A Critique
from South. Monthly review, 57(10). Retrieved from
http://monthlyreview.org/2006/03/01/the-millenniumdevelopment-goals-a-critique-from-the-south
Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission/ United Nations
Country Team of Nepal. (September 2010). Nepal Millenium
Development Goals Progress Report 2010. Kathmandu:
Government of Nepal.
Jeffrey, E. I. (2012, November). A Discourse on Andre Gunder Frank’s
Contribution to the Theory and Study of Development and
Underdevelopment; its implication on Nigeria's development
situation. Greener Journal of Biological Science, 2(3), 52-65.
Wagley, M. P. (2006). Goal 2 : Achieve Universal Primary Education.
In I. F. Research Department, Achieving Millennium
Development Goals : Challenges for Nepal (pp. 39-47).
Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepal Rasta Bank.
United Nation. (2012). Millenium Development Goals Report 2012.
New York: United Nation.
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