Efficiency of Public and Private Universities in Bangladesh: A Comparative Approach using Data Envelopment Analysis

The aim of this study is to measure the efficiency of higher educational institutions and investigate the comparative efficiency of public and private higher education in Bangladesh. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA), technical efficiency of 15 public universities and 20 private universities of Bangladesh are evaluated over the period 2008-2018. The empirical results reveal that public universities on an average operate between 56.2 to 80.7 percent level of technical efficiency while the private universities between 49.1 to 77.6 percent level over the study period. That is, universities in Bangladesh, on an average, do not operate efficiently in terms of resource utilization. Over the years only 33% public universities and 25% private universities are found efficient. The inefficient universities can improve their efficiency by utilizing full capacity of the inputs or reducing the amount of inputs at the estimated inefficiency rate of the respective universities. Findings also show that the public universities have the scope of producing 1.24 to 1.78 times and private universities 1.28 to 2.04 times as much output from the same level of inputs. Special monitoring by the regulatory authorities is required for inefficient universities to enhance their efficiency level.

Menstrual Experiences of Totally Blind Menstruators in Kathmandu

Many communities still consider menstruation as a taboo, and thus various restrictions are imposed on menstruators during their menstruation. Despite their challenges, the totally blind menstruators, too, are not spared from the restrictions. This paper presents the findings of a study on menstrual experiences of five totally blind menstruators in Kathmandu, Nepal. Managing their menstruation independently amidst the social and cultural restrictions is far more difficult for blind menstruators because of their needs in terms of support from the family members and physical infrastructures like bathrooms and toilets. The restrictive practice of keeping them in isolation away from their families, whom they rely upon for their day-to-day activities, for up to 22 days during their menarche (first period) not only snatches away their comforts and convenience but also makes them insecure and causes emotional trauma. Ensuring safe and dignified menstruation for blind menstruators needs wider awareness on the realities of menstruation in society, understanding and supportive role of the family, particularly the non-menstruating members, and the appropriate physical infrastructures.

Level of Perceived Employability of Engineering Students in Kathmandu Valley

The discourse of employability revolves around the mitigation of mismatch between educational outcomes and the job market demand. This discourse is pertinent in engineering education as it is dedicated to producing human resources with the required employability skills. In this context, the students - to whom employability is transformed - are in the central focus. Their perceptions about their abilities in demonstrating and performing in the world of work require attention to connect education and their work. Considering this, the level of perceived employability of the engineering students studying in their final year was measured by using a self-constructed scale in a representative sample of 314 students of Kathmandu valley. The finding shows that the graduating students’ perceived employability was not consolidated and optimised to reflect on their behaviour and practices. It is at the level of ‘emergence’ and ‘presence’, which is thus not enough to see in their abilities to perform better. Therefore, the students were not able to perform as per the expectation of the market. The key implication of this study is that the gap of work-study transition stipulated to be minimised for the employability of the graduates with their exposure in the world of work.

Acknowledgement of Reviewers’ Contribution

The Editorial Board and the publisher of the Journal of Education and Research would like to express their appreciation to the following colleagues for their time and effort in reviewing manuscripts submitted to the JER. Their contribution helped us bring out Vol. 11 (Issues 1-2).

Revitalising Jiri Technical School in a Dramatically Changed Context: Governance, Management and Employability

This paper examines two assumption: First, whether inadequate practical training, including much shortened apprenticeship training, has negatively affected the employability and incomes of graduates of TVET institutions in Nepal, and the second, whether it is good institutional management and governance that provide the systems for quality training and positive labour market outcomes. Tracer studies and an institutional assessment of Jiri Technical School (JTS) confirm the first assumption. The review of select literature on institution building and the benchmarking of JTS’ operative practices against those of high performing educational institutions (in India) confirm the second assumption. It is argued that poor management and governance of TVET institutions drifts the mission of Technical Schools away from their initial socio-economic mandate: the provision of skilled human resource and access to qualification opportunities to the youth having the aptitudes for such an education. Social rather than labour market demand with corresponding politics is one major force for such deviation. To revitalise the JTS, it is proposed to bank on the federalisation of the TVET governance system to professionalise Board, Management and teachers for enhanced labour market outcomes in closer cooperation between actors from the education and employment systems.

Paradoxes in School Educational Policies and Practices: Equity in Chaos

This paper explores the paradoxes inherent within the intentions of Nepal’s public education policies and their actual implementation in local communities. It looks specifically at Nepal’s Constitutional Right to equitable quality education for socio-economically disadvantaged children. It highlights paradoxes in four major areas: 1) free and compulsory education, 2) equity and inclusion, 3) localizing education policies, and 4) the use of language in education, in the federal context of Nepal. To analyse school education policies and documents, we used participatory methods to generate data under the interpretive paradigm. More specifically, we held FGDs and interviews with women, Dalits, people with disability, indigenous groups, local governments, parents, teachers and students. The results show a number of significant paradoxes between the educational policies and the lived experiences of those in the local communities. The education policies deviate from the spirit of the Constitution and implementation is unsuccessful in delivering equitable education for all. A policy on paper does not guarantee equitable quality education and there are a number of questions that the government needs to consider to achieve the equity agenda.

Effect of Governance on Educational Performance in Nepal

Good governance often seems to have accelerated educational performance. Stepping onto the contribution of governance to the education, this paper examines the effect of Worldwide Governance Indicators produced by Kaufmann et al. (1999) on Educational Performance (EP) of Nepal during the years from 1996 to 2018. The six indicators of WGIs: political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, regulatory quality, control of corruption and rule of law are used as independent variables, and the educational performance (student learning achievement and education index) as a dependent variable. The results, based on the data collected from the secondary sources, derived from multiple-line graphs and the regression model shows that the majority of WGIs insignificantly explained the educational performance across the years. One indicator namely government effectiveness is found as a negative significant predictor of EP. The findings of this study suggest to reform in the existing level of WGIs for the better educational performance.