Shikshak Masik (Teacher Monthly) is a Nepali-language monthly magazine, started in 2008, to inform, educate and motivate more than 200,000 public school teachers in Nepal. The magazine has evolved as a journalistic exercise to stimulate teachers through its informative and motivating pieces, rather than as a newsletter with limited goals. In particular, the editors have targeted the needs of teachers in the rural areas who work mostly alone and without peer support to provide them with necessary knowledge or skills required to support childhood development inside classroom and beyond. In all, Shikshak is acting as a medium to provide supplementary and alternative materials to add ‘texture’ to the intellectual growth of public school teachers of Nepal. It is an attempt to broaden the vision and deepen the commitment of teachers to their profession. At a time when the nation is grappling with transition, the magazine has worked to instill vision of peaceful and prosperous Nepal through quality education for all.The monthly magazine has become an effective medium for teachers in remote areas to acquire technical know-how on teaching, share ideas, best practices and concerns in developing education sector, as well as draw motivation from its inspirational stories. The magazine also raises issues related to education policies and offered a platform for healthy debate among stakeholders including teachers, students, parents, members of school management committees and those in government’s decision making bodies.The magazine’s primary target group is teachers working in 1-12 grades in the country’s school system, with special focus on public school teachers rather serving in the remote and rural districts. Over the last eight years, editors have been largely satisfied with the response received from this target group, as seen in the unexpectedly high circulation of the magazine in the rural areas where even the mainstream newspapers have seen depleting circulation. Shikshak receives hundreds of letters per month, an unusually high number even among mainstream media—containing reactions, suggestions and other kinds of reader responses. More than 80 percent of the mail comes from rural public schoolteachers. Shikshak present print run has been capped at 22,000, with primary readers being teachers themselves, but increasingly popular among parents, college students, administrators and educated locals.Within 72 pages, each issue of Shikshak today covers:
a) Issues and trends of direct interest to teachers, such as relating to teacher organizations, the government’s education-related policies, information circulars, the successes or challenges faced by teachers, etc.
b) The cover story picks up a select topic of interest to teacher and goes in-depth. In addition to a comprehensive look at the topic chosen, ancillary material are also provided from the national and international stream to add clarity to the subject.