Vital signs | Feature | wavemag.com.np

AJAYA JOSHI

How many times have you seen this picture: a young angry-looking Nepali, usually under 25, usually male, silhouetted against a crowd. Some times he's shouting, at others he's ready to hurl a stone.

Going by the images of Nepali political upheaval and action, whether from the democracy movement of 1990 (right), the Hrithik Roshan riots of 2001, the Maoist attacks over the last 10 years, or this year's April Uprising (left), this nameless, faceless young Nepali is supposed to be the force through which change happens. Yet, our leaders are much older.

So who are these young men and women who drive Nepali politics on the street level? Bored unemployed youth paid off by parties to create a ruckus, dedicated young politicians and idealists, or students trying to make a difference?

Some choose to see these street-marching, brick-throwing, tyre-burning and, at times, gun-carrying youth as mindless pawns of higher political powers. These people will say Nepali youth don't know or care enough about political issues for this to be informed participation.

A new study suggests that this assumption of youthful ignorance is wrong. The study was conducted shortly after the April Uprising by five students from the Spring 2006 class of the Social Science Baha's Immersion Course. The four-month-long course is a social science-based introduction to major issues in Nepal.

Using a sample of 200 students from private and government colleges at the IA, +2, BA, and postgraduate levels, the multiple-choice questionnaire asked 42 questions about political knowledge and involvement, ranging from "what should be the method to form a new constitution?" to "are you a general member of any political party?"

Some results confirm popular conceptions of Nepali youth in politics. For example, while the respondents were equally divided between male and female, young women displayed far less political knowledge. However, as the researchers point out in their conclusions, this could be more a case of women being unaccustomed to communicating openly about their political views, choosing instead to answer "I don't know".

MIN BAJRACHARYA

Still, overwhelmingly the responses pointed towards a very politically aware and active community. On questions related to April's mass movement, for example, over 50 percent said they had participated in the marches for democracy. Seventy-two percent responded that they read the newspapers daily, with 52 percent saying they did so for the political news.

There were correlations between these answers, where students came from, and what type of college they attend. For example, the samples from government colleges were significantly more politically aware and active than their private college counterparts—44 percent of government college respondents said they were part of a political student union, compared with just 17 percent in private colleges. Students originally from rural areas or urban centres outside Kathmandu Valley showed considerably greater interest in politics than city students.

The study has its limitations. First, a sample of 200 students, all from Kathmandu colleges, is not representative of Nepal's youth, and was not weighted by ethnicity, income, or other significant markers. In a country like ours, students at these higher levels of education are themselves a minority, since pass rates just for SLC hover around 35 percent. The questionnaire could have been better designed, with less room for ambiguous answers, and fewer overlapping choices. At times the data seem inconsistent, which could reflect errors in analysis, or that some of the respondents found the questionnaire confusing.

However, information and data on Nepali politics, particularly about youth awareness and activity, is so rare that any findings are valuable. This study raises issues for us to work on: how to channel this political interest into constructive, intelligent action; how to create avenues of participation that steer clear of violence and burning tyres; how to bring more educated young people into our politics, particularly when a career as a politician is viewed with such distaste. The results from this study present an important source of hope: politically, it seems our youth are far from apathetic.

The numbers

•  54 percent thought the 1990 constitution had to be replaced
•  59 percent said they knew "very little" about the term "constitutional assembly"
•  59 percent said they supported the seven-party alliance government
• 37 percent didn't want to say if they thought the current government can solve Nepal's problems
•  41 percent said they didn't trust the king
•  59 percent weren't members of a student union
•  47 percent had politically active family members
•  68 percent said their interest in politics was increasing
•  76 percent correctly identified the Raj Parishad as having been dissolved by the current parliament
•  13 percent of female respondents considered themselves politically 'not active', as opposed to only 8 percent of males
•  12.3 percent of government school students considered themselves 'very active' politically, as opposed to just 7 percent in private collegesn the Immersion Course contact Social Science Baha, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur at 01-5548142 or PO Box 166, Lalitpur, Nepal. Visit www.soscbaha.org.