Government of Nepal: Dr. Pramod Dhakal for Vice Chancellor of Open University of Nepal

Suj Suni N. started this petition to Government of Nepal started this petition to

Summary (Nepali translation to follow)



Education is accomplished through successful cycles of knowledge acquisition, production, and dissemination. The quality and accessibility of this education is a well known problem in Nepal, compelling youth to leave the country in search of employment or higher education. Drawn by these challenges, Open University of Nepal (OUN) was promoted as an educational institution with a vision of providing quality higher education to any Nepali with a desire to learn. Ten years of effort to establish such a university in Nepal came to life when the OUN Act came to effect with its ratification by the Parliament and validation by the President of Nepal in 2016. Now, it is of critical importance that OUN be led by a capable individual. To this effect, it would be important to note that Dr. Pramod Dhakal has played a pivotal role in bringing OUN initiative to where it stands today. He was instrumental throughout the conception and advancement of this initiative, and he prepared the White Paper and Working Paper of the institution. Moreover, these documents outline the modality of establishing, funding and running of OUN. He also contributed significantly in the process of drafting the OUN Bill and in getting the bill passed by the Legislature Parliament of Nepal. Dr. Dhakal is a visionary who grew up in the hills of Nepal, studied Bachelors to PhD in engineering and went on to excel as an assistant professor at Institute of Engineering (Nepal), research scientist at Nortel (Canada), and gained high level technical, scientific‐research and development experience from well‐known global institutions. He is not only academically capable to hold this position but is also highly committed to the cause evident from his continuous work over a decade. It would be a missed opportunity for students of Nepal and the society as a whole if he is not appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of OUN.

In light of the recent news that Dr. Dhakal was not among the 3 nominees to lead the OUN, we urge you to sign this petition and demand the government of Nepal to make the right decision of appointing Dr. Pramod Dhakal as the first Vice Chancellor of OUN.



(To read more about OUN and how Dr. Dhakal has continuously demonstrated his commitment, please keep reading.)





वर्तमान नेपालमा गुणस्तरीय शिक्षाको अभावका कारण ज्ञानको ग्रहण, उत्पादन र प्रसारणको समग्र चक्रमा नै प्रतिकूल असर परिरहेको कुरा सर्व‐विदितै छ । यो अवस्थाले नेपाली युवाहरूको ठूलो हिस्सालाई वैदेशिक रोजगार र उच्च‐शिक्षाको खोजमा विदेशिन बाध्य बनाइरहेको छ । यसलाई एक चुनौतीका रूपमा लिँदै, शिक्षा हासिल गर्न इच्छुक कोही पनि नेपालीलाई गुणस्तरीय शिक्षाको अवसर उपलब्ध गराउने लक्षका साथ नेपाल खुला विश्वविद्यालयको स्थापना गर्ने एक अभियान थालिएको थियो । दश वर्ष लामो यो प्रयत्नले त्यो बेला जीवन प्राप्त गर्यो जब नेपालको व्यवस्थापिका संसदबाट पारित र राष्ट्रपतिबाट प्रमाणिकृत भई नेपाल खुला विश्वविद्यालय ऐन २०७३ जारी भयो । यस सँगै यो विश्वविद्यालयको नेतृत्व एउटा सक्षम व्यक्तिमा जान आवश्यक बनेको छ । यो प्रसङ्गमा, डा. प्रमोद ढकालले यो अभियानलाई आजको अवस्थामा ल्याउन खेलेको भूमिकालाई मनन गर्न महत्वपूर्ण देखिन्छ । डा. ढकाल ती व्यक्ति हुन जसले यो अभियानको परिकल्पना र विकासमा महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाए र उनी नै यो विश्वविद्यालयको स्वेत‐पत्र र कार्य‐पत्र तयार पार्ने व्यक्ति हुन् । अनि ती तिनै दस्तावेज हुन् जसले यसको स्थापना, आर्थिक‐व्यवस्था र सञ्चालनको रूपरेखा प्रस्तुत गर्छन् । यो ऐनको मस्यौदा तयार पार्नमा र त्यसलाई संसदबाट पारित गराउनमा पनि उनको महत्वपूर्ण योगदान रहेको छ । नेपालको पहाडी गाउँमा हुर्केर इन्जिनियरिङ्गमा स्नातक देखि विद्यावारिधि गरेका डा. ढकाल एउटा त्यस्तो स्वप्नदर्शी व्यक्ति हुन् जसले नेपालको ईन्जिनियरिङ्ग अध्ययन संस्थानको उप‐प्राध्यापक, नोर्टेल (क्यानाडा)को वरिष्ठ इन्जिनियर र वैज्ञानिक हुँदै विश्व‐प्रसिद्ध संस्थाहरूमा उच्च स्तरको प्रविधिक, वैज्ञानिक अनुसन्धान र विकासको अनुभव हासिल गरेका छन् । उनी यो पद हासिल गर्न प्राज्ञिक रूपमा मात्र सक्षम नभएर यो समग्र अभियानमा नितान्त समर्पित व्यक्ति हुन्, जुन समर्पणलाई उनको एक दशक भन्दा लामो क्रियाकलापले प्रस्ट्याइसकेको छ । उनलाई खुला विश्वविद्यालयको प्रथम उप‐कुलपति नबनाउनु नेपाली विद्यार्थीहरूका लागि र समग्र नेपाल राष्ट्रका लागि एउटा अवसर खेर जानु बराबर हो ।



त्यसैले, डा. प्रमोद ढकाललाई नेपाल खुला विश्वविद्यालयको प्रथम उप‐कुलपति बनाउने सही निर्णय लिनका लागि नेपाल सरकारलाई दवाव दिन यो ज्ञापन पत्रमा हस्ताक्षर गर्न हामी तपाईलाई आह्वान गर्दछौँ ।



(डा. प्रमोद ढकालले खुला विश्वविद्यालय अभियानमा कसरी निरन्तर समर्पण गरेका छन् भनेर बारे थप जानकारी लिन, कृपया तल पढदै जानुहोस् ।)







Open Education



A new educational paradigm of open education has been brewing in the contemporary world and it is gaining momentum. Open education entails not only lectures and libraries being open for people to use, but also books and teaching materials being open to educators to develop and beyond. Its ultimate frontier is to make the entire cycle of acquisition, production and dissemination of formal knowledge open and highly enriching. Today, the number of secondary students using Khan Academy tutorials (https://www.khanacademy.org/) or university students using MIT open courseware is unprecedented (https://ocw.mit.edu/about/site‐statistics/). Taking an online course on MIT’s EdX platform and engaging in the discussion forum will give anyone a glimpse of its richness in learning.



Open education in the context of Nepal



The grim state of education in Nepal does not need much elaboration as SLC (grade 10 national board exams) pass rate has never surpassed 50%. Those that pass have limited access to higher education especially if they are in rural areas. Lack of education has on one hand hindered the process of knowledge production and dissemination, and on the other hand caused a large percent of youth to leave the country in search of employment or higher education.



The new paradigm has the potential to get at these problems, and so believes a group of Nepali researchers led by a telecommunication scientist turned higher education scholar, Dr. Pramod Dhakal. Unlike most of the high income countries that went from agricultural age to industrial and now to information age over the centuries, low income countries like Nepal could make a leap from agricultural to information age. Open education would play an integral role in that transformation. Dr. Dhakal and colleagues have spent about a decade cultivating this idea to come up with an inspiring and promising plan to push Nepalese society towards that leap ‐ creation of an open university in Nepal. Among a plethora of writings (http://nrna.org.np/OUN/papers/) that have come out of primarily Dr. Dhakal’s scholarly activities. Here is an excerpt from a white paper on Open University of Nepal (OUN) released in 2014 (http://nrna.org.np/OUN/papers/OU‐053‐OUN‐Initiative‐A‐White‐Paper.pdf):



“the new paradigm in education and development is not about traditional nationalism which sought to change the shape, size and face of our country. The new paradigm is about transforming the lives and minds of people so that their potential and excellence are fully harnessed. The new paradigm is about how we align our skills, knowledge and innovation with the needs of our economy, culture, society, and natural endowments. The new paradigm is about making our society an intellectual, prosperous, sustainable, always‐learning and always innovating one. The new paradigm is about a rediscovery and renewal of our unity as people and the unity of our nation with other nations of the world.”



A paper on OUN written in Nepali which was formally submitted to the parliament can be found here (https://nrna.org/Portals/0/pdf/OU‐169‐00‐OUN‐What‐and‐How‐A‐Working‐Paper‐PDhakal.pdf).



Dr. Pramod Dhakal for VC of OUN



Establishment of OUN has gained significant traction in the last few years with support from Nepali diaspora scholars and Athabasca University (Canada). This which was a result of collaborative endeavours led by Dr. Pramod Dhakal. A milestone in the process of realizing OUN has been the OUN Act (https://www.dropbox.com/s/qm16tsxqcvm39qd/Open‐University‐Act‐2073‐final.pdf?dl=0) which was passed by the parliament of Nepal in 2016.



As this long term effort to create an open university in Nepal is coming to life, it is of critical importance that OUN be led by a capable individual. For anyone who has been following the development of OUN initiative, Dr. Dhakal is undoubtedly the most qualified person for this leadership position. Therefore, this petition is to raise awareness and garner citizens’ support for the appointment of Dr. Dhakal as the Vice‐Chancellor (VC) of OUN. Instead of a concerted effort from the government to appoint Dr. Dhakal, recent news has come to light that the government’s list of recommended candidates does not even include Dr. Dhakal. It is clear that people are not aware of the potential of this initiative and the role that Dr. Dhakal has played in its upbringing. It would be a missed opportunity for this nation if we don’t choose him to lead the early years OUN.



Dr. Pramod Dhakal is an electrical engineer by training (B.Eng from IIT, Roorkee, India and PhD from U of Saskatchewan, Canada; former senior scientist at Nortel) who has been doing independent reading and writing on innovation and higher education for over 15 years while working as a research scientist in telecommunications. After sufficient homework together with other Nepali scholars, he moved to Nepal in 2010 to work on OUN initiative full‐time voluntarily.



We urge you to sign this petition and demand our government to make the right decision of appointing Dr. Pramod Dhakal as the first Vice Chancellor of OUN.





