Spring - National Peace Corps Association

Teaching Change in Nepal: Nepal Teacher Training Innovations (NTTI)
By Ashley Hager
I first came to Nepal in 2008 as a volunteer
teacher trainer for a local NGO
and, though I had prepared myself for
the poverty and daily inconveniences
of life in Nepal, including water shortages,
12- 16 hour power outages, pollution
and traffic congestion, I was not
prepared for the situation in Nepal’s
classrooms. Even in the majority of
private English-medium schools, 40+
students are crammed on to densely
packed benches in dark, dank classrooms.
Teachers typically read their
lessons verbatim from text books and
call on students to stand and repeat
facts from the text. A majority of teachers
believe that fear is the most effective
way to motivate students, so physical
punishment and public humiliation are
prevalent in Nepal’s classrooms. Even
if students learn to read and write, they
do not learn how to question what they
learn or how to problem solve, leaving
them unprepared for the challenges and
opportunities they face in their own
lives, or for the kind of leadership their
country needs as it transitions from a
monarchy to a democracy.
I arrived in Nepal during a period
of optimism. The Maoist insurgency
had ended and the monarchy had been
replaced with a newly elected constituent
assembly (CA) charged with writing
a constitution for the world’s newest
republic. Everyone was talking about
“Naya (new) Nepal” and everything
seemed possible. Four years later the
CA has been dissolved, Nepal still does
not have a constitution, corruption has
skyrocketed, and Nepal is considered at
risk of becoming “a failed state.”
One theory for why democracy has
failed to thrive is that Nepal’s people do
not know how to participate effectively
in the democratic process. When I asked
a group of teachers about the solutions
they would propose to solve some of
Nepal’s most intransigent problems,
the responses I got were: “That’s the
government’s problem“ and “Nepal
needs more foreign aid.” A legacy of
monarchy and a rigid caste system have
made Nepalese dependent on authority
and fatalistic about the role they can
play in forging their country’s future.
I founded Nepal Teacher Training
Innovations (NTTI) to encourage greater
levels of critical and creative thinking
and problem solving in Nepal’s classrooms—skills
students need to fulfill
their own potential and skills required
of a new generation of enlightened leaders
capable of making fading hopes for
Naya Nepal a reality. NTTI trains teachers
to use inquiry-based techniques to
encourage deeper thinking, as opposed
to memorization, and to create nurturing,
dynamic, and interactive learning
environments where students feel safe
enough to express their ideas and grow
intellectually.
Since 2010, NTTI has trained more
than 1000 teachers from some of the most
remote and under resourced parts of the
country. Because each teacher typically
works with 80 students over the year,
our program has reached more than
80,000 students. Preliminary analysis of
pre and post-training classroom observation
data reveals that NTTI-trained
teachers improve by 61 % as a direct result
of their participation in NTTI trainings.
NTTI-trained teachers’ classrooms
are lively, interactive hubs for learning
where children, and especially girls, are
eagerly raising their hands and asking
questions that demonstrate new levels
of curiosity and innovative thinking.
Here is what one student said about her
NTTI-trained teacher:
Since my teacher went to this training,
my classes have been more interesting.
Before, my teachers used to lecture all the
time and it was hard to give
all my attention. Now my
teacher asks us to say what
we think and she let us
work with partners.
Also, my teacher
stopped beating us when
we make a mistake. This is
good for me because I was
very scared of the stick so I
never raised my hand. I am
coming to school every day
now and I am understanding
the work better. *Rita
Shrestha, Grade 4
The NTTI training model is unique
in Nepal in that the emphasis is on
teaching methodology rather than
content. Nepali teachers are typically
knowledgeable about their subject matter
but often unable to effectively
communicate what they know to their
students or to assess whether students
understand what has been taught. NTTI
teaches teachers how to present information
in multiple modalities (auditory,
visual, and tactile/kinesthetic), to ask
open ended questions to encourage
critical thinking, to facilitate collaborative
learning opportunities, to focus on
practical application of newly learned
skills, and to motivate students using
positive encouragement rather than the
stick.
NTTI is also the only teacher training
model in Nepal to provide intensive
post-training follow-up teacher support.
Master Trainers conduct demonstration
classes at school sites to give teachers
an opportunity to observe how to
implement best teaching strategies in
an actual classroom context and every
NTTI-trained teacher is observed in the
classroom and participates in an individual
feedback session with an NTTI
Master Trainer. 96 percent of the teachers
we work with say this is the first time
they have been observed and received
feedback on their practice. They tell
us that this follow up support is what
gives them the confidence to use what
they learn from the training in their own
classrooms.
See Teaching Change, page 5
4 Global Education News, Spring 2013 www.peacecorpsconnect.org