Proper policies should be framed to bring about positive changes

RUPAK D SHARMA

Nepal-born Shesh Ghale, the 150th richest person in Australia, and his wife, Jamuna Gurung, Australia’s eighth richest woman, created quite a stir in January by launching a charity foundation with seed money of whopping one billion rupees. This was the biggest charity amount extended here by individuals. At the time of the launch of the foundation, the duo, who founded Melbourne Institute of Technology (MIT) and hold a diversified commercial property portfolio in Australia, said the amount would be spent in education and health sectors. Rupak D Sharma of The Himalayan Times caught up with Ghale during his recent visit to Nepal to discuss how he plans to make use of the money. Excerpts:

It is said that first generation self-made millionaires, especially Asians, are more focused on wealth expansion rather than charity. You seem to be an exception.

The idea of creating the foundation didn’t come to me overnight. I had been thinking about setting up such an organisation for the last couple of years. Yet, this does not mean I was never engaged in charity works in the past. My wife and I have been giving something back to the Nepali society as well as Nepali community in Australia for the last several years. But such contributions were being made on ad hoc basis. With the setting up of the foundation, we can engage in charity works in a more organised manner. And I think I have also learnt a lot about importance of community service since assuming the leadership position at the Non-Resident Nepali Association. This also inspired me to set up this organisation. Regarding the amount, we decided to make the contribution of one billion rupees because my wife and I were comfortable with the figure. But this is just the starting and if I’m able to run my businesses even more successfully, I hope to make more contributions.

What kind of response have you received since making announcement to establish one-billion-rupee charity foundation?

The response from various sectors has been overwhelming. And this has further inspired us to contribute more to the society. Since making the announcement, lots of NRNs who are working abroad in education and health sectors have expressed desire to work for free for this organisation. Others have also expressed interest in making financial contribution to the fund. This shows the announcement that we made has also inspired others — although the intention behind setting up this foundation was not to encourage others to follow what we have done. What I feel is that the societies that we live in need charity funds and social entrepreneurs, so that those who have been left behind in the development process can catch up. That’s why I want my charity projects to cater to truly needy people. In this regard, I’ll also have to focus on sustainability of projects that I undertake, so that things do not come back to square one once the funds are exhausted. This means the money that my charity foundation spends should create some impact in the society. To make the spending effective and ensure transparency, we will be referring to practices embraced by renowned international philanthropic organisations.

So, have you started identifying projects?

We have so far collected proposals from education and health specialists. And our team is currently conducting works related to indexing. It has asked for a period of nine weeks to complete this work. Once this is done, we will select one project in education and health sectors each and implement them. This is how we are planning to embark on this journey. One thing that has drawn my attention, for instance, is extremely low pass rate among SLC examinees. Only around 30 per cent of those who appear in SLC exams pass the exams. So, does this mean only 30 per cent of the students who appear in SLC exams are capable of pursuing further studies? And can’t we raise the pass rate to, say, 80 per cent or 90 per cent? Here, what we can do is launch projects to raise the pass rate to, say, 50 per cent in selected districts, where failing rates are extremely high. So, the projects that we’ll be undertaking will identify problems and seek to introduce reforms. Our findings, I assume, will also come to the aid of policymakers, so that concerted efforts can be made to make changes in the entire education system, which appears to be faulty. This, however, should not mean we’ll be opening schools here. Another thing that we do not intend to do is replicate successful projects, like e-library. Instead, we can help improve such projects and make them more effective, or help those who are operating such projects to expand them in a wider area or throughout the country. But these are just thoughts for now. We’ll chart our future course by referring to the results of ongoing researches.

Have you completed all the formalities to conduct these types of works?

At present we are working on meeting various legal requirements of the Australian government. The Australian Foreign Department, for instance, wants to make sure that what we are planning to do would be sustainable and transparent. This is quite a long process. But once we fulfil these requirements, the Australian government will recognise the foundation as an Australian project. This means we might get the recognition of overseas development agency from the Australian government. If that happens, we can raise funds in Australia for projects in Nepal. I know these are lengthy processes but we are doing the right thing. I am pretty hopeful all these efforts will yield positive results.

And what about works in Nepal?

Recently, we changed the name of the foundation here to MIT Group Foundation Nepal from MIT Charity Company so that there is no discrepancy in names of foundations in Australia and in Nepal. In that sense, the foundation in Nepal would be subsidiary of MIT Group Foundation in Australia. So, for a foreseeable period of time, funds for the foundation will come from Australia, unless the (five-star) hotel that I am building here starts making good earnings. The foundation in Australia, which is a limited company, comprises five board of directors, including my wife. The subsidiary in Nepal also has five directors. We are planning to soon establish a head office in Kathmandu for the charity foundation with proper staffing. We will also be establishing offices in headquarters of districts where our projects are based.

You are successfully running a college in Australia. What are the basic differences between Australian and Nepali education systems?

Quality of education depends on a lot of things, like curriculum, teaching methods, qualification of teachers and physical infrastructure. In today’s world, we can make use of technology to bring about lots of changes. One such example is video conferencing. Using this and other cutting-edge technologies, we can easily replicate successful international models here after making certain changes to suit the needs of Nepali people. Another important component that is lacking here is effective teacher training programmes, which are essential for better delivery. Here, many qualified teachers are concentrated in urban areas or district headquarters, while many students in far flung areas have to deal with less qualified teachers. So, apart from basic infrastructure and connectivity, we also need to enhance skills of teachers. We are facing monumental problems.

Would your foundation be interested in introducing projects to enhance skills of teachers, by introducing, say, teacher exchange programmes between MIT and Nepali institutions so that knowledge transfer process between Nepal and Australia can take place?

We have not thought about that as of now because MIT is basically focused on higher education, while we want to work in development of secondary level education here. But we can study the education models adopted by high schools in Australia and develop a package, incorporating programmes like student exchange and benefits like scholarship. My ultimate goal is to raise the standard of education here so that people’s dependence on foreign employment declines.

There is also this misconception that higher academic degree is required to obtain a good job, whereas demand is higher for people with specific skills, like plumbing or carpentry. Yet, many look down upon these jobs, isn’t it?

Yes, that is true. But what is also true is that the quality of vocational education is inferior here. Australia offers one of the best vocational education in the world. The government runs a programme called technical and further education under which diploma certificates are offered. These courses are rigorous and students have to work for three to four years as apprentice. This means one has to work in the field for three to four years with remuneration only enough for survival. Nepalis could highly benefit if we could get assistance from the Australian government in introducing such programmes here. This could begin the process of transforming the country’s education system; and the value addition from such programmes could be higher than the contribution of one billion rupees that I am making. I’m also working closely with the Australian Embassy, let’s see what happens.

If the projects that you launch are able to bring about tangible changes, then the government probably would be forced to rethink on its policies, isn’t it?

It’s also not that positive changes are not taking place here. But these things are happening in isolation. We need proper policies and systems to institutionalise good practices that are taking place here and there. Once the proper policy and system are in place, concerted efforts can be made to bring about positive changes, especially in education, health and infrastructure sectors, where the state has failed to deliver quality services.

Which areas would you be focusing on in the health sector?

We are still working on that. We know there are problems but until our researches are complete, I won’t be able to give you something concrete. Besides, it will also depend on project proposals that are tabled based on which we will extend grants.

Would your foundation be supporting research and development activities as well, especially in the health sector?

Yes, we are thinking about that as well. But it’ll depend on the kinds of proposals filed by those who want to work on such projects.

Lastly, do you have any new investment plans for Nepal?

I first want to complete the ongoing project (Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel). I’m also building a school in my village in Lamjung at a cost of six million rupees. We laid the foundation stone of the school building in October and it’ll be inaugurated by mid-May.

Source: THT