brain drain in Nepal

If you walk around putalisadak area of kathmandu and just strech your head little then you will be able to see myriad of huge boards that make it seem as if you have come to a different city, or even a different country. The boards are full of ads for visa preparation, SAT, TOEFL,GRE, GMAT and other test preparations that many of us might not have even heard. What would be the reaction of a normal Nepali youth who has to pass along them as many educational institutes are also in that area. Day after day, the youth might be filled with desire to give a try and also might think that his dreams lies in one of those buildings.
The consultancies are mushrooming like new parties in nepal and this is an evidence for the trend of Nepalese youths going abroad for higher education which is on a all time high.
It seems more youths want to study abroad than in this country even though they might have to sell their properties and work like a dog in a foreign country, why?
Where does the fault lie?
Nepal is being drained of its skilled manpower every year. The cream of nepal, i mean the most talented ones are leaving Nepal for a higher education abraod and many of them vow not to return unless they make quite a hefty sum or till the situation here is favourable which is nowhere near. They are happy to work for others while the country needs them most...
Those who are abroad, they are making a living very well but what about handful of those who return? They are hardly finding the environment conducive here for anything. if they start business, they would not make profits as such due to frequent strikes and TAXES paid voluntarily to different groups of nepal. Also, obtaining license for a business is fraught with man hurdles and when the political situtation is so fragile, the processing could take few months to few years. Even to work as well,the atmosphere is hostile, the remote areas are still insecure and are ruled by local groups who extort certain percentages as their commission before any developmental works can be done. If the government works too are impeded by them, then the hurdles for private sectors are discernably immense. Many of them thus generally return back after few years or months seeing that nothing has improved and might not improve since the country is being played for quenching their individaul political interests.
Centralization is another big hurlde in the deveoplment of our nation. All of the ministeries are concentrated in the capital. Even for smaller governmental works, people have to come to the capital valley. You see, during my holiday, I went to Janakpur and I had a big trouble finding a good cyber for communicating with my college officers. The internet connection was really very very slow and also intermittent. I missed one of my college interview since I did not get to check my emails. It was then I realized being able to use quite fast internet in Kathmandu was indeed a liberty. I wanted to call my college admission officer but then I realized unlike Kathmandu where you see call abroad at Rs 2 per minute in every alternate street, Janakpur had none of those internet call system. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
But this is the real situation outside the capital. Janakpus is quite a big town and yet it has none of the communication facilities that are so common yet so necessary . GPRS service provided my Spice Nepal really came in handy when I was in Kathmandu. I could check my emails at night,in the morning, in the bus, anywhere. But in Janakpur, the service was temporarily unavailable. Areas outside the capital cannot be developed unless the government decides to extend the facilities outside the capital. Everything should not be controlled from the capital.
so what can be done?
Government is mum on these issues of brain drain.... why?
I am really worried that it might soon be a really grave problem for the Nepalese nation. A month ago, while I was in Janakpur, I saw that my father's business did not have a single person to work. There were initially three staffs but one of them went to Malaysia, the other one started his small business and the third one came once in a blue moon since his brother had left for Arab and since his brother sent him money,he had stopped working........What a thinking?????
He continued to look for another staff but he could not find any even after continuously asking people of diferent village to see if there's someone unemployed in their village.......No one showed up till I came back to Kathmandu. I remember, 4-5 years back, youths from my villagers would come and request my father to employ them in our business even for meagre income and that they could do all kind of physcial labour. Still, since he had sufficient manpower, he would tell them that he could not do so at that time maybe sometime later, it might be possible. The situation is a lot different now. I am sure it's not because unemployment problem has been solved. It still looms large. We have already started seeing signs of lack of labours and workers and soon, it might become so severe that they might be paid more here than in the Middle-East countries.......who knows?


P.S. The internet service in Janakpur is quite good these days and the internet phone call service too has been introduced. Some positive developments to cheer me up. I hope the same is the trend in other towns too.

V day's hype

Valentine's Day's Hype

Nepalese youths may not remember when children's day or education day is but they would definitely know when Friendship or Valentine's Day is. And even those who have grave difficulty in spelling Physics can spell Valentine with ease. I have been sad lately due to the unnecessary hype created in the nameof V-day. This day has caused much attention of the children, teens and the youths alike . School and college students had been waiting for this day more than the Nepalese people are awaiting constitution Assembly polls. I flip across the newspapers and magazines and I see advertisements, parties, special offerings and comments by famous celebrities. I even got a SMS from a local operator with its special offer for the day. After all, is this day worth this much attention?
I am proud to admit that I am single. I do have female friends but am not emotionally attached nor have been on a date with any of them. I am contended hanging out with my friends and do not long for a special one. But the numerous advertisements in newspapers about V Day are driving many young minds in the wrong direction by creating false images. A forced impression is being imposed on their delicate and gullible minds by creating stereotypes by spreading the message that normal people give flowers, gifts, go on a date on this day with their special ones. Those who do so are normal and the rest of course, abnormal beings bereft of a lovable heart.I laugh when I see people desperately searching for love. In my view, love is not something to be found through intensive search, it's ineffable and a feeling that is unforced that comes from deep down the heart. On numerous occasions, I have been lucky enough to find people busy in their msn or yahoo chats and trying their luck for this big day in order to find someone as desperate as them to prove that they too are normal and not someone outside the crowd. Media is playing a major role in exaggerating about this day, its significance and the impression that if you do not have someone to spend this day with, you better find one before you are termed an abnormal or a loser.
I wonder why foreign culture appeals so much to our Nepalese youths. If you look at our culture, "Karwa Chauth" is probably a similar occasion if not better. The only difference between them is that ours is more religious type and requires fasting while the foreign one is more "cool" and allows hanging out with a hunk devouring yummy pizzas in some good restaurants. Moral values are depleting in our youths so probably they find V Day more appealing as it gives license to spend time people of opposite sex and indulge in socially unapproved activities.The bottom line is, "Am I normal"? I do not have some one to spend my day with on V Day. Or to prove myself normal should I succumb and start to look for one for the next year's V Day. I now understand why search engines like Google and Yahoo are continuing to make fortunes. It's because there are countless in the endless process of searching and being searched to redeem themselves as normal, lovable beings. The hunt begins.

appeal of foreign education

it's a pity that thousands of the best, most talented students of Nepal go abroad in seek of a good education deciding to never return back to the country that has given them so much troubles and less opoortunites for a quality education.

and I sadly admit that i am one among the group who have one but only one aim to go abroad for education. aftearall, i do not have any other better options. look at the condition of Nepal, the number of schooling days is very less. the teachers teach all but what's already in the books. there's no opportunities for research let alone study away programs...we are being limited to book learning.

with this kind of age old system of education, how can we compete globally? we see the students in foreign countries of our age and they have acheievd so much. they have designed robots, created so many new things.

it all ails to see the condition

we have to face 8 hours of load shedding daily.

but we youths do have a vision to improve the country

at present, it seems impossible