Can you learn Science in theory only?

I wonder how you would feel if , as a budding young scientist, you went up to a community secondary school here in Nepal and found that the exciting science lab was always locked, or was non-existent and the only Science that you could learn was out of the pages of a well thumbed text book.
That is the reality for many government school students today, despite large amounts of money being poured into the community school system and clear curriculum for every subject.
Sometimes I go into the "Marie Celeste" of science labs, with much confusion before the key can be found and then the layer of dust and copious cobwebs and mice droppings belying the report that "oh yes, we do practical science here".
In other schools the science teacher is struggling with little equipment and no designated lab but manages to do some experiments as demonstrations. In the best schools I have seen the teachers have made some of their own equipment from locally available materials.
So why, when Science equipment is gradually being made available to schools, is practical work so rarely a reality?
There are several reasons for this and schools will always say they do not have enough money to equip a lab properly. However,after talking to other INGO and NGO colleagues and visiting many schools, I believe that the key issues are two fold.
Firstly, how can a teacher who has never done any practical Science him or herself know how ot approach teaching practical Science to students? If we can get some of the current generation of teachers to learn and then enjoy teaching practical skills, then the current generation of students, when some of them become teachers, will find it much easier to teach their students practically.
The second issue concerns the Nepali (and Asian) cultural issue of "not wanting to lose face". The fear of  failing  at an experiment in front of their students makes many teachers avaoiud practical work altogether.
So what can we do?  Firstly I have asked our field staff and school teachers whether this is an important issue for them and since they affirm that it is I have started to develop a training package using locally available materials  plus a minimum of science equipment from suppliers. I have started by training our field staff and teaching them a few simple experiments that they can share with schools.

Practical science introductory training for our field staff

I will develop a more technical training designed fro science teachers and deliver this in our differnt working areas with the help of two of my Nepali colleagues who also have a science background. If we can get teachers to confidently and safely deliver 4 or 5 experiments a year that will be a good start and something we can then build on as they and their pupils grow in skills and confidence. Teachers will also learn about hazard labels and simple risk assessments because the concept of keeping pupils safe during their science lessons by predicting possible risks is also a new one.

Monsoon Havoc

As I write the incessant rain over the last few days has stopped at last and the clouds are parting in place to reveal patches of blue sky. Here in the city the Bagmati river is very high and traffic is disrupted due to damaged roads, but there is no evidence of the severe flooding and landslides that are affecting many areas of the country.
I do not travel outside the valley during the monsoon , since I hate the thought of being stuck in a vehicle when a big landslide covers the road or a bridge suddenly washes away. So many of the roads here snake around towering hills, with the road little more than a narrow ledge with a rock cliff on one side and a sheer drop on the other . Therefore it is not surprising that when a landslide crashes down the mountainside it sweeps away out sections of road .The tragedy is that, due to the spectacular mountainous terrain, many villages are built on the sides of the steep hills . This week  whole families have been swept to their deaths by landslides which have struck at night while they were sleeping.

remains of a house in the hills this week the morning after a landslide  

On a lighter note, tourists down south on the flat Terai bordering India gained some extra elephant rides for free when the safari elephants were used to rescue them from their flooded hotels .

Elephants being used to rescue tourists from the floods in Sauraha

The floods are the worst for 15 years and have killed 49 people so far, including 11 children with 17 missing and at least 13 injured. 305 houses are reported damaged so far but unfortunately these numbers are likely to rise . it sees as if just as the earthquake reconstruction is gathering pace, another natural disaster shakes the already fragile infrastructure here. I expected climate change to lead to unpredictable weather and here some areas of the country have had so little rainfall this month that they have been unable to plant their precious rice crops while other areas are being inundated.

footbridge swept away

A family leaving their  flooded home

Leading  precious buffaloes to safety

Many aid agencies are already on the scene but once again , Nepal 's development is on hold in these areas while everyone waits for the water to recede so repairs and rebuilding can start

Nepali weddings

Now that we have returned to Kathmandu after our leave the monsoon is in full swing with heavy rain most days and the humidity steadily rising .It is 70 % at present so things quickly go mouldy so when the sun shines I put all our bedding outside to air.Yesterday I was pruning our bougainvillea when I felt something crawling on my neck, it was a 6 cm long bright green praying mantis which I returned to its home among the leaves. it is good to see some diversity in insect life even here in the middle of the city.
We also a family of bamboo rats living in the drains under the house, they are beautifully adapted to living in tunnels and instead of having to make their own , they live happily in our concrete drain tunnels.Like the pigeons nesting on the roof, some animals seem able to adapt surprisingly well to urban life

bamboo rat, a kind of large vole about 10 cm long

Since the monsoon prevents me from travelling safely, I though I would write about weddings, since th edry months preceding the rains ar ethe auspicious ones for these happy occasions
It is hard to generalize about marriage customs since they vary greatly depending on the tribe and religion of the bride and groom and of course, their wedding budget. generally , however, a wedding is for the whole extended family, and arranged marriages are still the norm especially in rural areas. Most brides still move into the parents-in-law's home after marriage making the mother -in -law /daughter-in-law relationship crucial. Many daughters-in-law's are still worked really hard and are dependent on their husband and his family for everything. However, this is slowly changing and our project recently helped a married couple in rural Nepal to register their land in joint names which is really unusual here.

Typical hindu wedding ceremony in a booth with the sacred fire and the priest doing puja (worship ) The ceremony can last up to 4 hours

In the case of hindu weddings, astrologers choose the auspicious day for the marriage based on the horoscopes of the bride and groom which were prepared at their birth. Once the two families have agreed arrangements there is a large wedding party in the brides house for her extended family and friends. The groom with his firends and family then come to her house for the marriage ceremony and then she travels back to the grooms house. In some tribal groups she is carried through the streets, in the cities the decorated car idea has come from India and is very popular with families who can afford it.

wedding car

High caste family member sin their wedding finery

Red is the main colour of celebration for weddings, this one for a very wealthy family is in an international hotel. In the dry months many wedding celebrations are held outside

Once the bride reaches the grooms house there is another big party for all his extended family and friends. Usually the brides parents and family are not present at this one. If a honeymoon is taken , it will not be for a few days afterwards.

A high caste Hindu bride and groom, note the necklaces of sacred grass which are often dried and framed as wedding keepsakes

If the family is not as wealthy as the one pictured above the celebrations are still extensive and result in years of debt or valuable land being sold off. Both Hindu and Christian weddings can be arranged or love marriages, with the latter becoming more accepted especially if the bridal couple have worked abroad.

Christian weddings take place in a church with the bride often in white but there is still the huge post wedding party 

A post wedding feast in the church grounds for a middle income couple

All the church congregation as well as the wedding guests are invited to the feast

Terai Trip in May

After the Easter break and a hectic time of report writing and meetings I set off on my delayed field trip to Rupendehi district on the flat Southern border(the Terai) on 2nd may. This is not an ideal time to visit the flat, hot plains on the border with India but school holidays and political demonstrations meant that  this was my third attempt to get down there.

Usually this would mean a 6 hour drive but since the road was shut for most of every day due to road widening , I flew down on a little twin engined plane instead. As I waited at the airport for the project  vehicle to arrive there was a thundering crash behind me , I leapt up only to find it was just some workman chucking big concrete blocks from the flat roof down onto on to a trailer below, despite the passengers walking close by!

concrete and stones raining down onto this trailer at the airport

I stayed at the old umn guest house in the woods outside Butwal, a real time warp since much of the furniture was exactly the same as when we stayed there 20 years ago when the children were small. The guest house is now under Nepali management and the Dahl Bhat was delicious .It was good to hear the gheckoes at night. and the bird song at dawn ws lovely There is a big malaria risk there so it was back to the mosquito net but with a fan and the old aircon unit going all night I managed to sleep quite well.

well structured lesson

Our education officer and driver took me to visit four schools, they were a mixture of the very good and the poorly managed but all had road access, good quality buildings and friendly students. In one school (which has longstanding links with us) I observed a great lesson where students were actively engaged in a practical task.

 In another the government provided science labs had not been used for so long that cobwebs, insect nests and a thick layer of dust coated the benches. When a teacher emerged from the prep room he had a huge orange and black spider on his shoulder, obviously suprised to have its long term home invaded!

The teachers of this school asked for a photo

On my return to the office I will be writing reports and meeting with colleagues to decide how we can help these schools.
The heat was  intense, with a hot wind blowing and 42 degrees maximum temperature that day,

The next day we trained 16 teachers from 8 schools and a government official in the use of electronic learning materials which we provided on a hard drive. I got the teachers to use the resources to prepare a lesson and show it to the group and I was impressed with the results

training teachers

group work: What do you understand by a child friendly lesson?

Everyone was really engaged during the training

it was good to have several female teachers attending

. The feedback was very positive despite the heat and I plan to return after the monsoon when it is cooler. in the meantime I will be in touch with our field staff who will be helping the schools.

typical village cowshed

village grain stores

Mugu field trip to the far north -west

It took me two flights and nearly two days to reach our working area in Mugu and three days to get a return flight back out. This because the airstrip at Talcha, in Mugu district, is little more than a runway built into the side of a mountain. As the little twin engine plane comes in to land there, it banks and turns so I was sure one wing would hit one of the steep, high  hills ( in the UK we would call them mountains. As the plane lands it has no need to lose height, it just glides onto the runway which is at the same altitude of 8,920 feet or 2,719 metres. Everyone clapped on landing!
The journey from Kathmandu takes 4 full days by vehicle so I was glad to be able to fly to Napalgunj, in the hot and completely flat terai region bordering India, and then
 on to Mugu the next day when the weather cleared enough for a plane land there.
There is extreme contrast between the flat , fertile terai and the extremes of  dizzyingly high hills and deep river gorges found in Mugu. The district includes both the high hills and the Himalaya mountains and includes the ancient trading paths up to Tibet. The extremes of terrain , altitude and climate make Nepal so rich in biodiversity and so wherever I go I take my birds of nepal book and binoculars and am always on the lookout for interesting mammals , reptiles, insects and plants.

The  Himalalyas seen from the  plane

On arrival at Talcha airport my Nepali colleague and I trekked 4 hours up steep tracks to reach Rara lake, the largest in Nepal at nearly 11 square kilometers and one of the highest at 3,000 meters.It is surrounded by the Rara national park which is heavily forested. As we walked through the woods we could see that much of the soil had been uprooted by wild pigs ( we would call them wild boars. There are also leopards and jackals so the forest paths are closed after 6 at night.We were just enjoying the flat terrain as we walked around the lake when a great squealing and grunting was heard behind us and my colleague said "go,go fast!"running at that altitude was a real effort and eventually I thought "well, they can eat me but I really am going to have to stop and get my breath now! Apparently wild boars had attacked some wild ponies who had come down to drink form te lake. fortunately for us they went in the opposite direction , but it was quite alarming. eventually we reached the guesthouse which was basic but clean and I managed to keep warm by wearing all my clothes, including hat and gloves at night!

Rara Lake

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The next day we left before 7 and trekked another 4 hours to reach our first school for monitoring .The children here are so dirty, especially this time of year because water is scarce except close to rivers, and it is too cold to wash properly.Also people here are so poor that they have few spare clothes to wear.

primary class 1 at village primary school

older primary students

village lady preparing our lunch

It was good to see that our partner schools are now using learning materials like flash cards and also that more young girls are attending school. However, child labour is still endemic in the economy here and we saw several children carrying heavy loads on the trail, or doing tasks at home when they should have been at home. We had conversations with them and whenever possible with their parents but the school teachers confirmed that attendance is still an issue

a well resourced primary class

helping to feed the family buffalo instead of studying in school

We then walked back to the main town of Gamghadi for a well earned rest in the guest house.The next day was spent at the office preparing for my training and also visiting a large secondary school close by. it was great to see that one of the teachers was a low caste lady who had been givne a scholarship by our project to study at a good school as a child. She is now a teacher (despite being disabled )and had a great relationship with the children in her class.

This teacher was herself a previous scholarship pupil 

The next day we walked 6 hours along a mule trail to reach a remote primary school and then anther 2 hours to reach a secondary school close to the river. 

Primary school students-this school has several issues

An easy part of the trail

A remote secondary school

A difficult part of the trail!



we spent the night in a village and then it took 8 hours to trek back up the steep trail to Gamghadi. the next day my colleague and I gave a days  training to 12 teachers from  8 schools about how to use electronic learning materials to enhance teaching . I showed them how to plan an effective lesson and also how to use the materials which had been donated on a hard drive so internet was not needed. most rural schools have at best one computer, very like the situation in the UK 25 years ago. However, the road building programme in Mugu wlll soon bring greater accessibility and therefore development . I have written a report about this situation and it will be interesting to see how much the schools will have improved when we next visit them.

I also enjoyed walking along the mule trail to a local church where i was welcomed warmly

my guides to help me find the church

Church



It then took me three days to fly out because there was four inches of snow at the airstrip but eventually I made it . it was a fascinating trip and I am full of ideas for school improvement  in the area. However, after 10 days with only a bucket of water to wash with , it was lovely to get back to a hot shower!

Dhading Field trip

Dhading is the nearest of our working areas, only 4 hours drive even allowing for the ubiquitous traffic jams as all traffic crawls in a single lane up the steep hills surrounding he kahtmandu valley and then descends into the valley beyond.
We stopped at a "service area" for breakfast and I was fascinated to see a westernized Nepali traveller with a Louis Vuitton leather handbag in a place like this !

our vehicle

buffet selection

breakfast stop

the kitchen

 On arrival at our office we monitored a digital literacy training session for teachers from schools who will soon receive our computer labs, then after lunch set out on the first of our school visits.
Many schools still remain badly damaged by the earthquake of 2015 although building work has started in areas close to black topped roads.

training teachers in computer skills

stunning drive up dirt tracks to first school

The first school was reached by a long bumpy drive along dirt roads and through villages full of goats, chickens and water buffalo, Often there were piles of stones and other building materials alongside the damaged houses, showing that , at last serious work is now underway.
The school was well managed, with motivated staff who were looking forward to their new computers. Unusually for a community school I saw a functioning  science lab where teachers could prepare some experiments to show to their students.

Science lab

 They also had a well equipped lab for agriculture and soil studies, very important when the vast majority of the population still rely on subsistence agriculture. Many of the students walked at least an hour each way to school so it was good to see drinking water and a canteen on site. The SLC exams are approaching and th school allows students attending after school extra exam classes to sleep there overnight so they do not have to walk back in the dark

agriculture lab

school canteen

Confident students

Another school mainly had students from the stone cutters village, very poor families relying on unskilled daily wages to survive. Creatively, the school provided day care fro the young children who would otherwise be left to fend for themselves while their mothers were breaking up stones.
One school had a hostel and learning centre for blind children, well resourced with braille books and reading aids.

Braille book and reader

In each case the objective was to monitor our previous interventions designed to improve teaching and learning , and also to see whether the schools would benefit from our computer lab program. We work in so many schools, always with the emphasis on long term , sustainable solutions, that back in the office it is sometimes hard to see the results. These visits enable us to see problems and solutions at first hand and talk with our implementing partner NGO's about future need and challenges, and there are certainly plenty of those!