Ayushma Pandey

Ayushma Pandey is a writer by hobby and a researcher by profession. Born on 18 October 1980, Ayushma has contributed numerous articles for newspapers chiefly The Kathmandu Post, Nepal's largest selling English language daily. Among her writings are "Vanguards of Peace" which talks about the plight of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) in Nepal as well as "Point of Urgency" which is primarily on the issue of maternal health.

Ayushma abides by the saying of Karl Marx which reads as "The idea of the ruling class is the ruling idea." This does not go to prove that Ayushma is a communist. However, she does believe in most of the maxims and sayings of Marx and other communists. "The idea of the ruling class is the ruling idea" grasped her attention due to the sheer truth in it. When a ruling group or class of people say something, it is perceived as the truth or as the law. Just as they that a bigger fish in a pond eats up smaller fish, so do the ideas of ruling people dominate that of the oppressed groups and subdue the latter.

Currently working at Interdisciplinary Analysts (IDA), a research-based organization, Ayushma is well-informed in a number of issues related to research and surveys. Having worked in the Education for Income Generation (EIG) program, Ayushma draws her inspiration from the Brazilian thinker and economist Paulo Freire and his "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" wherein he writes about the gross misconception about perceiving students as "empty vessels" who have to be filled up with knowledge. Freire opposes this "banking" model of education and says that students and teachers alike have one or the other to teach and learn from each other.