Nepal

The Music Teacher Education Development Project in Nepal is conducted in collaboration with the Nepal Music Center (NMC). NMC was established in 2005 and is home to Nepal’s first music school “Nepal Sangeet Vidhyalaya” (NSV) established with due permission from the Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal.

The aim of this project is to support cross-national collaborations on the study of teacher education, which will allow Nepalese and Finnish music teacher educators and researchers to learn from each other, and will foster the development of interculturalism in music teacher education programs. As nations strive to respond and adapt to rapid social and cultural change, the need for equipping future teachers with the necessary skills and competences to work within increasing diversity and cultural pluralism has been recognized.

Nepal is a country with great cultural diversity. Its 125 caste/ethnic groups, 123 languages, and ten religions (Government of Nepal, 2012) have contributed to a long history of social exclusion. The demands of the Peoples’ Movement of 1990 and April 2006, however, have resulted in much public discourse on inclusion and inclusive democracy. Nepal’s Constituent Assembly is currently working to establish a federal state that is multi-cultural, multi-linguistic, multi-religious and multi-ethnic, and the Social Inclusion Research Fund has identified the education problems of excluded groups as one of its research themes.

The Music Teacher Education Development Project in Nepal has received funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; the Finnish Cultural Foundation; the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki; and the Center for Educational Research and Academic Development in the Arts (CERADA), University of the Arts Helsinki.

THE MUSIC TEACHER EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN NEPAL INVOLVES:

Consultation and co-developing music teacher education in Nepal
Research into Nepalese music teacher education by doctoral and postdoctoral researchers
Developing music teacher educators’ intercultural skills in Finland and Nepal