Mr. Ramesh Kumar Silwal - President, HISSAN

The President of HISSAN Central Committee and CEO of Golden Gate College, Mr. Ramesh Kumar Silwal has been continuously contributing to enhance the higher level education in Nepal by upgrading education system. Colleges Nepal talks with him about the current scenario of higher education and future plans of HISSAN.

What kind of services are you planning to provide during your tenure at HISSAN?

The management team, the principal, and the faculty members play a vital role in the efficiency of the college, and in providing quality education to the students. Excelling in academics is not enough for the students; they should be provided with a serene learning environment. Extracurricular activities are equally important. For the implementation, we are planning to hold meetings in near future, in which we will be focusing on empowering staff members. We will be conducting a book donation program for the government schools of Karnali district which will be a way to strengthen their library. Every year, we've been organizing E-learning classes, edufair, and sports week, etc.

New education policy has been implemented recently. How important is this for the students?

The education policy needs to address few things as education is a long term goal. Students have to set their vision and mission to achieve success. They should be clear about their long term and short term goals. The old education policy was not clear. Education should fulfill the human needs and social needs but I don’t think the older education policy addressed these things. Education used to be certificate based rather than skill based so the new education policy is important for students for their betterment.

We frequently hear that the educational institutes here lack quality education. What steps should be taken to improve it?

The education that nourishes the hard working students polishes their creativity and hidden talents and prepares them to face the real world problems is called quality education. It is essential to know which education is for which level students. It should be clearly categorized. The teaching methodology is also not result-oriented. Teachers should focus on making students capable.

At the time of admission, students are confused about which program to study and which college to choose. Do you have any suggestions for the students?

Firstly, do some research about the college you are interested. Learn the vision of the college. Then see how’s the academic team, infrastructure, classroom, bathroom, library, lab, ground, canteen, transportation, hostel of the college. Learn how the products of the college are. Talk with parents, peers, interact with the seniors; know if the seniors are satisfied or not, they are benefitted by the college or not. Then, make a decision. But before choosing the college, choose the program of your interest. Question yourself why this course, what’s the benefit, what’s the scope, what after the course? Don’t let your parents; the result of SEE or +2 decide your choice of program.

How important is technical education in Nepal?

In Nepal, students are being provided 9% technical education and 91% other education whereas, in a developed country like China, it is 82% technical education and 18% other education. So, technical education plays a vital role in the development of the country. It's a fact that 92% private colleges and 8% government colleges have their contribution in the development of education. Every year, 7500 engineers are produced among which 92% production is from private colleges. Well, what I'm trying to say is that government should support private colleges. They should work cooperatively only then Nepal can bring evolution in the field of technical education.

What do you think the current education system should focus on?

Education should be such that the market itself comes to seek for qualified students but the situation is that students are searching job opportunities in the market and they are not getting the jobs as per their caliber. So quality is the key factor which will increase the productivity of students. For this, HISSAN aims to focus on the improvement of the quality of education so that qualified students won’t have to compromise in their career.

What’s the contribution of Information Technology in the development of education?

In the US, students are made familiar with technology from an early age. Such methodology is not active in Nepal but should be implemented. Such education is provided to the students only in either Bachelors level or Master level. Today, most of our work is done via computer and mobile phones. The world is on the tip of our finger because of progress in IT. We are trying to increase the IT education in Nepal. I think we will be able to offer technical education in all the seventy-five district of Nepal within 5 years.

How important are Extra Curricular Activities for the students?

Well, it’s very important. Various fields like sports, music, Arts, etc demands creative students. I once studied a data which says that in America, in every 46 seconds, a person is raped.  Research says that it is contributed by two reasons. 50% is due to adult movies and 50% due to alcohol. If students are involved in arts, music, dance, sports, then students won’t get time to get involved in negative acts. The students should be given opportunities to recognize their talents and extracurricular activities help them to recognize and improve it.

What are the future plans of HISSAN?

HISSAN was providing service to an intermediate level only but it has spread its wings to Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. We need to work on the quality of education and facilities and for that University and HISSAN should work jointly to uplift the quality. We should at least try, to be successful or not is in future. On February, we will try to hold an international seminar in which we will be inviting at least 50 to 100 Vice Chancellors and Nobel laureates of renowned international Universities. In this way, we will be familiar with their methodologies and we can also get their support.