POST-MODERNISM AND NEPAL ’ S EDUCATION

John Lechte in his book ‘Fifty Contemporary ! inkers’ (1994), drawing on the thoughts of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard, off ers the concept of post-modernity as a questioning of modernist paradigm. ! is questioning, as he argues, diff ers due to individuals’ perceptual diff erence in giving meaning to a certain object. Sandra Kerka (1997) views post modernism as a form of ‘questioning, an attitude, or perspective’. ! ese elements refl ect naturalistic characteristics of post modernism, which essentially rebuff s grand narratives such as capitalism, Marxism, Christianity and questions the possibility of order in life and living and denies the existence of objective knowledge. Post-modernism favors mininarratives which explain small practices, local events, rather than large-scale universal or global concepts. ! ese mini-narratives are always situational, provisional, contingent and temporary, making no claim to universality, truth, reason or stability. Post-modernists are suspicious of authoritative defi nitions of any trajectory of events. In other words, post modern philosophy shuns objectivity, rationality and science and the knowledge perceived by modernism which calls for reason and science does not get any recognition in the post modern realm because knowledge, as the post modernism asserts, is subjective construct founded on the language engineering.


Post-modernism
John Lechte in his book 'Fifty Contemporary inkers ' (1994), drawing on the thoughts of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard, off ers the concept of post-modernity as a questioning of modernist paradigm.
is questioning, as he argues, diff ers due to individuals' perceptual diff erence in giving meaning to a certain object.Sandra Kerka (1997) views post modernism as a form of 'questioning, an attitude, or perspective'.
ese elements refl ect naturalistic characteristics of post modernism, which essentially rebuff s grand narratives such as capitalism, Marxism, Christianity and questions the possibility of order in life and living and denies the existence of objective knowledge.Post-modernism favors mininarratives which explain small practices, local events, rather than large-scale universal or global concepts.ese mini-narratives are always situational, provisional, contingent and temporary, making no claim to universality, truth, reason or stability.Post-modernists are suspicious of authoritative defi nitions of any trajectory of events.In other words, post modern philosophy shuns objectivity, rationality and science and the knowledge perceived by modernism which calls for reason and science does not get any recognition in the post modern realm because knowledge, as the post modernism asserts, is subjective construct founded on the language engineering.

Modernity and Post-modernity
Postmodernism surfaced as a rejection of modernism and modernism on the other hand came out as a result of its disagreement with pre-modernity views.Authority and tradition were the two major ingredients of pre-modernity which were required to be respected by individuals.Negation of these pre-modernity prescriptions as a result of humanist enlightenment of 18 th century which discarded authority and tradition in favor of reason and science introduced the notion of modernism.We can see the schematic diff erences of modernism and post-modernism from the following table given by Hassan (1985): Here again, structural order and processes followed along the modernism philosophy and knowledge have proved fallible since numerous problems in the lived-reality of human beings have remained adamant.is fallibility of modernism gave way to the emergence of postmodernism which, according to John Daniel (UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, 2001Education, -2004) ) recognizes the knowledge that is functional.e following table describes the diff erences between modernity and post-modernity thinking:

Post-modernism and Knowledge
e language of post-modernism is rooted in the meaning in social context through usage.Post-modernism is concerned with questions of organization of knowledge.In a post-modern society, knowledge functional in the sense that we learn things not to know them but to use that knowledge.
e modernists' advocacy that knowledge is important within itself fi nds no place in post modern perspective, for the value of knowledge the post modernists acknowledge lies in its functionality pertaining to meeting subjective needs.erefore, as against modernists' stance on objectivity post modernists stick to subjectivity.Demystifi cation is the greatest accomplishments of post-modernism which focus upon uncovering and criticizing the epistemological and ideological motivations in the social sciences.

Post-modernism and Education
Looking at the formal and non-formal structures of learning we fi nd them loaded with inelasticity.
is stagnant situation has posed a strong challenge to the call for 'education for all' because we have witnessed a large mass of school age children still unschooled and illiterate adult population denied of literacy opportunities.e relevance of Ivan Illich's (1972) postmodernist view of de-schooling society failed to percolate into the refl ective thinking of the educationists which could have addressed the world's concern that nobody is left behind without an education.
ose who have the opportunity to get into the learning streams, be it formal or non-formal, are constrained by the prescriptive contents, although needs-based learning is advocated.
ey are led to read the word and least to read the world.Refl ective practice in learning is fairly overlooked and thus denying them to discover new culture and knowledge from the prevailing ones.Similarly, the post modernist perspective on education argues in favor of such themes of learning as 'respect for diversity', 'appreciation of the equal value of all human beings', 'tolerance and respect for the freedom of others' and 'creativity, emotion and intuition' (Daniel, 2002).Daniel also suggests "Education must be a window on the world.It must draw out the potential of each individual and develop the skills and knowledge that will help the learners to fi nd fulfi llment in the various facets of life."He further states "Education must help us learn to live together, to create networks of social relationships and to work together in communities for the common good."

Post-modernism and Educational Policy of Nepal
Now let us examine the relevance of postmodern views for the attainment of full education specifi cally in the context of Nepal.We have witnessed Nepal's educational policy falling short of catching up with the high velocity of changes fueled by instantaneous production of knowledge and invention of technologies.
e policy structure continues to be centrally dominant.e need for paradigmatic shift in the policy structure by deconstructing the existing static structure in order to make it more dynamic and forward looking has fallen outside of the consciousness of the policy makers.Similarly, the policy implementation structure has met the same fate.
is reality has resulted into a mismatch between what education we need and what has been provided.

Implications
In essence, emancipation from oppressed reality, individual autonomy in projecting one's own destiny, creation of new knowledge and skills for better living through refl ective practice, respect for dignity and egalitarianism, etc. are some of the major implications of post modernist education.Obsession with status quo and obduracy for the regulation of one's own identity serve as sources of confl icts and contention.
e modernist curricula, despite the claim that they are change prone, seem to have been driven to follow the authority and tradition, hence nurturing status quo.It will simply be a mirage to fulfi ll our ambition for meaningful change unless the post modernist principle of deconstruction in the entire educational system with focus on constructivism afterwards with adequate attention towards adopting new educational Post-Modernism and Nepal's Education premises as advocated by post modernism are wholeheartedly subscribed.Jean-Francois Lyotard : e Postmodern would be that which in the modern invokes the unpresentable in presentation itself, that which refuses the consolation of correct forms, refuses the consensus of taste permitting a common experience of nostalgia for the impossible, and inquires into new presentations--not to take pleasure in them, but to better produce the feeling that there is something unpresentable.

Some Key Figures and eir Narratives
Jean Baudrillard: Everything has already happened....nothing new can occur, or there is no real world.We live in a world of images but images that are only simulations.We have now moved into an epoch...where truth is entirely a product of consensus values, and where science itself is just the name we attach to certain modes of explanation.Jacques Derrida: A text employs its own strategems against it, producing a force of dislocation that spreads itself through an entire system.Reason is dominated by a metaphysics of presence.
Michel Foucault: What most people think of as the permanent truths of human nature and society actually change throughout the course of history.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes: Anthropologists, no less than any other professionals, should be held accountable for how we have used and how we have failed to use anthropology as a critical tool at crucial historical moments.It is the act of "witnessing" that lends our word its moral, at times almost theological, character.

Our Narrative
Mana Prasad Wagley and Shreeram Prasad Lamichhane: ose who have the opportunity to get into the learning streams, be it formal or non-formal, are constrained by the prescriptive contents, although needs-based learning is advocated.
ey are led to read the word and least to read the world.Refl ective practice in learning is fairly overlooked and thus denying them to discover new culture and knowledge from the prevailing ones.
ese narratives are drawn from an article "Postmodernism and its critics" by Shannon Weiss and Karla Wesley.