Kathmandu - the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee (EHITC) of the House of Representatives will discuss the School Education Bill at the provincial level, news published. EHITC will form five teams having 5-members – one for  Koshi, andMadhesh, one for Karnali and Lumbini Provinces and one each for the remaining three provinces, the news mentioned. The EHITC has decided that the representative committee member from that province should participate in the program held in their own province other than the province they have chosen, the news quoted. The committee decided to discuss in Far-West Province on 24, Koshi on 28 and Madhesh on 30th December, mentioned the news. The date of the discussion in the rest of the provinces to be decided after assessing the impact of the discussions in the provinces where the dates have been set, the news published mentioning the committee.

It is positive that EHITC decided to discuss the bill at the province level after discussing with MPs, stakeholders and experts at federal level. Discussions at broader level before the law is formulated will help the desires of the stakeholders in the law reflect and will help to increase the acceptability of the law. Keeping in mind the constitutional provision that the right of school education is under local governments, it is necessary to ensure the participation of Municipalities in the discussions even if it is held at the provincial level. How much importance will be given to the participation of the local bodies and attention paid to listen to their experiences will show the meaning of such a discussion.

Various practices of many local governments in school education have demonstrated diverse results that would not have been thinkable from centralized governance – may it be in teacher management or administering midday meals.  It is well known that municipalities are facing grave problems such as  lack of resources and qualified staff, conflict of interest among stakeholders, uncertainties for the lack of clear guidelines or continuous steering from the federal government. Without understanding the success and challenges faced by the local governments in school management, it is not realistic to formulate a law to give shape and strengthen the authority bestowed to the local governments by the constitution.

Similarly, the EHITC has decided to form Health and Population Study Sub-Committee, Youth and Sports Study Sub-Committee, Education Science and Technology Study Sub-Committee, Communication and Information Technology Study Sub-Committee to study and make suggestions on the given topic to the EHITC, the news published quoting the EHITC.

There was news that the land and property search committee of Tribhuvan University (TU) has submitted a report to PM Oli about the embezzlement of 1000 ropanis (around 125 acres) of land. The EHITC has instructed the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to provide the report to the committee. It has been recommended in that report that the authorities and CIB investigate the officials involved in the distribution of the land of the university, the news mentioned. Similarly, there is news that the Commission has recommended to take back 108 ropanis (around 13 acres) of land that has been used by the Lab School of Kirtipur for 24 years and collect rent of all these years.

Siddhant Bhatt, Secretary of Free Student Union of TU staged a dharna (sit in protest) at the door of Vice-Chancellor's office by putting 35 points demand, there was news. 

Similarly, there is news that the Executive Council of the university has appointed faculty deans and the executive of research centers after they agreed a sharing deal of the posts amongst the parties. Among those who have been appointed, 3 professors are said to be close to Congress Party, 2 each are close to UML and Maoists parties, and only one is not to be aligned to any parites. It has been disclosed in the news of Kantipur daily that the engineering and education faculties have been given to the UML not based on merit. 

In order to make the appointments trustworthy, it has been suggested in the Kantipur editorial that the process should be transparent and credible. Rather than being interested in individuals, parties have been suggested in the editorial to establish a system and adhering to it. 

The news that TU organized an international conference in Pokhara in collaboration with Sichuan University of China was also published last week.

There was news that in the first meeting of the Board of Trustees University of Nepal has selected Dr. Bindu Nath Lohani  as the VC for four years. It is said that Dr Lohoni  has worked in various positions for a long time in the Asian Development Bank, who has civil engineering background.

There was news in Ratopati that the Director of the College of Engineering and Management and Alpine Management College Prof. Dr. Bedraj KC is vying for VC of Pokhara University. It was mentioned in the news that Dr KC, is also the Central President of the Nepal Progressive Professors Organization, affiliated to CPN-UML, is the first in the list for the VC!

There was news that the PM Oli said that the government will move forward in a way to provide education to produce self-reliant and job providers rather than those searching for jobs. Addressing the 30th Convocation of Kathmandu University (KU), Ex-officio Chancellor PM Oli said that a person's ability is determined by their character and ethics.  KU Assembly, chaired by him has also formed the VC Selection Committee of the University under the Coordination of founder VC Prof. Dr. Suresh Raj Sharma with members Prof. Dr. Arjun Karki and former Education Secretary Janardan Nepal, the news mentioned. Since the four-year tenure of Current VC Prof. Dr. Bhola Thapa ends on January 19. 

The students will be able to take the re-exam only in the subject with 'No Grade' (NG) score in the previous year in the School Education Examination (SEE), student, the news mentioned in that the Letter Grading Directives, 2021 is going to be amended to accommodate such an arrangement.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers have been conducting similar programs separately to achieve the target of achieving 70 percent results in SEE as announced by PM Oli, the news published. It was mentioned in the news that the program was conducted by the Prime Minister's Office, similar to the information technology-based content created and conducted by the Education and Human Resource Development Center of MoEST.

Although the registration form of class 9 should be submitted by the 3rd week of December, concerned students have not been able to fill the forms due to an indecision to collect the fee for it or not, there was the news.  This has caused delay for registering class 9 students, SEE examination and registration form  of Class 11 students, the news published in the Gorakhapatra daily. As the Compulsory and Free Education Act states that no fee should be charged to the students and it being charged so far, there is a confusion whether to charge a fee for these registration or not, quoted the news.

It has to be appreciated that young and energetic Ministers – former and current - wish to make a difference in education in the country unlike their successors taking long to make even a single decision. However, their decisions have proven a bit premature and not one of priority areas to intervene. Fee was such an issue both of them have created an unnecessary havoc in normal school administration system. A circular by the former Minister about prohibition of collecting fees by schools made many schools shaky as fees from the students is the mainstay for additional teachers and quality related investment in public schools. The issue of registration fees in grade nine was a non-priority issue albeit correct. People now need quality in teaching and learning – mere fee is not issue for most parents of higher grades now. If convinced, they can and willing to pay even more. 

Young Ministers appear to be swayed by popularity move and not having the grip of the issues critically. Unknowingly they have been supporting the promotion of private schools by creating short and long-term rumors as if fee is the bottleneck of our publication system. It may be, in lower grades but not so much in higher grades. They could have appealed the Municipalities to find ways if students are stalled for registration due to fees. 

The incidence also indicates that they do not had/have good support team that most Ministers or politicians undermine. Most of the efficiency of the leaders is crafted by their assistants and advisors. 

The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that the Municipality cannot act alone when making laws related to education, the news published. While issuing a writ against the decision of the Assembly of Kathmandu Metropolitan City to designate the Ward President or a Ward Member appointed by the President the Ex-officio Chairperson of the School Management Committees (SMC), SC said that the constitution has put education in a Concurrent List (Annex 9 Ed.) that concerns federal, provincial and local all three levels, mentioned the news quoting the SC's decision.

This can be a very controversial issue. In a way, this measure is currently in favor of the school management committee, which is important from the point of view of localization of schools. According to the constitutional provision, usually the local government should have been got precedence in school level education as school level education is under the Exclusive List (Annex 8, Ed.) of the Municipalities. So far, it has not been clearly elaborated. Comments cannot be made without looking at the precise text of the verdict. Now, until the new Education Bill comes into existence, it seems that the Court has based its decision according to the old Education Act 1971. If Municipal Associations or an individual municipality is not satisfied with the verdict, they should appeal. Otherwise, it will be added to the narrative that Municipalities cannot run school education. 

Merging of Bhutan Devi and Adhunik Secondary School (SS)  of Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City of Makwanpur has been started in the process of forming one 'Mega School'. 

This may be a good initiative to combat dwindling number of students in public schools and teachers’ shortage. Much rumour has been spread in favor of Big Schools. It may be a good move but should not be generalized and theorized all over the country. Hopefully, this is a decision taken at Municipal level. Merger modality is yet to be known. However, rather than a complete merger, only higher grades should be merged and lower levels should be kept intact if necessary in both places. Trying to solve teacher shortage by acquiring buses without insuring financial resources in the long-run can be a futile action. 

There was news in the Kantipur that K I Singh Rural Municipality (RM) of Doti is educating orphans up to class 5 free of charge. It was mentioned in the news that RM has taken responsibility for the care and education of those children.

Purpose of this news review is to classify and synthesize the educational content of the week and provide objective comments from the point of view of social justice and creative pedagogy including the environment. It is aimed at the policy makers and stakeholders to help make informed decisions. In this joint effort of the Center for Education Policies and Practices (CEPP) and EduKhabar, material from daily newspapers - Kantipur, Gorkhapatra and The Himalayan Times, online news portals - Online Khabar, Setopati and Ratopati is summarized and presented with commentary on relevant issues. We have covered the contents from 14 - 20 December 2024 in this issue - The Editor.

Read it in Nepali : शिक्षा विधेयकको छलफल प्रदेशमा !

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