Being Nepali can mean a lot of things. For me, my nationality is my pride and is my soul. This is important, really very important. Nepal, as we all know is the least developed country in the world. It is not as advanced as first world countries like the USA, UK and others are. As a result, Nepalese go to these first world countries for higher education and seek a better standard of life. This is what my family did. We went to a rather scary place called The United States of America.

I can say for sure that I was very much perplexed when I first returned to Nepal after spending nine years of my childhood in the U.S. I had a pretty good life over there and all the while I had grown up thinking that my country Nepal was one of the worst countries in the world. To my surprise, the thought of Nepal being the worse country in the world perished as soon as I reached here.

Nepal is not at all what I thought it to be. Don’t get me wrong, I am a 15-year-old boy and I don’t know a whole lot of things about Nepal particularly the country’s standing in politics. However, as I feel Nepal’s social and cultural environment is very good. I realized how inaccurate my thought was and for a time being hated myself for having such a bad mindset. It’s been about 9-10 months since I arrived here and I have come to realize that Nepal is probably better than the U.S for teenagers like me from a teenager’s perspective.

Education is a very important part of a child’s life. Nepal has an education system that is no doubt astounding. Albert Einstein once said ”If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree…it will spend its whole life thinking it is stupid.” This quote differentiates the American education system and Nepali education system. In my time in the US, I studied in three different schools. Lowell Elementary School, Wilson Middle School (both located in Albuquerque, New Mexico) and Holmes Middle School (located in Alexandria, Virginia).

All three were run on a system in which the only optional subjects were languages and did not have an official ‘Extra Curricular Activities’ (E.C.A) program, and also did not have a school team. Now I study in Nepal. I am a student at Nightingale Int’l Secondary School. This school allows students to choose among 5 optional subjects (O.P.T Math’s, O.P.T Science, Account, Economics, Computer), follows a disciplined E.C.A program, and creates an environment for students to actively participate in sports. Not only Nightingale school but almost every school in Nepal has a place for every type of student. This is why I like Nepal.

However, when it comes to science and the technological aspect of the study, the US is obviously quite ahead. Every student has a laptop in their hands, science labs are well facilitated and transportation is not an issue at all. These are the things which schools lack in Nepal lack all across the country.  It can only be solved if we tighten the noose on corruption and most importantly stay here to develop our country. Nepal has so much potential, it just needs a new exterior in terms of clean government and a nice kick start.

Saying this, I would like to point out that this is only my opinion. I don’t want to spoil any relations, dreams, goals that people have of the outside world. Our country has multiple problems. We should not run away from them. Our country is our pride, made beautiful from our ancestor’s blood and sweat, how can we run away and let our country fall? I have come back now and I will never leave…It is up to you to choose if you want to do the same.