Hamro Sikhsya (“Our Education” in Nepali) is a 3-year project led in consortium with the national Campaign for Education in Nepal and the Good Governance Foundation.
The goal of Hamro Sikhsya is to improve transparency and accountability in Nepal’s education sector. We do this by working closely with local civil society organizations, schools, and governing bodies.
We lead trainings to improve knowledge of the laws regulating education and create awareness of each actor’s rights and responsibilities. In close partnership with school administrations, we work to ensure transparency and accountability in public schools. We also promote citizen engagement and dialogue among actors in the education sector.
We have also developed an innovative mobile application to increase awareness about school governance accountability. The mobile application consists of different features that identify the challenges and gaps in school management, ensure teacher accountability and regularity , and strengthen the public’s involvement in school oversight.
“The mobile application consists of information on school governance and Social Accountability Tools. The interactive nature of the mobile application will definitely pave way for improved internal governance in public schools,” said Dal Sunar, the project lead of the Hamro Shikshya application.
The Hamro Shikshya application is divided in two parts. The first part is accessible to the public. They can view news and updates as well as browse through a mobile version of school governance rules, regulations, and entitlements. The second part will only be accessible to partner schools. They can then submit documents such as social audits, financial audits, public hearing minutes, organization charts, child club management details, and other import information. The status of School Management Committee and Parent Teacher Association meetings, school data monitoring, teacher training updates, and budget information will also be made available through the mobile application.
“The mobile application also helps ensure availability of textbooks, scholarship provisions, and wash facilities by providing real time data of schools to local bodies and policy makers,” Sunar stated.
The evidence and data gathered from the mobile application will be shared during local and national policy dialogues to ensure meaningful ratification of education policies through evidence-driven approaches. The mobile application will be launched in November. The test version of the mobile application can be downloaded here.
This project is funded by the European Commission.