A Comparison of the Educational Barriers in Nepal and in the United Kingdom
In this essay I will write about the barrier to education that young people experience in Nepal and in the United Kingdom. I will begin by providing an understanding of the countries by giving a brief summary of their geographical location, their type of government, population, the ethnic groups that reside in the country, the largest religion in each country and the GDP of each country. I will then give a brief summary of how each of the countries education system works and the types of schools that can be found in each country. I will explain how poverty effects of the countries are how it affects the education of the young people in each country. I will also explain how both the United Kingdom and Nepal have issues with their education in rural communities. I will then conclude by summarising the points that I have made. 
In order to look at the barriers that the young people of each country face it is important to understand the educational system of each country, and in order to understand that it is also important to gain an basic knowledge of the country itself. 
The United Kingdom is an island located in the western part of Europe. It consists of four countries Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is governed by a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy that runs the government in the monarch’s name. The United Kingdom has a population of 67 million people, it has an ethnically diverse population, but the majority are white British. The most widely followed religion is Christianity. The United Kingdom has an estimated GDP of 2.7 trillion and is a very influential country regarding its foreign affairs. The BBC describes the United Kingdom as being “a state made up of the historical kingdoms of England, Wales and Scotland, as well as Northern Ireland. It is known as the home of both modern parliamentary democracy and the industrial revolution.” (The British Broadcasting Corporation, 2020.) 
The educational system of the United Kingdom is very diverse. It contains many different types of schools such as state run primary and secondary schools, privately run primary and secondary schools, privately owned boarding schools, gender only schools, super schools that contain both primary and secondary schools on the same site, primary and secondary schools that are run by a religious authority, post sixteen colleges and many different universities. The government of the United Kingdom describe their education system as having “five stages of education: early years, primary, secondary, further education and higher education. Education is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 16. Further education is not compulsory and covers non advanced education which can be taken at further education colleges and higher education institutions.” (Her Majesty’s Government, 2012.) 
Nepal is country that is located in South Asia, it is located mainly in the Himalayan Mountain Range. Nepal has a population of 28 million and like the United Kingdom is an ethnically diverse country but unlike the United Kingdom it has no ethnic majority. The most widely followed religion in Nepal is Hinduism which has a major impact on how the country runs its government and therefore its educational system. Nepal has a GDP of 27 billion which makes one of the world’s poorest countries, however, thanks to a large tourism sector the Nepalese economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.  From 1996 and 2006 there was Nepal had a civil war between the Nepalese Communist Party and the Nepalese monarchy. In 2006 the Nepalese king agreed to relinquish sovereign power over to the people of Nepal, thus giving birth to the secular federal parliamentary democracy that runs the country today. According to the BBC Nepal “has seen the creation of a multi-party parliamentary system, a decade long Maoist insurgency and the abolition of its monarchy. Flanked by China and India, it is home to eight of the worlds highest mountains, including Mount Everest, known locally as Sagarmatha. As one of the world’s poorer countries, Nepal’s economy relies heavily on tourism and aid.” (The British Broadcasting Corporation, 2018.) 
When looking at the Nepalese education system it is worth remembering that the country is still a very young democracy, it has only been 13 years since the former royal family handed over their governing powers to the people of Nepal. This means that many of the new systems that have been introduced by this democracy are still very much in their infancy. In an article on the current Nepalese education system which has been written by Nuffic, a Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, they state that “The current education system, which is still in a transitional phase, is structured as follows: 
•	Preschool; kindergarten (under 5 age group) 
•	School education; primary and secondary education (duration: 12 years, children aged 5-17)
•	Higher education (children aged 18 and up)” (Nuffic, 2014.)
Another important thing to remember when looking at the Nepalese education system is that religion plays a much larger part in state run schools when compared to state run schools in the United Kingdom, with Hinduism being the largest religion in Nepal and there being millions of Hindu gods it is a very common occurrence for schools to close for a couple of days because the head teacher wishes to have a holiday for one of these millions of gods. 
Now that a basic understanding of each country and its educational system has been established, the barriers and comparison of these barriers can be explored. The biggest barrier that both countries face is poverty. Poverty in Nepal will obviously be a much larger issue to its population when compared to the United Kingdom because it has a considerably smaller economy. However, poverty is still a very large issue and barrier that many young people in the United Kingdom must live with. 
To summarise the issue of poverty in the United Kingdom I have taken a quote from an article written by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. In the article it says that “nearly a quarter of the UKs population lived in poverty 20 years ago. By 2004 this had fallen to one in five of the population. By 2015/16, the proportion had risen slightly to 22%. However, the overall trend masks large variations in the fortunes of different groups. Over the last 20 years the UK succeeded in reducing poverty significantly among those groups who had traditionally been at most risk – pensioners and some types of families with children. Very little progress was made in reducing poverty among working-age households without children. In more recent years, poverty rates have started to rise again among both pensioners and families with children.” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2017.) According to the article poverty in the United Kingdom has reduced in the last 20 years but that statistic is misleading because although it has reduced for some groups there are others that still have a large percentage of them living in poverty. However, it is important to not only understand the state of poverty in the United Kingdom but also to understand how it can affect young people and become a barrier to their education. 
In the United Kingdom the biggest barrier which is caused by poverty is that children that grow up in disadvantaged areas are very likely to become engaged in their education. Donald Hirsch who is an advisor to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that parents who are raising children in a disadvantaged area are “less likely to work, and if they do work, they are more likely to have low earnings. The task of balancing the economic demands of raising a family and the need to find time to devote to children is much harder for people in low-paid jobs with limited power to negotiate working arrangements. Where parents have to make a choice between low income and long hours, it is difficult to give children good life chances.” (Hirsch, D. 2007.) If parents do not have time to spend with their children because they are either trying to find ways to financially support the family or are working long hours then the child will fail to develop social skills at a young age, which can hinder their development of social relationships with their peers in school. The child is also likely to see school as a place where he or she can get the attention that they are not getting at home, this can mean that the child will become a distraction to their peers and will then find themselves in trouble at school. This lack of engagement can affect the child’s performance even when they are in secondary school, it can even lead to poor performance in their GCSE exams, which in turn will reduce their opportunities after leaving education. One of the biggest problems that the United Kingdom faces when it comes to poverty is that children who are born into a disadvantaged area are more likely to stay in the poverty of that area for the rest of their life. This then creates a cycle that is very difficult to break and can only be broken through education. 
Although poverty is an issue in the United Kingdom, it is a much larger issue in Nepal. According to the human poverty index 44% of Nepalese people are living below the poverty line. It is difficult in a country like Nepal for the government to organise education across the country, to organise the correct health resources and to ensure that the people of Nepal have access to resources because the country is located in the Himalayas, which is one of the harshest geographical regions on the planet. When this is combined with almost half of the population living under the poverty line it creates a worrying image of the state of Nepal. Although Nepal does have one of the world’s fastest growing economies, however, the reason for this is Nepal’s booming tourism industry. This is still quite worrying as it is very hard to attract tourists to the country when they are faced with the threat of earthquakes and now the threat of the corona virus from neighbouring china. If Nepal’s tourism industry begins to drop then it will see a higher percentage of its population living under the poverty line. Whereas in the United Kingdom the issue for children growing up in poverty are less engaged in school because they do not have the right parenting at home due to their parents working to financially support the family. In Nepal poverty can impact children by causing parents to keep their children at home instead of going to school as they need them to either help look after their poor housing or to help them to make money. If there is an opportunity for a child to go to school, then nearly all Nepalese families will choose to send a male child over a female one. This gender inequality can mean that as years pass only half of the population will be educated and education is a very important tool in eradicating poverty. “Education diminishes poverty while poverty restricts access to education.” (Pokharel, T. 2015.) If this is case, then surely increasing the number of educated people in the population is essential in helping Nepal to reduce the country’s level of poverty meaning that “investment in women’s education makes sense for achieving against the fight with poverty.” (Pokharel, T. 2015) 

An issue that both young people living in the United Kingdom and in Nepal will have is living in an area where the it is difficult to attend a place where they can be educated. For the United Kingdom this is an issue due to problems that rural schools are facing today, however, in Nepal it is simply a case of living in a harsh geographical location with a poor government infrastructure.
In the United Kingdom the rural schools are facing serious problems at primary, secondary and post 16 levels. Due to the small population in these rural areas it is difficult for these schools to attract a large number of pupils, if a school does not have a large enough cohort then they will struggle to get the necessary funding to run effectively. That has meant that many rural schools have been shutting down. One answer that the government of the United Kingdom has to this issue is the creation of the super school, where a primary and secondary school are combined onto one large site. However, it is still difficult for these rural schools to attract effective and young teaching staff when the numerous schools located in larger cities are a much more attractive opportunity, combine this with a problem of many teachers leaving the profession then the issue is no longer just about finding the right amount of pupils but also competing the attract members of staff. Many of the schools located in rural areas are either run by The Church of England or receive some sort of funding from them, in a report published by the Oxford Diocesan in 2018 they say that “schools may well find themselves in a financially vulnerable position in the next three years, in a pressurised situation to maintain high standards, having difficulty in recruiting staff, especially head teachers, struggling to find skilled foundation governors, thus impacting the overall effectiveness of the school and in a position where local support is decreasing.” (Oxford Diocesan Board of Education, 2018.) This is a very serious barrier for young people living in rural communities, although they may have access to a school this school may be located many miles away which means that it is very difficult to get transported to and from the school. It is even more of a barrier when that school is struggling to find members of staff that will be not be as effective when compared to those working in the city. When the young person leaves the school they will struggle to compete with another young person who has been educated in the city for jobs, which will most likely end up with the young person who has been educated in the rural areas simply staying in the area where they have grown up and been educated Although this may be good for the rural community it will end with the young person having to commit to a career that will not be as financially stable compared to the job they could have got if they had a better education in a city school. 
Young people growing up in Nepal will also have this problem but rather than it being an issue for rural schools, it will be an issue for schools all over the country as many Nepalese people who train to be teach will choose to work in either India and China as they will earn more money. The biggest barrier for young people who are living in a rural area in Nepal is not the lack of quality in schools but simply the area itself. In extreme cases people living in Nepal will always live with the risk of earthquakes because the country is located on a tectonic fault line. In a less extreme case travelling to school in a mountainous region is extremely dangerous as it is very difficult to build high quality roads in these regions, combine that with a country where the  average vehicle that is being used for transport are of a very low quality then it is easy to see why parents are worried about sending their children to school. However, the biggest climate issue for Nepal is rain and “because of steep gradients, the rivers are energetic, producing high runoff and sediment discharge. Intense pressure on natural resources due to increasing population, mass poverty, and subsistence agriculture, and the recent development of infrastructure such as roads and irrigation canals without proper safety measures, have further exacerbated the problems o surface runoff, erosion, landslides, sedimentation and floods caused by extreme weather events.” (Chalise, S, Khanal, N. 2002.) It is living in these types of conditions that makes education seem very unimportant, as everyday a person is facing a potential disaster in their community, to their home and even death. This is a very real and very dangerous barrier to education but without education the next generation of Nepalese people will not know how to learn from the mistakes of the last and be able to ensure the country is a safe place to live and learn in. 
Despite being two very different countries located in two very different parts of the world that the United Kingdom and Nepal both suffer from having the same barriers to education. Although the nature of the barrier is different in each country it still creates problems for the country. Poverty plays a large part in both countries’ issues with education. In the United Kingdom young people that are growing up in poverty struggle to settle in the education system. However, in Nepal the issue of poverty is far greater and can often mean that young people are denied an education altogether. Fortunately, there are many charities around the world that are committed to ending poverty and ensuring that every young person around the world gets an education. 
The United Kingdom and Nepal also experience barriers to education in their rural communities. In the United Kingdom schools struggle to get the necessary funding due to the small number of pupils and struggle to compete with city schools to attract the best teachers. Although the arrival of super schools has slightly helped the problem, unfortunately as the world becomes more urban the issues that rural schools face will continue. In Nepal, the main barrier to education that rural communities face is the harsh geographical location that they live in. Unfortunately, due to Nepal’s issue with poverty these communities do not have the necessary equipment or defences to live safely in these areas. I believe that it is important for the world to work together will all countries to ensure that these barriers can be overcome. This is an important issue to deal with as every child has the right to education no matter where in the world they come from. 


























References 
•	The British Broadcasting Corporation. 2018. Nepal Country Profile. [Online.] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12511455 
•	The British Broadcasting Corporation. 2020. United Kingdom Country Profile. [Online.] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18023389 
•	Chalise, S, Khanal, N. 2002. Recent Extreme Weather Events in the Nepal Himalayas. [Online.] Available at: http://hydrologie.org/redbooks/a271/iahs_271_141.pdf 
•	Her Majesty’s Government. 2012. Education System in the UK. [Online.] Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219167/v01-2012ukes.pdf 
•	Hirsch, D. 2007. Experiences of Poverty and Educational Disadvantage. [Online.] Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219167/v01-2012ukes.pdf 
•	Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 2017. UK Poverty 2017. [Online.] Available at: https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/files-research/uk_poverty_2017.pdf 
•	Nuffic. 2014. Education System Nepal Described and Compared with the Dutch System. [Online.] Available at: https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/files-research/uk_poverty_2017.pdf 
•	Oxford Diocesan Board of Education. 2018. The Challenges Facing our Small and Rural Schools. [Online.] Available at: https://www.oxford.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/180504-FINAL-Small-rural-schools-policy.pdf 
•	Pokharel, T. 2015. Poverty in Nepal: Characteristics and Challenges. [Online.] Available at: https://www.oxford.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/180504-FINAL-Small-rural-schools-policy.pdf