Challenges and Opportunities to Implementing ICTs in education to Manage
Learning Crisis due to COVID-19 in Nepal (Download PDF)
Mukti Thapaliya
This qualitative study explored the use of Information, Communication and
Technologies (ICTs) perspectives and experiences of government officers, secondary
school principals, and schoolteachers to manage learning loss in schools due to the
COVID-19 at Nepali secondary schools. A representative sample of two government
officers who work in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, ten secondary
school principals, and 33 secondary school teachers from seven provinces were
randomly selected to participate in this study. Their experiences of using ICTs tools were explored through semi-structured interviews and documents analyses. The findings reflect that implementing digital tools in schools is hindered by a range of factors. Contradictory policy, corruption, political influence, lack of funds, lack of resources, lack of trained teachers, teacher’s attitude, a lack of connection of technology to assessment and curriculum were major barriers to implementing ICTs tools in the classroom. Findings suggest that the government of Nepal needs to design a contingency action plan and provide sufficient technology devices with Internet access to manage learning loss. In addition to this, it recommends providing teachers with ICTs and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) training.
