Education journalism should not only be incident-oriented, policy-oriented and result-oriented: Rajendra Dahal 

Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: Stakeholders have stressed on the need to enhance the capacity of journalists to make the state accountable and expose the existing issues in the education sector of the country through the media. The participants and experts of the one-day orientation program organized by Education Journalists’ Group (EJG), an umbrella organization of journalists active in the education sector, stressed on this, said Nirjala Kakshapati, chairperson of the group.

The program has been organized with the objective of continuously pushing the state for strengthening quality education by bringing the serious issues of education sector to the surface. Also speaking on the occasion, senior journalist and editor of Teacher’s Monthly, Rajendra Dahal stressed that education journalism should not only be incident-oriented but also policy-oriented and result-oriented.

Likewise, another trainer and educationist and program coordinator of the Education Policy and Practice Center, Tika Bhattarai, pointed out the need for the media persons to study deeply about the education policy, its weaknesses and the practices being carried out by the local level in education. He expressed the belief that journalism carried out by reaching the ground level could draw the attention of the state.

The one-day orientation program focused on how to make school education, budget allocation, and education problems in remote areas the topic of headlines, push the state agencies to highlight the gaps in policy formulation and implementation, and create debates and advocacy for improving the quality of teaching and learning along with infrastructure development.

More than 35 journalists working in various media outlets participated in the program. Participants said that this type of orientation will give them more energy and clarity to deliver investigative and effective educational news in the coming days.