A WELL PERFORMING PUBLIC SCHOOL OF CHITWAN: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Despite increasing investment in school education, other benefits and support, the quality of education and academic success in many public schools in Nepal are still in a dire situation. Students in Nepal's numerous public schools perform abhorrently academically. Few public schools, however, have managed to outperform and maintain strong performance over an extended period of time despite having comparable student bodies, faculty, and physical resources. This study explores how and why one public school in Chitwan has been performing well over the course of time. For this research, a well- performing school from Chitwan was chosen. In depth interviews, and focus group discussions were conducted with the School Management Committee Chairperson, headteacher, teacher, local actor, parent, and student. The outcomes of the study contribute to the inquiry into the school effectiveness. It is qualitative research employing interpretive paradigm. The findings of this research reveal that headteacher’s instructional leadership, parents and local community support, active students’ engagement, continuous assessment system, and teachers’ roles and responsibilities and safe school climate enhance the school’s ability for getting consistently better academic performance. The research outcome contributes to enriching poor results of public school in terms of students’ overall performance in national examinations. Moreover, this study will complement the existing literature for it is new and unique in the context of Nepal. This study revealed how effective leadership demonstrated by the head teacher contributes to the success of the school and its students.