Printed on: “The Rising Nepal-Friday Suppliment” 15th June 2007
By : Sampurna Lata Tuladhar
Nepalese press is young compare to European and American or the Indian press. So it faces several problems which the press of developed countries often do not face
Nepali journalists still face many difficulties. There is a lack of institutes to provide proper training and knowledge to the working journalists. In the past Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus affiliated to Tribhuvan University was the only college to impart courses in journalism that is too only up to bachelor levels. But now a mushrooming number of colleges, mostly from private sectors run Master’s level courses in Mass Communications. It was only about a decade ago or so the practice of operating journalism classes and colleges became popular in Nepal. Many new colleges that teach journalism course are being opened.
There are many Nepalis who have become journalists by their own experiences without completing courses in journalism in universities. These journalists have been benefiting from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC) that provides training to working journalists of the developing nations.
Indian government surely deserves kudos for providing this opportunity to the journalists of the developing countries. Many Nepalese have received the training.
Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC) of New Delhi, India provides full scholarship programme to the working journalists. Established in 1965 AD IIMC provides a four-month diploma course in Development Journalism.
Twice a year they invite journalists from the Non Aligned Movement member nations and at least two seats are allocated for Nepali journalists in each batch. The course includes not only reporting on development issues, which are of prime importance for the developing countries, but also theories on Communications, Reporting and Editing , Economic Journalism and Media Freedom, Laws and Ethics. Student also get an opportunity to visit some well-known cities and places of India during the study tour.
It is a great opportunity for a participant to be with different people from different countries with different cultural background. The course thus is not only interesting but also the most challenging for the all the participants. During the course, every student gets an opportunity to know more about their own country.
The classes of the course generally begin from 1st January to 30th April and from 1st August to 30th November every year.
I got an opportunity to join the January to April course this year. Before leaving Nepal for the course, I haven’t met any Nepali journalists who have done the prestigious course at the IIMC. So I was blind about the course but was very excited. My flight was on I” January but because of fog, it was cancelled for three days and finally, I reached New Delhi on 4th January.
Rooms of hostel are with required facilities. two participants live in each twin bed room. We were 23 from 20 different countries. But a friend from Bulgaria left India saying that he had some health problem. Then we, 22 from 19 countries, were left to do the useful course. Interestingly, this time the majority were female.
The course is divided into two parts theory and practical (assignment). Each participant should complete the assignment.
In the study tour, we were taken to observe development projects like Tilonia of Ajmer, and to visit university of Panjab, including famous places like Taj-Mahal, Golden Temple, Amber Fort, etc.
The trainees can improve their writing while doing the assignment. Besides, each participant should contribute articles for the magazine called “Echo” there. The editorial board members for the magazine are chosen within the batch group. I got an opportunity to work as an assistant editor for the magazine. It is done on the basis of capacity and voting of the participants.
The location of the institute and the hostel is very suitable for study because the place is very peaceful. All the staff of the institute including Mr. P. Bapaiah are very kind and helpful persons.
The Ministry of External Affair of India surely deserves kudos for providing such a useful course under scholarship programme.