Increasing women's participation in the primary school teaching force and teacher training in Nepal

______ WP% ICDI Policy Research WORKING PAPERS Education and Social Policy Country Department I South Asia Region The World Bank July 1993 WPS 1161 increasing Women's Participation in the Primary School Teaching Force and Teacher Training in Nepal Molly Maguire Teas Recruiting and training more women in primary education requires more effective communication and more effort to provide culturally acceptable travel to and accommodations near training centers Policy Reseuah Woiing Papers dimsminate efudings of wodc in progres6 and encoungethexchangeoaf iodes amongBank staffand allothet iutesd in de edopmantigsu Theepaperadistuibuted by theReseach Advisoy Staff,cary thenarnes oftheauthos,refltd oytheitviewsbtndshoutdbeusedandaited cardingly.ofi hndina.inteapentions andconclusionsabtheauthorown.Theysho not be atttibuted to the World Bank, its Board of Dimrecos, its manageme, or any of its memnber countries  Polley Research1 Education and Soolal Polley| WPS 1161 This paper-a product of the Population and Human Resources Operations Division, Country Department I, South Asia-is part of a largereffort in the Region to increase equity for women in education. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under research project"Increasing Educational Equity for Women in Nepal" (RPO 676-98). Copies of this paper are available free from the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. Please contact Lydia Maningas, room D9-015, extension 80380 (July 1993, 59 pages). Although research shows that Nepalese parents REETT and the PEP programs had never been prefer sending girls to schools with female collected. The author hypoLhesized that female teachers, only 12.8 percent of Nepalese primary teachers' needs are different from those of their school teachers are women. Nepal has among the male counterparts and this would rcflect in lowest enrollment and retention rates for girls in differential participation rates. Among Teas's the world. One strategy to correct the situation is conclusions: to increase the number of women who become and remain teachers. But teacher training is also * Women are more likely to be recruited as important; 60 percent of Nepalese teachers are teachers or into training programs if information untrained, so --;e quality of education is poor- about positions and programs is made available often rote memorization, with the teacher simply to them in a timely, accessible way. To do this, reading textbooks aloud. entension agents could be hired to bring informa- tionJfom the ministry or program to intended Teas tried to find ont what factors affect beneficiaries. Teaching positions and training Nepali women's decision to join the primary programs could be advertised in short radio school teaching force and to participate in in- messages and in letters to primary school princi- service teacher training. Prior studies, using large pals. survey methods, did not provide the information program planners needed. The author chose a * Women are less likely to get training if the research strategy more appropriate to the Nepali resource center is inaccessible. To counter culture by combining quandtative and qualitative disincentives for women to travel away from methods. their homes and villages, culturally acceptable travel companions, lodging, and childcaie should Teas focused on the participation of women be provided. in the primary teaching force and on two in- service teacher training projects: the Primary * The current broadcast time for radio training Education Project (PEP) and the Radio Educa- conflicted with women's household responsibili- tion Teacher training Project (REIT). In the ties. Changing the dme to later in the evening PEP, teachers from 10 to 15 primary schools would increase female participation in the receive in-service training in short sessions at a program. resou.ce center. They get roughly a dollar a day to cover their food and lodging costs. The RE[T * Women often lacked family support to provides in-service training to piimary teachers become teachers or to become trained. To through daily radio broadcasts, plus written increase such support, existing incentives assignments and monthly meetings in resource (including allowances and salary increases) centers. Gender disaggregated information on the should be publicized. The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work under way in the Bank. An objective of the series is to get these findings out quickly, even if presentations are less than fully polished. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in these papers do not necessarily represent official Bank policy. Produced by the Policy Research Dissemination Center  INCREASING WMNS' PARTICTPATION IN TM PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHING FORCE AND TEACH* TRAInING IN NEPAL Molly Haguire Teas  i TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION A. Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . . 1 B. Structure of this Paper . . . - . . 2 C. Education in Nepal: The Problem . . . . . 2 D. The of Role Donor Organizations in In-service . . . 5 Teacher Training in Nepal II. SUMMARY OF RELEVANT RESEARCH A. Research on Teacher Training in Developing Countries . . 8 B. Research on Distance Education in Developing Countries 8 C. Research on Women and Education in Developing Countries 9 III. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY A. Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . 11 B. Approach and Methodology . . . . . . . . . 11 C. Description of the Sample. . . . . . . . . 13 IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS A. Unemployed Women. . . . . . . . . . . 17 B. Women's Participation in RETT . . . . . . . 23 C. Women's Participation in PEP . . . . . . . . 33 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS A. Factors that Influence Women's Participation in . . . 42 Teacher and In-Service Training B. Increasing the Number of Female Primary School Teachers . 45 C. Increasing the Number of Women in In-Service Teacher . . 47 Training D. Implications of this Study for Programs Elswhere . . . 48 NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 ANNEX A  ii Tables Page Table I Supply of SLC Pass Females. . . . . . . . 4 Table II Summary of RETT & PEP Programs. . . . . . . 5 Table III Percentage of Respondents with at Least one Literate Parent 14 Table IV Educational Levels .. . . . . . . 15 Table V Factors Related to Unemployment Among SLC Pass Women . 17 Table VI Factors Related to Women's Participation in RETT . . 23 Table VII Information About RETT - Pass Subsample . . . . 24 Table VIII Information About RETT - Drop-out & Fail Subsamples . 25 Table IX Factors Related to Women's Participation in PEP . . 33 Table X Categories of Factors Related to Women's Participation . 42 in Teaching and Training Table XI Conceptual Model of Study Findings . . . . . . 44 Table XII Likelihood of Employment as a Primary School Teacher . 45 Table XIII Likelihood of Female Teachers Participating in Teacher . 47 Training Abbreviations BPEP: Basic and Primary Education Project GON: Government of Nepal MOEC: Ministry of Education and Culture PEP: Primary Education Project RC: Resource Center RP: Resource Person RETT: Radio Education Teacher Training SETI: Seti: Rural Development Project SLC: School Leaving Certificate  iii ACDNOVLEGEMETS I would like to thank the .AD Division of the World Bank for providing a large part of the funding for the study fieldwork. Also at the World Bank, I owe thanks to Thomas Schmidt for his enthusiasm and continous support for the project and to Lawrence Salmen, Vincent Gxeaney and Linda Dove for their comments and suggestions. At Harvard University, I thank Noel McGinn, Catherine Krupnik, Robert LeVine and Clarissa Sawyer for their support and comments. To Rebecca French I owe an intellectual and personal debt for her encouragement and suggestions for the research methodology. Despite a busy schedule she always made time to draw on her extensive knowledge and experience in anthropology and fieldwork in the Himalayas. For their assistance in data collection and transcribing I acknow edge Shanti Vajracharya, Kalpana Rai and Bagwati Nepal. I also thank the respondents who generously provided information and who were unfailingly hospitable.  I. * NTRODUCTION A. Purpose of the Studv Review of evidence from Nepal indicates a critical need for an increase in the number of female primary school teachers and women teachers whd receive in-service teacher training. Increasing the number of Nepali women in primary school teaching and in-service training is important for three reasons: 1. Only 12.8 percent of Nepalese primary scnool teachers are women. This number is not proportionate to the supply of qualified females in the country. Improving equity in the labor force is critical for reasons of equality and for the development of Nepal. 2. Research shows that Nepalese parents prefer sending girls to schools where there are female teachers. Since Nepal has among the lowest enrollment and retention rates for females in the world, strategies to increase the supply and retention of women teachers would have the critical effect of helping to increase girls' enrollment and retention in Nepali primary schools. 3. School quality is extremely low in Nepal; in 1990, 60 percent of Nepalese teachers were untrained. Research shows that teacher training is one of tne most effective ways to improve s^hool quality. Thus, increasing the recruitment and retention rates of women teachers in in-service training would help improve school quality. Despite the clear need for more women teachers and for better trained women teachers, program planners lack oystematic knowledge about how to recruit more women into teaching and in-service training. The possibility that women teachers' needs may differ from those of their male counterparts has not been taken into account in recent research. In addition, much of the recent research that might be of use to program planners has been conducted using large-scale survey methods, which have been criticized as not providing the information planners need. For instance, Campbell et al (1979) found that surveys conducted in Nepal resulted in a large degree of non-sampling error. They recommend instead the use of "culturally, sociolinguistically, and epistemologically appropriate methods...such as unstructured interviewing, participant observation, and the use of written documents and case studies." This study was designed to meet the need for systematic information about women teachers in Nepal, using research methods that are more *ppropriate to the Nepali culture. This study examined factors that affect Nepali women's participation in the primary school teaching force and in teacher training programs. It had four principal objectives: * Identify key factors that affect Nepali women's participation in the primary school tr zh >ng force and in two major in-service teacher training programs: th, -dio Education Teacher Training (RETT) program, and the Primary Educa_ n Project (PEP).  2 * Propose 3.nterventions to increase the recruitment and retention of women in the primary school teaching force and in the RETT and PEP programs. * Design and use a culturally appro-itate research method to investigate issues related to women and education that could be used in any country of the world, and which would result in sound analytical conclusions useful in developing policy recommendations. * Provide information which may be of use to other programs where gender equity is sought much as: (1) other Nepali teacher training programs; (2) other sectors in Nepal such as health and agriculture; and (3) programs 'n other countries with problems similar to thois in Nepal. S. Structure of PaL r Sections I and II provide a context for the study. Section I briefly deseribes Nepal's education system and the role of donor organizations In ln- service teacher training. Section II reviews three bodies of research on developing countries relevant to the study: teacher training, distance education, and women in education. Section III Cescribes the methods used to conduct the study and the findings axe detailed in Section IV. Section V summarizes the study's findings and recommends research and policy initLatives. C. NducatLon in Nepal: The Problem Education in lspal is characterized by low school quality, a lack of educational equity for girls, and a lack of trained women teachers. In addition, womens participation ln the teaching force is highly constrained by cultural assumptions about women's role in Nepali society. Low School Quality The primary educational objective during the past thirty years in Nepal has been to expand the educational system. Significant progress in increa-ing enrollment rates has been achieved, however, the quality of education has remained poor. The most widely used teaching methodology in Nepal is rote memorization and in most of the 15,834 primary schools, teachers teach by simply readinq the textbcok out loud. Lessons have llttle relationship to student's daily lives and students are rarely if ever asked to think for themselves. The great majority of teachers do not have access to training or professional support sfsttNrs wbich results in low pro!essional standards and poor teacher morale and acte:ican:ft  3 Lack of Educational Equity for Girls While both males and females in Nepal are faced with a poor qualtty educational system, girls and women appear to benefit the least from it. This is evidenced by a literacy rate for females of 18 percent and for males of 51.8 percent. In addition, girls' enrollment in schools is far below that of boys at all education levels. Of the 2,526,000 primary students in 1989, only 34.65 percent were girls. Enrollment disparities between boys and girls increased at higher levels of education.2 Female participation in the teaching force is low but increasing. The total number of primary teachers increased by 24 percent from 1988 to 1990 and during the same time period, the number of female primary teachers increased by 49 percent. The growth in the number of female teachers is related to increases in the number of girls passing secondary school and government efforts to increase the numbers of female teachers. The increase should be interpreted carefully, however, because while the tc_al percentage of female teachers had increased faster than that for males, the baseline number of female teachers was much lower for females than for males. Data show a great increase in the number of girls in the se_ondary * school system and passing the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination , but there is not a proportionate number of women hired to teach in schools. An analysis of Ministry of Education and Culture (NOEC) data from the years 1988 to 1990 indicates that the percentage of primary teachers who are women increased by only 2 percent, from only 10.8 percent to 12.8 percent, while the percentage of teaching jobs filled increased by 23 percent (see Table I). The percentage of female teachers has not increased in proportion to the increase in the total number of teachers. The low number of women employed in primary schools is often attributed to the belief that there are not enough SLC-pass women available or that SLC- pass women do not want to teach. SLC data from the national exam shows that the first argument may have been valid in the past but not in recent years. In 1988, for example, the number of girls who passed the SLC exam was only 3,899. In 1990, however, the number was 11,713 - a 200 percent increase. Clearly, all of the girls who pass the SLC exam are not going to want to be teachers, but given that teaching is one of the few occupations outside the home open to women in Nepal, and in rural areas it is usually the only one, many of these girls are probably interested in teaching.  4 Table I SUPPLY OF SLC PASS FEKALES Tot.Primary Tot.Female Tot.Female Teachers Primary Teachers SLC Pass 1988 57,204 6,169 3,899 1990 71,213 9,183 11,713 Source: MOEC Statistical Yearbooks 1988 & 1990 The Neel for Trained Women Teachers The economic and societal benefits to Nepal of educating girls and women have been well documented by research. Evidence shows that more girls are likely to attend primary schools in Nepal if there are female teachers ln school (UNICEF, 1978). In addition, this study found that parents are more eomfortable sending their girls to schools with female teachers. Another study by Shrestha et.al. (1986, p.516) found that the presence of female teachers was one of five signifi-ant school-related predictors of educational participation of both boys and girls in Nepali schools.4 The Lives of women in Nepal Nepali women fulfill multiple roles that make it difficult to take advantage of professional opportunities outside of the home when they do exist. An important role women fill in Nepal is that of provider. The amount of work Nepali women do, especially household and farm work, to help provide for their families is often underestimated and undervalued in strictly economic terms. For example, women contribute 22 percent to household monetary income, but when non-marketed subsistence production is included, their contributions rise to 53 percent (UNDP, 1990, p.32). According to another study women's overall work burden was 44 percent higher than men's when "domestic activities," economic activities, and "expanded economic activities" were taken into account (Acharya and Bennett, 1981, p.306). Maternal and gender roles of Nepali women require them to perform the great bulk of household chores, child care, and daily religious rites. Despite their responsibly for these important social functions, women are ironically seen as needing the protection of men, according to the dominantly Hindu values of the country. The belief that women need protection often ties them to the home and village. Furthermore, the social role of Hindu women in Nepal is closely tied to the caste status of their families and is reinforced by the symbolic roles women play in Hinduism, which emphasizes beauty, purity, faithfulness and selfless motherhood. Thus, due tu existing cultural beliefs and practices, Nepali women face significant barriers to acquiring and retaining positions in the paid professional labor force.  s D. The Role of Donor Organizations in In-service Teacher Training in Nepal In the past, the Government of Nepal (m0?0) and donors have concentrated their efforta in the education sector on expanding the school infrastructure. One result has been a large unmet demand for trained teachers. To reduce the backlog of untrained ser-ing teachers, the GON, with assistance from the International Development Association (IDA), tta United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other donors, has implemented seve_al in-service teacher training projects. The most ambitious of these have been the Primary Educatien Project (PEP), SETI:Education for Rural Development Project, and the Radio Education Teacher Training Project (RETT), financed by IDA and UNICEF, UNICEF and UNDP and USAID respectively. This study focussed on the PEP and RETT projects. A summary of the essential features of PEP and RETT can be seen in Table II below. Table It SUMMARY OF RZTT ( PEP PROGRAMS PROGRAM DURATION/ CRITERIA FOR CONTgNT MODALITY LOCATION SRLRCTION RE?t 10 months Permanent 150 hour radio + 6 districts in-service Sims + teacher RC