Bibek Khatri, a ninth-grader at Panchamunideb Secondary School in Shuklagandaki, is optimistic about his future after his school introduced technical education in the curricula.

“Receiving technical education through practical classes helps us learn about agriculture science and new technologies that can be adopted in the agricultural sector,” he said.

Earlier, Khatri was worried about his future after seeing his seniors having a hard time getting jobs. The new course has given him hope, he says.

“I feel confident now. This course opens doors to more employment opportunities for me and even if I don’t get a job, I’ll be able to start my own venture.”

The community school teaches animal science from grades 9 to 12. There are altogether 123 students including 57 girls pursuing the technical subject.

For practical lessons, the students tend to a mushroom farm on the school premises. “The learning process has been quite easy due to practical education. The learning-by-doing teaching system is helping us learn about commercial farming,” said Padam Parajuli, another student in the school.

According to Laxman Puri, a teacher at the school, around 80 kg mushrooms are grown in the school farm by the students each month. “The students are taught to grow different agricultural products. We also provide skills and knowledge about marketing, dealing with customers and packaging the produce,” he said.

The school is teaching mushroom farming, making milk products, livestock rearing, crop science, marketing, among others.

“Practical learning is fun, and I understand the subject better,” shared another student, Spandan Shrestha.

As many as 15 community schools have included at least one technical subject in their curricula in Tanahun district. Panchamunideb, Satyadebi Secondary School in Byas Municipality and Ram Shah Secondary School in Aanbu Khaireni have included animal science, computer science and civil engineering respectively under the school sector development plan.

Twelve other schools have been providing technical education on different subjects under the Council for Technical Education and Vocation Training (CTEVT), a national autonomous body committed for the production of technical and skilled human resources.There are a total of 486 community schools in the district. The Education Ministry has selected three public schools from different localities to provide technical education.

The ministry makes its selection based on the location of the school, student number, available human resources in the school, physical infrastructures, supporting structure to run practical classes, et cetera, according to Ramakanta Sharma, chief of district education coordination unit.

The ministry manages teachers’ posts and other necessary support to operate technical classes in the schools it selects. The CTEVT and the schools jointly manage the human resource and other infrastructures for the CTEVT course.

“The ministry sends budget through the concerned local unit. And the local unit provides the budget to the schools,” said Sharma. Buddhi Sagar Khanal, chief of education unit of Myagde Rural Municipality, said that the local unit decided to run technical education in community schools with an objective to make the students self-reliant, independent and to hone their entrepreneurial skills.

“Technical education has been included keeping in view the unemployment of educated youths in society today. Such technical and practical education will certainly help students make good career choices,” he said.