IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN SOCIAL, CULTURAL &

EDUCATION SECTOR OF NEPAL

BACKGROUND
1. The ongoing pandemic of COVID-2019 was first identified in Wuhan city, Hubei, China,
in December 2019 and recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on
11 March 2020.The first case in Nepal was confirmed on 24th January 2020 when a 31-year-old
student, who had returned to Kathmandu from Wuhan on 9 January, tested positive for the
disease.
2. In context of Nepal, first case of local transmission was confirmed on 4th April 2020
in Kailali District.Till the date total no of infected were 98617, out of which 71343 get
recovered, 27274 are still infected and 590 died due to COVI-19 Corona virus in Nepal.

KEY ISSUES SOCIO-CULTURAL

1. Service sector is not being able to provide their services in a desired capacity
2. Undue stress among the population
3. Social Isolation Leading to Several Chronic Condition eventually leading to suicide
attempt
4. People with chronic disease deprived from routine medical consultation
5. Social distancing with our peers and family members
6. Stigmating behavior against infected people and health care practitioners.
7. Cancelation and postponement of large scale sports and tournaments
8. Closure of the entertainment such as movie and theaters, sports club,
gymnasium, swimming pools and so on
9. Disruption of celebration of culture, religious and festive events
10. Closure of the hotels, restaurants and religious places
11. Unemployment and management
12. Misinformation and inaccurate conception are spreading quicker from fake and
unauthorized news portal websites, contributing to myths and rumors in the society

KEY ISSUES IN EDUCATIONAL SECTOR

1. Initially School and College infrastructure were used for Quarantine/Holding

2. Digital learning creating inequality in access to education
3. learning and skill development
4. Pipeline effects (Overseas Studies)
5. Postponed and uncertainty of Exam
6. Dilemma & challenges to conduct assessment
7. Lack of proper directives and guidelines by government/concern authority for new
session
8. Education for the beginner and toddlers
9. Tuition fees is yet to be settled.

IMPACTS IN SOCIO-CULTURAL SECTOR

EVOLVING SOCIAL CRISIS

1. The COVID-19 pandemic is attacking society at the core. This virus is killing not only
people but also spreading human suffering and overturning people’s lives and triggering a
societal crisis.
2. The outbreak is affecting all fragments of the population. It is not just the immediate impact;
the far-reaching consequences of social implications are becoming a cause of great concern.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

3. Many countries have reported an increase in domestic violence and intimate partner

violence attributed to lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial insecurity, stress,
and uncertainty have lead to increased aggression at home, with abusers able to control large
amounts of their victims' daily life.

SOCIAL ISOLATION LEADING SEVERAL CHRONIC CONDITION

4. Suicide. The corona virus pandemic has been followed by a concern for a potential spike in
suicides, exacerbated by social isolation due to quarantine and social-distancing guidelines,
fear, and unemployment and financial factors.

5. Elderly Cure. Older persons are particularly susceptible to the risk of infection from
COVID-19, especially those with chronic health conditions such as hypertension,
cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
6. Older persons are not just struggling with greater health risks but are also likely to be less
capable of supporting themselves in isolation. Although social distancing is necessary to
reduce the spread of the disease, if not implemented correctly, such measures can also lead to
increased social isolation of older persons at a time when they may be at most need of
support.
Personal gathering/ Social distance with peer & family

7. However there is no any such restriction, in the beginning of March, the government urged
the general public to avoid large gatherings. The impact on personal gatherings has been
strong as medical experts have advised, and local authorities often mandated stay-at-home
orders to prevents gatherings of any size. Area such as Tudhikhel and other public places are
used to distribute food, large gathering for food and challenges to maintain the protocol.

Disruption of celebration of culture, religious and festive events.

8. Multi-religious and multi-cultural feature of Nepal contributes the varieties of festivals

observed throughout the year. It is the land of more than 100 ethnic people leaving together
in harmony having their own culture and festival.
9. Most of the Covid-19 cases are transmitted at religious centers and political gatherings.
Despite the pandemic, people’s sentiments are strong when it comes to religious festivals.
Could become a hotspot.
10. People had gathered to pull the chariot of Rato Machindranath Jatra is one of the latest
example, Hundreds of protesters, , clashed with police in the Pulchowk area in Lalitpur on
September.
11. The challenges of social cohesion in Nepal are emerging from this overlooking of the vertical
dimension and key social cohesion issues in Nepal that are surfacing now because of the
COVID-19 crisis.

Unemployment and returning of migrant workers

12. Due to the pandemic many of the industries, organizations, school and colleges are closed.
Even after end of lockdown due to fear, difficulties on import of raw material, most of the
organizations and the industries are still closed which create the people jobless.
13. on the other side hundreds of thousands of jobless migrants are and will be returning home
this year.  They are coming back from India and other countries. Many others are moving to
their homes from different cities within Nepal. Many of them are now facing stigma and
discrimination in their communities. These challenges are compounded by the historical
injustice and inequality as they are from lower economic background.

Unauthorized news portal websites, contributing to myths and rumors in the

society

14. The infodemic, misinformation and inaccurate conception are spreading quicker from fake
and unauthorized news portal websites, contributing to myths and rumors in the society.
 Myths related to alcohol, adding hot peppers, ginger and garlic to food, and exposing oneself
to temperatures higher than 25° or to cold weather and snow to kill the coronavirus are
misleading people. Therefore, there is a need to be thoughtful and conscious when
communicating on social media and other communication

Impact on vulnerable people

15. According to the Nepal Living Standards Survey 2010–2011, 25% of the population lived
below the poverty line. The link between poverty and communicable disease is well-evident .
COVID-19 is no exception and has triggered increasing unemployment, loan defaults and
major economic losses. The economic downturn caused by COVID-19 can increase the
economic instability, health inequalities and social disparities in Nepal, which can have a
huge impact on the poverty levels. While the lockdown has affected traders, especially
people with small shops and those with limited sources of income, the poor, marginalized
people and daily wagers are more vulnerable

Conservation and maintenance heritage sites.

16. The closures of cultural institutions, archaeological sites and heritage sites, have led to
reports of increased insecurity for cultural property and sites.The closures of sites that rely
heavily on tourism to maintain their budgets could make longer term management of the site
and working conditions more precarious. In some instances, it could also negatively impact
conservation.

IMPACT IN EDUCATIONAL SECTOR

Digital learning creating inequality in access to education

17. Present scenarios few schools and colleges in urban areas have started to run online classes
to mitigate the impact on learning. However, running online classes does not seem to be
feasible for most rural schools in Nepal. It is estimated that only 56% people in Nepal have
access to internet. According to Ministry of Education Science & Technology, only 13 %
schools might be able to run online classes (though 35% schools have access to internet). In
other words, the current ICT infrastructure and the distribution of access in the urban and
rural areas have created two-tier of inequalities in the Nepalese citizenry, i.e., between
students who live in urban area and those from rural area, and between the rich and poor who
can barely afford to access the internet

Impact on assessment
18. All sorts of external assessments (including board exams such as the Secondary Education
Examination) have been postponed and almost all the internal assessments have been
cancelled. The cancellation of assessments has negative impact on students’ learning.

Education/Academic session yet to be decided

19. Uncertainty of the new academic session leading to the fear in mind of both parents and the
student. Concern authority is silence in the matter where as the some University, college &
school change their notice time and again. Risk is chances to loss one academic year.

Pipeline effects
20. While on the one hand the pandemic has had crippling effects on the education sector, it has,
on the other hand, created a great deal of uncertainties on Nepali students enrolled or aspiring
to enroll in overseas universities as they have now been barred from leaving for these
countries. In other words, the pandemic has severely affected the prospects of students for
their abroad studies which may have long-term effects in Nepalese education and economy

High drop-out rate.

21. The COVID-19 school closure is likely to increase drop-out rates.In the context of Nepal,
drop-out rate may rise mainly for two different reasons. First, many parents have lost their
jobs due to the pandemic and their economic crisis has worsened than ever before. Therefore,
it is likely that some parents may not be able to afford their children to attend school (or
university) and children may need to work to provide economic support to their family. It is
estimated the situation will be worse in rural areas.

Impact on learning and skills development

22. The COVID-19 school and university closures have a negative impact on students’
knowledge and skills development in Nepal. Going to school is the best public policy tool
available to raise skills. While school time can be fun and can raise social skills and social
awareness, from an economic point of view the primary point of being in school is that it
increases a child’s ability. Even a relatively short time in school does this; even a relatively
short period of missed school will have consequences for skill growth.

RECOMMENDATIONS

23. Prevention & care is not only the responsibility of government, every individual should
self aware.
24. Educate the people on prevention and care. Facilitate the social awareness programme
through various means and media at least people should know what to do and not.
25. Increase procurement of basic medical facilities and medicine
26. Arrangement for the treatment to old age, children, women and chronic patient.
27. Enhance & Increase the health facilities up to local level in future.
28. Cultural sites, heritage site & temples should be maintain by responsible body.
29. Strict law against those who misleading, spreading myth information about pandemic.
30. Engaging children with parents
31. Training teachers to run online classes and consider students’ access to technology
32. Using new and appropriate approaches to assessment
33. The government should support schools and universities to strengthen their capacity to
run online classes (Moving to digital infrastructure)