Sugam Roka Magar is a student of Nepal Rastriya Secondary School, Rolpa, a school located in Rangkot. Even when he’s not in school, Sugam finds time to help out on the vegetable fields his family owns.
Sugam, a ninth-grade student, thinks that working in the fields helps him better understand what he is learning in school. “I am learning by doing. I apply what I learn at school in the fields and experiment with different techniques to see what works,” said Sugam.
Agricultural technology is taught in Nepal Rastriya Secondary School from grades nine through twelve. Sugam is one of the students that signed up for the course.
A fellow student of Sugam’s, Pratap Gharti Magar, is overjoyed to be able to put his classroom learning into practice and witness the results of his labors. “I put whatever I learn in class to practice. My parents grow vegetables like potatoes, onions, and cauliflower, and I help them get a better yield by adopting the lessons I learn in the classroom,” he said.
As with Nepal Rastriya Secondary School, Balabhadra Secondary School, located in Thawang, and Siddhartha Model Secondary School, located in Jinbang, both have been teaching agriculture for the last six years as a technical subject. Several hundred students from Thawang, Jinabang, and Rangkot have signed up for the lecture at these educational institutions.
Students and instructors both believe that teaching-learning activities have been successful because students are able to put theory into practice. Teachers at Nepal Rastriya Secondary, like Surendra Kumar Chaudhary, believe in teaching students not just theory but also practical skills. “The main objective of technical education is to be able to implement theoretical knowledge in practical terms,” said Chaudhary.
Gopal KC, the principal of Nepal Rastriya Secondary School, says that two separate programs have been developed for practical education: the students and guardians program at home and the instructors and students program at school. “Students of the agriculture course have been providing help to their guardians in identifying diseases, controlling insects and diseases as well as spraying insecticides/pesticides in the farms,” said KC.
Nepal Rastriya Secondary School has a total of 850 students. It’s estimated that around 190 of them are taking agricultural studies as a technical subject this semester.
Students and faculty of Birbalabhadra Secondary School in Thawang grow a variety of green crops, including lemons, kiwis, and mushrooms. Amar Shrestha, the school’s agricultural science coordinator, estimates that teachers and students at the school have planted crops on 15 ropanies of land. Twice a week, we spend two hours in the field. Aayush CN, a tenth-grader at the school, said, “We practice what we learn in the class.
It was determined that the President Educational Reform Program will provide financial aid to the Nepal Rastriya Secondary School in Rangkot, Balabhadra Secondary School in Thawang, and Jinbang Siddhartha Model Secondary School in honor of their outstanding efforts. A yearly grant of Rs 1 million would be given to each school by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology. Under the initiative, a portion of the funds will be utilized to encourage students to participate in agricultural and animal farming activities. “We are happy to be selected for the President Educational Reform Programme. Our school has become a model school in the district with the support provided by the government at different times,” said Ajaya Gharti Magar, the school management committee chairman of Balabhadra Secondary School in Thawang. “The school will fully utilise the amount provided under the programme for the practical education of the students.”
