Impacts of Covid-19 Lockdown in the Academic Life of Undergraduate Students: An Online Survey

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown can be widely observed in all sectors of the nation including education. An online survey was conducted to identify the impacts brought by the nationwide lockdown in the academic life of undergraduate students currently studying at different bachelor's levels and the ones who have completed final exams after the ease of lockdown. Particularly, the study explored both the positive and negative impact of COVID-19 lockdown. A structural questionnaire link using ‘Google form’ was circulated using messenger and E-mail from 20 April to 27 April 2021. A total of 98 students, from Tribhuvan University (60), Kathmandu University (16), Pokhara University (11), and Purbhanchal University (11) participated in the survey. The study found that around 42.86% of the students' academic life was affected negatively whereas only 2.04% reported positively. The majority of students pointed to delay in examinations as the primary negative impact followed by difficulty in learning due to excessive use of the internet, disturbance in pass out the pattern, loss of job, and issues of dropout. On the positive side, students have experienced an improvement in reading habits, development in the skills of self-study, virtual learning, group work, and digital competencies. Thus, the study concludes that students' academic life was impacted negatively than positively. Therefore, the study suggests universities, educational institutions, and relevant stakeholders come up with a concrete plan to respond to the impacts seen in the academic career of students unless the lockdown perpetuates other consequences.

Mini Texts: A Fusion of Grammar, Communication and Vocabulary Development in CLT (Communicative Language Teaching)

Rich and adequate input is the first and foremost condition for perfect language learning, other important things come later in order to achieve the goal of developing communicative competence in a language learning process in an EFL or ESL setting. In this context, Communicative Language Learning (CLT) is still the most prevalent approach of English language learning/teaching field both in ESL and EFL settings. In EFL settings CLT is adopted nowadays with some reservations. One solution to the drawbacks of CLT is "mini texts" in order to provide rich and adequate language input as they subsume grammar, communication, and most importantly, adequate vocabulary development. Objectives: The main objective is to critically assess the role of mini texts in order to provide rich and adequate language input for language learning. Method: Collaborative action research design was adopted to assess the outcome of teaching "mini texts" under improved communicative approach. Brief written and oral performance tests of class ten students were used as the tools of evaluation. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of thirty schools in three districts of the Kathmandu Valley whereas random sampling was used to select the respondent students of mixed ability for the written and oral performance test. The test items for the test were easy enough to be answered by average students of even lower classes. The test items were based on fixed criteria: different elements of grammatical competence to write and speak correctly, and also on some essential aspects of informal colloquial English used in fast spoken English. Pre-test and Post test were administered in order to compare the result of the traditional teaching with the outcome of the new method teaching with "mini texts" as the primary teaching material to provide optimal and quality language input to the students. Result: The over-all result of the test shows that the learning outcome, in general, is rather frustrating. Let alone government schools where most of the students belong to lower-class unprivileged families, even in private schools, or rather in so called A grade private schools, the condition of the English proficiency from the viewpoint of grammatical competence is rather frustrating. Surprisingly, not a single school could obtain even pass marks whereas same students secure good marks in their national level SEE exam.Conclusion: The current English teaching practice in Nepalese schools is deficient in (i) optimal quality language input, and (ii) suitable teaching methods to produce desirable outcome of English teaching for better learning outcome or better communicative proficiency. Mini texts have come out as an appropriate teaching material to be experimented on a large scale as they subsume essential, grammar points, essential vocabulary stock and also communication-oriented practice exercises.

Knowledge of Oral Health Among the People of Rural Nepal (Cases from Lalitpur District)

Good oral health is the condition of free of illnesses that empowers to perform ordinary capacities. It is accounted for that there is a cozy connection between oral illnesses and other foundational diseases like diabetes, digestive disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, adverse pregnancy outcomes, obesity, et al. So, it is important to maintain good oral health and one must have knowledge of oral health and how to maintain dental and oral hygiene. The main objective of this study is to identify the knowledge of oral health among 35 to 45-year people of Rural Nepal. the study had adopted the mixed design (method) – both quantitative and qualitative tools were used to collect the data. It was a cross-sectional study. The study was conducted in four Rural Municipalities of Lalitpur district: Gotikhel, Chaughare, Malta and Bhardah. The data was collected from 369 respondents by using the structured survey questionnaire. The majority of people (68%) reported that they had heard of oral disease. Though, still, 32% had no knowledge of oral health. There was a significant association between the literate and illiterate on the basis of hearing about the oral disease because of p =.000 which is lesser than .05 significant level. Radio and Television were the main source of getting knowledge of oral health. All the household may not have equal access on the Radio and Television program so there was a need to organize the awareness campaign in rural society to aware the people.

Brand Choice Factors on Purchase Decision of Electric Vehicle: In Reference of Nepalese Customers

There are various factors which effect on the purchase decision of consumers. Brand choice factor is one of the important to determine the purchase decision. The demand of electric vehicle is increasing because of its contribution in health and environment. Nepalese consumers are also more being attracted towards the use of electric vehicle so in this context, the study conducted with the objective to identify the brand choice factor on purchase decision of electric vehicle. The study was conducted among the 55-electric vehicle of Kathmandu valley. The structured survey questionnaire was administered for the data collection. It was based on quantitative design. Simple random sampling design was adopted to select the respondents. There was no significant difference between male and female, as well as caste groups, whereas there was significant difference between the educational levels on their brand choice factors at the .05 significant levels. The future researcher can study on the role of other factors to determine the purchase decision of electric vehicle consumers.

An Analysis of the Poem “Prison” by Krishna Sen ‘Ichchhuk’ Translated by Govinda Raj Bhattarai

Poetry is a form of art; to express emotions and feelings by the use of distinctive style, meaning, sound and rhythm. The poem presents the rebellious nature of the revolutionists to defeat the arbitrary through literature and is much privileged towards independence. The poet imagines such an awful condition that happens in the insurgency period and he is not able to equivalent the freedom of choice and action. Oligarchy creates fascism, besides it, the poet has used the literary term, ‘my friend’ in each stanza to denote all victimized citizens and inmates who are anguished from despotism. To uplift from authoritarianism regime and to live with full sovereignty the communist movement had played an appreciable role in the context of Nepal. The literary genre which is characterized by literature and cultural form of early modern England that is written while the author is confined in a location against his wills, such as a prison, jail, or house arrest is known as prison literature. Thus, the message or underlying meaning of the poem is such that the poet alerts the emperor and leaders to adopt a democratic model.

Impact of Economic Liberalization in Nepal - A Case of Industrial Growth in the Operating Industries in Butwal

The economic liberalization can contribute in the economic growth of a country. So, Nepal has been following the policy of economic liberalization since the mid-1980s which was accelerated with the start of 1990s. The study was conducted to identify the impact of economic liberalization on economic growth of industries running in the Butwal area of Nepal. The study had selected 385 respondents from industry, trade and banking sectors. The simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Statistical analysis was done to see the relationship between the respondents. The result shows that there was significant association between the respondents (industrialists, traders, and bankers) in effectiveness of economic liberalization because the p value was less than .05 significant levels. Some of the economic indicators were not changed significantly so future researcher can study on the challenges in effective implementation of economic liberalization in Nepal.

Employees’ Perception towards the Merger and Acquisition of Bank and Financial Institutions of Nepal

Merger and acquisition an outcome of consolidating two or more than two companies in one institution. Merger and acquisition both are the tools of consolidating the companies. The study was conducted with the objective to identify the employees’ perception towards the merger and acquisition of bank and financial institutions of Nepal. The study was conducted among the 385 respondents of financial institutions. The respondents were randomly selected for the questionnaire survey. The study was based on the quantitative design so statistical analysis was done to compare the perception between category A and B bank. The result shows that there was significant association between the employees of category A and B bank on their perception towards the contribution of merger and acquisition. majority of the respondents had positive perception towards the effectiveness of merger and acquisition to improve the service quality, organizational performance, exchange organizational culture, maximizing the profit and revenue, increase the credit rating of banks, introduce the new service and facilities, implement the new innovative ideas. So, it has encouraged financial institutions to go in process of merger and acquisition for the better performance and sustainability of institutions.

English Language Teaching as a Career in Nepal: Social Motives and Drives

Research on teacher motivation has developed and expanded since the beginning of the 21st the century and now there is a considerable increase in literature in the areas of teacher motivation research. A number of research studies have been conducted to gain insights into pre-service and in-service teachers’ reasons for choosing teaching as a career. This study aimed at exploring the social motives and drives that force individuals to opt English language teaching as a career. It also aimed at investigating perceived satisfaction level of the participants. Five teachers of English who have been teaching English at different levels of education in Nepal for twelve years now participated in this study. The narrative inquiry approach was adopted as a research design for this study. Interview was used as a method for data collection. The study revealed that social motives, beliefs and individual desires are integral for choosing English language teaching as a career in Nepal. The love for the subject, the social prestige the English teachers deserved and the passion for teaching are some of the dominant reasons regarding why individuals chose ELT as careers in Nepal. Another frequently highlighted reason for career choice among teachers was a desire to work with children and adolescents. They think that the career as an English teacher also provides them with the opportunity to make a social contribution. So, altruistic motivations are highlighted as one the important reasons for deciding to choose English teacher as a career in Nepal.

Local community’s perception on the existing home stay program in Terai and Hilly districts of Nepal

Homestay tourism program is a new part of tourism sector which involved local community in tourism development within their own and surrounding area. It is also lately emerging tourism concept in the world. Nepal is known as an important tourist’s destination and can be a model homestay country with its abundant natural resources, multi culture, multi religion, multi ethnic, tradition life style, archeological heritage, innocent society and community. Due to all these above factors homestay tourism program became the dream for the lover of nature and experts of tourism in Nepal. Homestay program can be easily established, Promoted and developed by minimum investment and based on many aspects such as good service, safety, security, souvenir, family and attractions. It is a major tourism industry for the development of rural economy by generating huge number of employment and social benefits. The major objective of the study is the perception of community towards homestay tourism program. Descriptive and exploratory research design, cross-sectional study design and deductive approach with mixed method have been used in this study. Both primary and secondary data are used simultaneously. Primary data are collected from 348 respondents with three categories of nine study Districts. Similarly, secondary data are collected from various publications of central, state, local Governments, different articles in international journals, books, credible magazines, newspaper, reports prepared by research scholars, experts and universities and different websites etc. Finally, majority of community people have a positive perception towards on existing homestay program in Nepal.

Experiences of Library Professionals on DSpace Installation

DSpace, a free and open-source software (FOSS) provides the digital platform for building collections of an institution. Due to the lack of the skills to install and configure DSpace, librarians are incapable to conduct it even after the awareness about it. Identifying challenges about DSpace installation is vital to increase its use by librarians. Hence, it aims to explore the understanding of DSpace installation among librarians and to identify aspects of their experiences and feelings while installing DSpace. Librarians' experiences and feelings are important for accepting the software. Librarians were interviewed during the training program conducted on digital library technology from December 2020 to January 2021. Two groups were distinguishing from each other: one is with a library science background and another is with computer science and engineering background. The second group aswas self-sustained to install DSpace, once they got the guidelines for installation. Their views were reflected with the code terms status, exploration, feeling, activities, preferences, and inadequacy. Through their experiences, the aspects of challenges are the less experience of using the command line in computer use, the unavailability of teaching courses on Linux operating system in Library and Information Science (LIS) education, and the lack of self-exploration habits. Practice to Linux commands, incorporate the Linux in the Library Science course, self-exploration, and consistent effort will help librarians in installing DSpace by themselves. Finally, librarians should internalize their goal to act as the administrator for the DSpace, not only as of the operator.