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Paper short abstract

This paper examines children’s participation in rural Nepali schools where “talking back” is discouraged. Drawing on child-led PAR, it shows how children negotiate agency in subtle ways and argues for rethinking accountability beyond information sharing often seen in Nepal’s development discourse.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines participation of children within rural Nepali school contexts, where “talking back” is discouraged. While the policy discourse frames participation as a right, this paper argues that such framing contradicts realities where accountability often remains oriented upwards.

The paper contributes to development debates by critically engaging with the Sociology of Childhood by reconceptualizing children as active agents of change entangled in complex, structural and cultural norms. This attaches a deeper understanding of how power, accountability, and agency are understood and participation is negotiated and contested in everyday contexts.

Empirically, the analysis draws on participatory action research conducted with children in Bhojpur, Nepal. Through PAR, the study explores how cultural norms of respect, generational hierarchies and school environments impact children’s participation. While the research is ongoing, preliminary findings highlight that children negotiate their autonomy to participate even in restrictive spaces where it may be deemed disrespectful. Children express agency in subtle and non-verbal manner that challenge prevailing assumptions in development discourse that participation equates with agency with overt expression or voice. The findings highlight that even while employing PAR, accountability cannot be assumed and hence must be cultivated through iterative, culture-sensitive and trust-based engagement.

The paper contributes to development studies by rethinking participation and accountability to children and their engagement in development programs and research. In doing so, it addresses concerns around generational justice and relational accountability grounded in lived experiences of children of the Global South; offering insights to scholars and practitioners seeking accountability for children.