The new academic session, according to the Nepali calendar, has just begun. Once again, it is time for the students to be excited – for being upgraded to a higher class. So it is natural for them to be excited.

Everything is exciting to them – the new classroom, new teachers, new books and new energy.

Their excitement, however, will not last long. In a few days, their excitement will dissolve just like sugar in tea. They will look inactive, pay no attention to their studies and, in most cases, scorn their teachers.

Students are supposed to refine their manners and behaviour as they move up to a higher grade. A higher class demands maturity, responsibility, punctuality and good behaviour. To our utter dismay, however, the higher they go, the lower their academic performance and discipline.

Guardians attribute the gradual fall in the academic performance of their children to the physical changes. But the main reason is their unbecoming behaviour.

They are not self-controlled, self-disciplined and attentive.

They are arrogant, careless, lazy, and have an attitude problem, hence their low academic performance.

There is no point in promoting students to another class unless they enhance their behaviour.

The higher the classes, the more behaved they are expected to be because behaviour defines a student, not the grade or school uniform. Behaviour is the gateway to reaching one’s goal. It enables students to be organised while learning.

Behaviour cannot be measured on a grade sheet. It goes beyond the grade sheet, beyond our life, because behaviour is a life-time deal. It is necessary at each and every step of our life to become a good human, not only a good student.

There is no doubt that behaviour occupies one of the most important spaces in an individual’s success. Success is shaped by our behaviour. We are what we are because of our behaviour.

When we behave well, success will follow like a shadow.

History shows that average students with good behaviour perform better than academically excellent but ill-behaved students in any field they engage in. Employers will not be satisfied with the mere application of the knowledge gained. Behaviour counts equally.

A student’s academic excellence stems from how well-behaved he is. Parents and schools should be active and focus more on the students’ behaviour from the very beginning. Changed behaviour will help shape the future we want.
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Guiding Students
Why are today’s students uninterested in their studies? Why do they exhibit bad behaviour? It has kept one and all in the cage of great concern, including schools and parents.
There are multiple reasons. Firstly, education, at present, is viewed from the viewpoint of accumulation of wealth, not of compilation of knowledge, good manners, ethics and responsibilities. Students are fuelled to run after success; incited to resort to unfair activities in exams.
Moreover, students are being engineered to become a man of success, not a man of value. Secondly, students are unable to balance their mind and body. The mind is our remote control. How students balance their mind and body indicates what and how children learn both at school and home.
Thirdly, we are in the 21st century yet our teaching pedagogy, assessment evaluation system, classroom setting are like that of the 15th century.
Parents and teachers’ roles are seminal in moulding students’ character and future. So guiding them towards the path of wisdom in a pleasant way is the first and foremost step.
Speaking from past and present experience, the education system keeps a plethora of room for reformation to kindle students’ interest in their studies—classroom setting, teaching pedagogy, assessment evaluation system, digitization and so on which avert students, to a degree, from being dull, passive and listless.
A school should not be a collection centre of certificates. It should be like a lab where students can experiment, experience and express. Every child is special in one way or the other. Every student wants to leave a positive vibe amongst his friends and at school through talents and skills.
As the hunger of the body includes food and water, similarly, the hunger of mind includes art, music and literature. So, we should encourage our students to cultivate delicate and fertile minds for creative work be it academic or non-academic. Art and literature incorporates body and mind, instill
a positive look towards learning, life and the world. Like a daily glass of milk is recommended for strengthening the bone of a child, similarly, a daily dose of affirmation is needed for the students’ mental enhancement.

Counselling classes should be included in schools for students to know the true meaning of education, discipline, ethics, responsibilities, etiquette and civility.
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Reading For Writing
Time and again, I, as an educator, witness a divide between parents and educators on the topic of homework. While teachers tend to understand the value of reading as homework, parents often limit their view of homework to written assignments. Parents ask us to delegate writing tasks to students, and thus writing wholly overshadows reading as a method of learning. Reading habits, as a result, are shrinking among students by the day.
A course book is designed to enhance both productive and receptive skills. Writing and speaking cultivate productive skills whereas listening and reading promote receptive skills. “Homework”, therefore, can refer to any activity that ensures the promotion of said skills, but production cannot occur without reception.
Reading precedes writing. For instance, when a child is enrolled in school, the child at first identifies the alphabet before she or he can write. Writing demands knowledge; and knowledge comes from reading. Researches indicate that one should read a hundred books to write a hundred sentences. Learning to write well, therefore, rests crucially on learning to read well.
Merely engaging students in a written activity does not promote their writing skills. Instead, it is a well-designed reading activity that facilities the growth of convincing writing and expands the horizons of a student. Independent reading habits keep students motivated, occupied and self-disciplined.
Reading activities are eventful and exciting for young learners. They allow students to dive into the realm of imagination and simultaneously develop habits that will keep them updated on latest events. A reading habit can prove more addicting than online games and social networking sites, and is far more useful besides.
Reading activities should be prioritised in every school. Pre reading, while reading, post reading, silent reading and loud reading can be practised along with creative techniques in classrooms to make students gravitate towards reading. Course texts should be read independently as doing so enhances a student’s self-confidence. Conducting a separate reading exam could be a useful option for educational institutions to adequately prioritise reading as a means of learning. Picking up alternatives to course books, like daily newspapers, children magazines, novels, story books and poems should be highly encouraged.
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Teaching English
In this cut-throat world, two things are imperative knowledge of technology and knowledge of the English language.
The importance of the English language, therefore, is getting momentum across the globe. Language proficiency enables students to express self, society and market their concerned fields and open the doors of multiple opportunities.
So, each private boarding school employs best possible efforts to provide a good knowledge of English for their students. But why don’t students do so? In our context, where multilingual entities exist, parents are obsessed with the English language.
English language aims at cultivating productive and receptive skills. Both skills are essential in mastering language proficiency.
But a bitter reality is that our decades-old assessment system gauges students through a three-hour written exam.
In some schools in Kathmandu, to maintain English environment at school, rules are imposed but not taught; students are penalized, punished physically and even humiliated when students are detected speaking Nepali.
But almost no creative thought is spared for the students’ language development. They just stick to the old formula ‘’speak English”.
First of all, creating an English environment is a must. We should create such an environment where students can be engaged in language functioning programs. Second, we need changing classroom settings.
It is desirable to set round tables in place of benches in the classrooms, which promotes group work. Scores of studies have shown that eighty per cent students learn from group discussion.
Third, good noise should be promoted. It helps students to take part in any activities physically. Interactive teaching and learning between teachers and students is rare which results in teacher-centered learning.
Last, we should keep our students abreast of latest developments.
Children these days know but they don’t learn. The culture of learning from parents, teachers and juniors is dwindling. Aside from these, our assessment system should be changed.
Oral presentation, project work, survey and minimal research oriented assessment should be introduced.
But without considering the aforementioned ways if we try to impose rules and regulation on the students, in the name of maintaining English ‘environment’ at a school, be certain that you are not only making students violent and undisciplined.
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School Fever
Again time has come for private boarding schools to draw more students in their organizations.
Publicity of a school is done via electronic, social networking sites to printed media. Parents rush searching for a good school for their wards. So, a crucial question is: what is the measuring rod for a good school?
A large section of parents, nowadays, weigh schools in terms of physical component. They believe that well- built infrastructure of a school ensures quality education. One principal says, ”Parents long to have their children’s school like a five star hotel, nowadays.”
Parents pay less attention to what and how their children are taught at schools, but on how big a school should their children go to. But they don’t know a lifeless huge building does not hold any meaning in imparting education. But teachers are the real agents for filling the feelings of a school.
And teachers can mould, steer a student and also change the face of an organization and the nation. If teachers are well paid, high career growth is provided with working ambiance, they are likely to work with sincere dedication, and good results naturally follow.
The most lucrative business, nowadays, is education.
There are higher chances of charging fees to students under different headings to maintain the schools’ rules and regulations. Teachers can be easily exploited.
Of late, private boarding schools are on the rise. Political leaders to renowned entrepreneurs are also involved trading in the education sector.
But the concerned authority is mum about bringing private boarding schools under the ambit of the law. Parents are forced to pay hiked tuition fee every year. Education, which is said to be our third eye and a yardstick of development, seems to be out of reach for low income people.
A school is not made of brick, cement and steel; it is made of wisdom and knowledge.
So, for parents searching for a good school for their children, certain major questions should be borne in their mind: First of all, is the school committed to safeguard and promote students through different activities?
Similarly, do students feel secure at school from physical and mental harassment? Is there any updated teaching and learning environment along with earthquake resistant buildings?
The most uncompromising key aspect of a school are teachers.
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Parental Blues
Each child is an asset for parents. Moreover, they are engines of societal and national reforms. The way we guide, educate and the environment in which children are brought up shape the mindset and the future of our children. No doubt, parents are the first teachers of their children. Nowadays, however, parents seem to be least bothered about teaching courtesy, responsibility and good attitude to their children. Parents regard a school as the only a way to correct their wards and instill knowledge in their children needed for the future. So there are problems with parents too, not only schools.
First, parents are not supportive enough to their children’s school. They are not in regular touch with the school and its activity. Parents view that dropping their children at the school’s gate is their sole parental duty. Very few parents bother to show up in teachers-parents meeting.
Second, parents love their children too much. Children are distanced from all sorts of difficulties and scarcity by parents thinking that their children were not born to experience the bitter part of life. But parents don’t know that such practices stop children from getting better insight into family, life and the world. Similarly, it discourages children from being industrious and independent too.
Third, during birthdays a great deal of money is squandered but parents fail to teach their children the importance of saving for rainy days or donate certain amounts to the needy like old age homes, orphanage homes or remote schools of Nepal.
Linking children to a needy community allows them to think beyond self and promotes emotional and charitable skills. More freedom is given to children but less attention is paid to teach children their duties and responsibilities.
Naturally, children always try to stray off their duties. They need to be constantly reminded and a close guidance to stick them to their duties. If the parents on the one hand and the schools on the other hand guide children, the future of the children will be bright.  A good parent balances love, care, necessities, freedom and duty to their children.
Also, parents should not forget to teach their children to cope with minimum resources. Minimized resources equip children with problem solving skills, patience and practical values of life.  Abram Lincoln would not have become the President of America had he not felt how poverty was.
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Personality Vibes
Do clothes enhance our personality? Is personality associated with clothes? First, we wear clothes to give a distinct touch to us than other living creatures.
Second, we wear clothes to shield us from extreme weather. Personality is a patterned body of habits, traits, attitudes and ideas of an individual as these are organized externally into roles and statuses and as they relate internally to motivation, goals and various aspects of selfhood.
Also, personality is a positive vibe, an immortality or persistence which drives a large section of people into creative works. Personality doesn’t reflect in clothes. A saying says clothes can’t make a man. People, however, are more obsessed with color, designing, complexion than the inner potentiality one possesses.
As a teacher, for instance, my personality mirrors my knowledge and my guidance to students, teaching style and so on, not in my wearing gears.
In well developed countries, appearance and marriages are given least importance. They sell their youth in creative work, invent new things and influence an individual, a society and the world. Personality is not short-lived, like an item of gear that becomes outdated as time rolls on and trends vary.
It remains long lasting and promotes overall development of an individual, a society and the nation. People here are viewed from their outer appearance. Large bodies, dressing trendy gears are thought to be indicative of a personality.
While appointing candidates for any organization, candidates are often evaluated from their appearance. But such concise mindsets stop visionary personnel from being involved in promoting an organization though they deserve to do so.
We humans are ill-equipped and defenseless compared to other creatures. We can’t fly like a bird. We can’t swim like a fish. But the only one last weapon we have is our rationality. Unless we value our rationality, the promotion and development of an individual in any organization is unlikely.
For instance, a non-violence fighter, Mahatma Gandhi had chased away the well- armed British from Indian territory not because of the clothes he wore but by his rationality which was his personality.
A sad point is that in our country, persons having well-built bodies and good looks are likely to be forwarded and promoted to leading posts, shadowing visionary persons. It keeps on going because we still believe that all that glitters is gold.
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Medicine Man

If you ask a child what he or she wants to be in the future, no doubt, the answer will be nothing else than a doctor. A doctor is regarded as a god. They give new life to patients. But what happens if doctors are not honest in their profession? A couple of days ago, I went to a state-owned hospital in Kathmandu to see an ENT doctor. I waited and waited for almost two hours before I finally got my ear checked. The doctor told me to get my ear X-rayed. Poor hospital, the X-ray machine was out of service. The doctor prescribed me a long list of antibiotics and recommended a pharmacy. But I made a firm decision not to take any medicine without an X-ray first.
So I went to a private hospital and saw a related doctor. He checked my eardrums and said that nothing had happened. A chill went down my spine. What would have happened if I had taken the medicines prescribed by the first doctor? I don’t want to put all doctors in the same category. But some people still take medicines without a doctor’s prescription. Running different tests puts a heavy economic burden on them.
Like me, hundreds of thousands of patients visit government hospitals with the hope of receiving proper treatment at reasonable charges because they are not financially strong enough to go to high-priced private hospitals. But some doctors in government hospitals neglect their duty. Some of them even give their visiting cards to the patients so as to promote their private clinics. Meanwhile, news about patients dying because of the doctor’s negligence and consequent vandalism of hospital property and misbehaviour against doctors resulting in strikes at hospitals have become common occurrences.
As doctors are compared with god, they should be fair and show humanity to patients. Doctors must do their best to save the lives of their patients and show kindness to all of them. Doctors should not forget that their success lies in the smile that comes to the faces of their patients after successful treatment. The greatest achievement and happiest moment for a doctor is to receive approval from their patients.As doctors are compared with god, they should be fair and show humanity to patients. Doctors must do their best to save the lives of their patients and show kindness to all of them. Doctors should not forget that their success lies in the smile that comes to the faces of their patients after successful treatment. The greatest achievement and happiest moment for a doctor is to receive approval from their patients.
Quality health care, which is one of the yardsticks of development, is really sensitive. So the concerned authorities have to take study health related problems in advance. Regular supervision and inspection of hospitals is a must to narrow the gulf which has been existing between doctors and patients in our country. If this trend continues, it is likely that the quality of health will decline. When there is negligence, carelessness and bias on the part of doctors, patients develop a negative attitude towards them when they are at times revered as deities.

A real goddess

“Nani, don’t worry about me, worry about your career.” My mother tells me over the cell phone. These words really touch me. How truly great a mother can be! In the journey of life, we meet tens of thousands of people, but we hardly find a person who gives unconditional love like a mother.
Friends, relatives and well-wishers come and go like ads on television. But a mother always remains there on our side, even in old age. She empties herself for the sake of her children. She only knows to give but does not know what a “return’’ feels like. There is no one else who can take her place.
I have a circle of married friends who care and love their wives more than their own mothers. For them, their wives are the world to them, not their mothers. A mother is not only a procreator but also an inspirer to her children. Moreover, she is a sea of etiquette who takes the initiative to shape her children into a good human. She does not just say ‘go ahead’ with every venture we kiss like other people. There is her active hand and motherly blessing behind our entire success. A mother is our living history. A mother is the world to us. Gods and goddesses are a myth, but a mother is a real goddess.
A mother is synonymous with an ocean of love and mercy.
She sees all her children with equal eyes. I still remember my mother employing all sorts of efforts to get my brother to get recruited in the armed forces.
“Everything should be done at the right time,’’ she used to say.
She was there all the time to encourage my brother to join the army. In recent times, respect for the mother is eroding. The new generation does not want to take any responsibility towards their mothers. Mothers are misread and mistreated.
Mothers are pushed into oldage homes. They do not bother to understand the immense sacrifices a mother has made for their proper upbringing.

Our world is very different from the one our mothers had, but it doesn’t mean that their experience and knowledge are totally invalid. Their ripe experience could be a life-long guidance and a source of inspiration for us. They are like the setting sun. We should inherit their experience and knowledge. A well-cultured family, society and nation are possible only if the mothers are well treated. To take care of our mothers is to ensure our well-being through their blessings. We can never repay the debt we owe our mothers, but at least we can do a little something every day to bring a smile on her wrinkled face.

Bus blues


It was around 3 pm when I packed my bag and hurriedly ranto the bus counter to catch my bus. After waiting for almost an hour, a bus arrived and the man behing the counter gestured me towards it though I had booked my ticket for another. So I could not help but wonder—why did they book the ticket in the name of another bus? I refused to get on the bus and the man on the counter got furious and started shouting at me. Eventually, I gave in as it was pointless to continue the discussion.


 And just as the bus left Kalanki, the threshold of Kathmandu, an arduous journey began..  The money-minded driver and his conductor started picking up the passengers from alongside the road though there was no room to swing the cat inside the bus. The conductor was calling people to get on the bus as though the bus could expand to accommodate them. The bus stopped near Hetuada and a group of policemen got onto the bus. They scanned all our bags and baggage. A chill went down my spine as one policeman found a bag full of hashish on the aisle of the bus beside me. The bus was quickly taken under control and the interrogation began. Three hours later, the journey resumed and when I reached my stop it was the middle of the night.


Transportation entrepreneurs plan journeys carefully keeping in mind hygienic places to eat and also be friendly to the passengers.  But most of them  do not have such an entrepreneurial zeal. Almost no thought is spared for making the journey comfortable. Passengers are the bread and butter of transport industry workers, so it will be best for them to restore the public’s faith in their service.  More than running their business, their main concern should be the comfort of passengers. Service providers and seekers should be there for one another. And the better service they provide, and the better probability of doing good business. Those who engage in this profession need visionary skill, should be hospitable and should pay extra attention to ease the spirit of troubled passengers.


However, it seems that there are no rules and regulation for transportation entrepreneurs. Transportation workers often unresponsive, abusive and impatient.  Misbehaviour with passengers is common sight. So it is a high time to bolster the relationship between the passenger and transport entrepreneurs through different sort of programs focusing on good manners and public. Concerned authorities should put in effort and be committed to ensure the reliability and comfort of public transport service. But if the current apathy of continues, the situation thousands of commuters like me are likely to fall prey to money-minded transportation entrepreneurs.


How honest are we?

  • A new study covering 40 countries provides solid evidence that the world is not nearly so bad.
- PETER SINGER
Jul 12, 2019-
Melbourne—You have lost your wallet. Inside are your business cards with your email address. How likely is it that you will receive a message telling you that it has been found? If the wallet has money in it, does that improve, or reduce, the odds that you will get it back, with its contents intact?
To ask these questions is also to ask to what extent most people are basically honest, or care about strangers. Some evolutionary psychologists argue that altruism is limited to our kin and to those who can reciprocate whatever help we give them. Is that too cynical? Last month, researchers from the United States and Switzerland shed some light on that question when they published the results of a huge and ingenious study involving more than 17,000 “lost” wallets in 40 countries.
At banks, theatres, museums, hotels, and public offices in 355 different cities, research assistants handed in a wallet, telling the person at the counter that they had found it on the street, but were in a hurry. The assistant then asked that person to “please take care of it” and left without providing contact details or asking for a receipt.
All the wallets were made of transparent plastic, and three identical business cards with an email address were immediately visible. The wallets also contained a grocery shopping list, written in the local language. Some wallets had $13.45, or its purchasing power equivalent in local currency, while others —in a trial limited to the US, the United Kingdom, and Poland —contained $94.15 or its equivalent. Most wallets also contained a key. The researchers recorded the number of messages reporting the wallet found that were received at the email address on the business cards. To enable the researchers to study factors that led to reporting, each wallet contained cards with a unique email address.
As one might expect, the reporting rate tended to be higher in more affluent countries. Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden topped the list, with more than 65 percent of presumed wallet owners notified. Poland and the Czech Republic were close behind —and ahead of wealthier countries like Australia, Canada, and the US.
Some people believe that religious believers are more likely to obey moral rules than non-believers, but the study does not support this view, at least if we can judge the extent of religious belief by the proportion of people in a country who say that religion is important to them. In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the Czech Republic, at least 75 percent of the population say that religion is not important to them, yet all these countries have high reporting rates. On the other hand, over 80 percent of the population in Peru and Morocco say that religion is very important to them, yet both countries have reporting rates below 25 percent.
Women were roughly 2 percent more likely to report a wallet than men. This study thus adds to previous research suggesting that women tend to be more ethical than men.
The most striking result of the study, however, is that wallets containing money were more likely to be reported to their presumed owners than wallets with no money. That finding was consistent across 38 of the 40 countries —the exceptions were Mexico and Peru, where the presence of money made no statistically significant difference to the (low) reporting rate. Moreover, in the three countries where the wallets containing $94.15 were “found,” they were reported at a higher rate than those with only $13.45.
The researchers considered various possible explanations for this outcome, including fear of being punished for keeping the money, expectation of a reward for reporting it, and the possibility that even when the found wallet was reported, it would be returned without the cash.
But when reported wallets were collected, 98 percent of the money in them was returned. Other evidence suggested that neither fear of punishment nor hope of reward was likely to be the primary motivation for reporting the finding of the wallet.
Why, then, would people be more likely to report a wallet that has more money in it? The researchers propose four factors that determine whether someone with the opportunity to return a wallet will do so: the economic payoff from keeping it, the effort of reporting it, altruistic concern for the owner, and an aversion to seeing oneself as a thief. According to this model, although the presence of money increases the economic payoff of keeping the wallet (and the more money the higher the payoff), that economic gain is outweighed by the combination of altruistic concern and the desire to see oneself as an honest person.
The evidence that altruistic concern plays some role in the decision to report the wallet comes from comparing return rates for wallets with and without a key. The key is presumably important to the owner, but, in contrast to money, is of no use to the person in possession of the wallet. Hence, it is unlikely to be relevant to that person’s self-image as an honest person rather than a thief. Yet wallets with a key and money in them were more likely to be reported to the owner than those with money and no key, suggesting that it was not only concern for one’s self-image that motivated the reports.
We should all be encouraged by these findings. It is common to hear people complain that we live in an era in which self-interest prevails, moral standards have collapsed, few care about others, and most people would steal if they thought they could get away with it. This study provides solid evidence that the world is not nearly so bad.