Australia Awards Alumni South Asia

My dream has come true —the face of higher education in Nepal is changing

Specialising in women’s studies, I gained my Master of Arts at Monash University in Melbourne. My thesis explored the motherhood experiences of Maoist women in armed conflict in Nepal.

Receiving the Australian Leadership Awards Scholarship in 2008 was the best thing that happened in my life. Before I left for Australia, I was working as a part time lecturer in different private colleges in Kathmandu.

Apart from academic knowledge, receiving the ALA helped me to be a part of a wonderful community. The scholarship gave me lifelong friends—now scattered all over the world.

Similarly, the Australian degree has not only equipped me with the knowledge, but also a confidence that I can undertake any academic activity independently. I feel that people around me—my family, my colleagues and friends—see me differently. There is more respect and recognition of my efforts.

My personal life is intertwined with my professional life. Prior to my study in Australia, I was teaching in private colleges as a lecturer in sociology and was also engaged as an activist and researcher on issues of violence against disabled women.

On my return from Australian in August 2009, I joined the Department of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies as a faculty member, where I was entrusted with many opportunities including designing a unit on gender, conflict and development.  

Soon after, I started working as a part-time lecturer at the Central Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tribhuvan University.

Many people suggested that I should quit teaching and seek a better-paying position working with   an INGO or NGO as the pay of a part time teacher was not high. However, I had a dream of building a career as a women’s rights activist and an academic, so I continued teaching and I now lecture   at the university.  

Since August 2010, I’ve also been active in an organisation named Alliance for Peace, Education and Development Nepal which has been observing World Day of Prayer and Action for Children since last year. This initiative was started by Arigatou International and is now supported by UNICEF worldwide.

In the alliance I work with religious leaders of different faiths and traditions to promote children’s rights in Nepal. This engagement has strengthened my commitment to issues relating to violence and people with disability.

I also occasionally work as freelance consultant and researcher and write articles in the daily newspaper on issues relating to working mothers, violence against women, and parenting in Nepal.

Nepal is currently in a post-conflict reconstruction phase. Thus, issues of development are intertwined with the peace process. My development priorities for Nepal are based on the issues I have been working with—disability and violence against women. I therefore regard education reform and empowerment of women as major development priorities.  
I believe education reform needs to be carried out at both the school and higher education levels. I also believe that schooling in Nepal needs massive reforms. Children with disabilities—particularly those from disadvantaged communities—experience discrimination and barriers that limit their access to quality education.

Over the next five to 10 years I would love to see an increase in the quality of education for children with disabilities as well as the numbers of children with disabilities accessing education.

In higher education, I believe there is a strong need for a research-based curriculum and student-centred evaluation systems. An evaluation system based on yearly examinations does not go far enough to encourage students to develop their analytical and research skills.

Similarly, higher education institutions are highly politicised—recruitments often happen through political links and networks. This means that many well-qualified academics do not want to return to Nepal after studying abroad.

The other major development priority is women’s empowerment. The majority of Nepali women experience various forms of discrimination in education and employment. Many discriminatory laws still limit women’s empowerment.

Nepali women cannot inherit property from their parents. Violence against women in Nepal is also a major challenge. We need more security in public places. To make this happen, awareness among women is not enough, and men need to become involved and engaged to ensure women’s rights.

I’ve been doing small things, on my own which may not always fit into the larger picture of the development of my country. My contributions are in form of developing knowledge for activism.In 2004, I wrote my Master’s thesis on sexual violence against blind women in Nepal. It was the first study that established the sexual violation of disabled women and highlighted the issue of violence against women.

I was discouraged from working on this topic and told that the rights that disabled women in Nepal had was the basic human right of survival and education. My research ultimately allowed disabled women’s leaders to advocate for the rights of disabled women and to develop programs to support them in Nepal.

Now, I’m undertaking a research project on ‘the status of reproductive health and motherhood for disabled women in Nepal’ as a part of the Harka Gurung Research Fellowship, which was granted by the Social Inclusion Research Fund.  

It is the first study on this subject and I’m optimistic that this research will provide a strong foundation to advocate for the reproductive rights of disabled women in Nepal.

I feel as though my engagement as an academic in higher education institutions is my way of serving my country. I love teaching and the freedom to be able to express one’s opinions and thoughts.

When I pursued my master’s degree I only met one female professor. Now in my same department, there are five women including myself, among another 25 male faculty members. I feel so happy to be part of the changing face of higher education institutions in Nepal.