Education in rural development area of Nepal

            Background of the Study

Nepal is one of the underdeveloped countries having 23.4 million people with in 1,47,181 square kilometers. It is a small land locked country with a rich heritage of diverse ethnic groups. It is a state located between two large countries, India in east, west and south and China in north. Nepal is predominately rural with 88% of total population living in rural areas (CBS, 2001). The total population of women and men are 50.09% and 49.91% respectively. It is inhabited by people of diverse social cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The census report notes 102 social groups and 92 vernaculars languages throughout the country.

Nepal is one of the least developed countries of the world. The country is facing various health problems such as the prevalence of communicable disease, lack of immunization, high morality rate, malnutrition etc. Environmental pollution is also a very serious problem of the country.

Nepal has a lot of problems in health sector, but environmental pollution in a very serious problem in country. School health is an important branch of community health (Park, 1994). School environment is a primary component of school health porgramme, which contributes the pupil education in health. Any school can promote their health status by managing the school surrounding. Unhygienic school environment is directly linked with pupil health status and for the attainment of optimum level of health. Anderson C.L. [1972], defined healthful school environment as "the conditions and manner of existing and experiencing that permit accomplishment and joy in the experience". It means safe, sanitary, esthetic and wholesome physical environment in which children can participate in normal activity with a minimum of interference, disturbance and frustration. Thus, it should be managed in a proper way.

Environmental sanitation has become a world wide concern and people have thought about adopting an acceptable measure. Sanitation constitutes an important and critical dimension of the living environment. Its ignorance leads to major costs of human suffering and economy loses. Sanitation is increasingly recognized as a wider concept that includes practices of hygienic at personal and household levels, system of human waste disposal, and management of solid and liquid waters. Our surrounding plays a vital role in making us healthy or sick. Carelessly managed sanitary facilities can cause harm in different ways. In the past, sanitation was centered on the sanitary disposal of human excreta; even how to many people sanitation still means the construction of latrines. In fact, the term sanitation covers the whole field of controlling the environment with a view to prevent disease and promote health.

Education is that process, which plays an important role in maintaining environmental sanitation it has become a world wide concern and people have thought about adopting an acceptable measure. Our surrounding plays a vital role in making as healthy or sickness to us. For instance carelessly managed sanitary facilities can cause harm indifferent ways. The polluted environment creates serious health hazards by providing simple opportunity to develop various diseases. Most of the people are particularly susceptible to respiratory problems caused by dust, dirt and carbon monoxide gas emitted from exhausted automobile engines.

Health education is a key component of all environmental sanitation programmes. It involves motivation, counseling and advertisement medias on basic hygiene education. Health is a valuable property of human beings (health is wealth); it plays a vital role for physical, mental and social development of human beings. The educational institutions play important roles to achieve a good health and hygienic practice. It passes the knowledge of good health and hygiene through the kids to the elder relatives at home. If the kids in the school latrines are not maintained properly this leads to the negative impact on the home and community.

Scholars can share health education experience to its recipients in the society by organizing awareness campaigns regularly. This campaign can include several components those help promoting healthier living a model school can follow similar way outs. Thus, sanitary facilities of a school depend on effective, management and resources of the school. At this present situation, students spend five to seven hours daily in the school during this period, schools need to provide safe and healthy environment to them. The school environment in which students and schools personal move during the time they are in school not only affects their health but also provides a laboratory for learning about health practices and attitudes. Only healthy atmospheric school environment improves the physical, mental, social and emotional health of the students and gets changes to take healthful, practices among them.

Generally, many research works have been done on sanitary issues at the national and international level, but very few institutional research tasks are done on related existing school sanitation. If schools do not have well-managed sanitary facilities then the students will be unable to use it practically and also unable to make habit formation on it, well managed sanitary facilities is the essential part of every school. If it is not provided there, the students become uninterested to go to school because it may cause different health problems like diarrhea and dysentery, which make them irregular in school. Therefore it is essential to make them regular. Well-managed sanitary also helps to control many communicable disease and create a sound educational environment, the good sanitation management play a vital role in human life but in Nepal a very little attention is being paid for it. So, the related sector must centre their focus to provide proper direction and implement the reliable programme in every schools of Nepal. Thus, the secondary level community and private school of Lamjung district was selected for the study.