KATHMANDU - There was news that the representatives of the Local Governments (LG) or the Municipalities suggested not changing the rights of managing school education as specified by the Constitution, The Chairperson of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee (EHITC) of the House of Representatives Mr Amar Bahadur Thapa was reported saying in a conversation published in Onlinekhabar news portal that he received such a suggestion during the Province level discussion on School Education Bill (SEB). The committee is collecting suggestions from the stakeholders at the Province level in Far-west, Koshi and Madhesh Provincess regarding the SEB. 

However, in the discussions held in those provinces, the teachers asserted that they should not be under the LGs, the news mentioned. According to the news, the committee is holding discussions on SEB in Lumbini and Karnali provinces in the next phase. The discussion in the province has increased further confusion regarding the management of teachers in the SEB, quoted the news.

Section 11 of the Local Government (LG) Operation Act clearly states that LGs have pregorative right over School Education as per Schedule 8 of the Constitution. In sub-section 'h' of section 11, mentioning the responsibilities, duties and rights related to the management of Basic and Secondary School Education, there is a provision that the LGs have the right to manage the teachers and the staff of public schools. 

Since, The school level education is under the purview of LGs, there is no justification for keeping the teachers and the staff under the Federal Government. It is not in the spirit of federalism if basic and secondary education is entrusted to the LGs and the management of teachers is not under the jurisdiction of the LGs. Neither the improvement of school education is possible.

Keeping the experience of improvement in teaching-learning and management of schools in general  after the promulgation of provisions of LGs, it looks desirable that a complete responsibility of school education should go to LGs. It is not appropriate to enact a law that undermines the rights of the LG, in contrary to the constitution, while underestimating hundreds of LGs that have performed better under the pretext that some municipalities have treated unfairly for partizenship. Most stakeholders and experts agree that teachers should not join in active party politics. Furthermore, managerially, you cannot get things done if one pays and another has to employ someone.

CPN (UML) standing committee member and former Minister Mr Sher Bahadur Tamang has proposed to change school timings to improve education, the news published. He proposed to change timing from 8am to 2pm in the winter and from 7am to 1pm in the summer, mentioned the news. 

It was not clear from the news in what context the former Minister made this statement. However,we need to be freed from the ‘uniformity mindset’ that school timing should be one, all over the country. Such awareness is more necessary in a country with diverse geographical conditions (i.e. subsequent climatic diversity) like ours,. Such a decision should be made at the school level, if not, at least at the municipal level.

Curriculum Development Center (CDC) preparing to set ‘open questions’ (opposed to close questions where memorization is sufficient – ed.) to school level students, the news published. The CDC is doing its homework in setting open-ended questions as it is not possible to evaluate the students with a mere three-hour exam, mentioned the news. It was mentioned in the news that open questions are also including to test the competence not only an ability to reproduce knowledge from the book but also the ability to reason.

It was reported that the president of Nepal Samajwadi (Socialist) Students Union, Mr Netra Chapagai, is on a stand-in (dharna) protest with 14 points demand for education reform at Maitighar in Kathmandu. According to the news, Chapagai's demand is focused on improving public schools.

Mr. Chapagai has done two commendable things in this movement. First, he has raised demands regarding the quality of education at Early Childhood Development (ECD) and school level - the issues that are directly related to education that other student organizations are not interested to raise yet. He has shown that it is possible to put their demands and draw attention to them in a gentler way than processions, loud slogans, lockouts, and closure of educational institutions. He had also made such a demand by the government to address the quality and problems of ECD by similar staging-in protest last May. 

The agreement to address those demands was made with the then Minister of Education Ms Sumana Shrestha. He is now also stressing that this agreement be honored and implemented. It seems to be a trend for the governments to make an agreement to fulfil the demands to end the agitation on various issues but not follow the agreement earnestly. It is also known that after the change of government, no ownership is taken of the previous government's decisions and agreements by the succeeding governments even though the Constitution states that the Government of Nepal is an indivisible successor. 

There was news that Mr Dhaneshwar Prasai, a branch officer working in the teacher's record section, has been arrested from the office for asking for a bribe of three hundred thousand rupees (around US$ 2,190) to register a teacher's record on the book for the purpose of pension. According to the news, this is his second arrest.  Earlier in 2020, he was arrested with a bribe of NRs 52,000 (around US$ 380).

There was news that the temporary learning center (TLC) has not yet been constructed in the Kavrepalanchok schoolsthat were damaged due to the floods occurred in the last week of September, 2024. Due to lack of safe classrooms for conducting regular classes, teaching is being conducted in the buildings prone to collapse.

There was news that Siddhant Bhatt of the student organization affiliated to ruling CPN (UML) party, who has been on a sit-in protest outside the office of the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Tribhuwan University (TU) since December 1st, has reached to an agreement with the University. There was news that the padlock by the students in the Central Department of Physics in the University has also been opened. 

But there was another news that the student organization close to the opposition party, was on a sit-on at the front door of TU Rector's office. According to the news, the demand was that professors and employees who went abroad on a study-leave and did not come back to the service, cost of their facilities and salary for the period should be returned to the university and action should be taken against those who don’t.

Further on, the TU Staff Union has been protesting for 3 weeks with the demands of making them permanent through internal competition and setting a system of automatic promotion after certain period of time, the news quoted.

Similarly, there was news that part-time teachers of Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus have locked the office of the Campus Chief, Accounts and Administration Section because they have not been paid for 18 months.

What has been proven the sit-in or other protests in TU that are aimed at preventing the VC appointed through open competition is that the political parties want to appoint people loyal to them, not competent ones in the University. In the past, the system of choosing openly party workers to appoint is gradually ending, due to past-style protests such as sit-ins, processions, sieges, lock-outs, and entry bans, the TU Campus is becoming unusual for study again.

In order to fulfill their demands, the employees staged a sit-in during the Senate meeting attended by the Prime Minister. Anybody can make demands in a democratic system, it is not a democratic practice to lock and hijack educational institutions with an act of force. Party leaders do not stop making speeches in public programs complaining that more than one lakh students go abroad to study higher education every year. However, the students are repelled by the hindrances created by  fraternal organizations (such as students unions, professor's organization, staff unions) of ruling or opposition parties’ for smooth functioning of the University. This deteriorates the standard of the University and compels students to go abroad for studies. It seems that the ‘mother’ parties of the protesting organizations have to decide whether to make the university an educational center or a place of protest !

Due to the unsettled situation in TU premises, the ex-officio Chancellor Premier KP Oli called an informal Senate Meeting in his office (Singh Durbar). When he reached the university to participate in the Senate on December 12, 2024, the staffs were protesting with slogans at the entrance. 

There was another news that breaking the past practices and traditions, the VCs of Nepal Sanskrit, Agriculture and Forestry and Pokhara Universities took oath of office in front of the Chancellor, Premier Oli. Previously, VCs use to inform the Associate-Chancellor (Minister of Education) and take charge after the recommendations made by the Selection and Recommendation Committee. But the news in the Kantipur viewed that scuh a practice started from this time is trying to keep the university under the umbrella of party politics.

There was news in the Ratopati news portal that appointments are being shared among parties under the guise of meritocracy in the universities. Candidates’ names projected as selected on meritocracy belonged to one or the other political party. 

There was news that the Dhulikhel Hospital side has refused to be a part of a committee formed to resolve the problem between Kathmandu University (KU) and Dhulikhel Hospital (DH) by the government. 

There was news that the search and recommendation committee formed to short-list names for the vice-chancellor of KU has given 10 days' time as per the search and recommendation procedure and called for applications from aspiring candidates.

Conspiracy has started again regarding the admission of students who are not in the merit list in Patan Multiple Campus, published the news. Contrary to the instructions of the Dean's Office of Institute of Science and Technology, the campus hasstarted recruiting  of B.Sc. CSIT students out of merit, the news mentioned.

There was a news that Madhesh Agricultural University is going to establish College of Animal Health and Animal Science (CAHAS) in Bardibas. It is mentioned in the news that the Bardibas Municipality has leased 51 bigha (around 13 Hectare) out of the 67 bigha (around 17 Hectare) land of river bank to the University for 40 years to establish CAHAS in Bardibas, the news mentioned.

There was also news that the number of female students in higher education studies is increasing. The news has been published on the basis of the University Grants Commission's report that 358 thousand female students (57 percent) and 274 thousand male students (43 percent) are studying in the universities and health science institutions across the country. Similarly, there was news that 17 of the 22 best medals and awards distributed at this time (50th) convocation of the TU were received by female students. According to the news, out of 14,308 convocation participants, 8,400 (59) percent were female students and 5,800 (41 percent only) male students and one gender minority.

There was a cooperation agreement between Lumbini Buddhist University (LBU) and Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) of China, there was the news. A memorandum of understanding was exchanged between LBU VC Prof. Dr. Suvarna Lal Bajracharya and president of BLCU in an event held at the Prime Minister's Residence, Baluwatar.

There was news that Nepal Open University (NOU) Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Shilu Manandhar has appointed two professors on her own without taking any decision from the Executive Council.
Prof.Dr. Mana Wagle raised questions about the basis of appointment of professors in NOU writing a Letter to the Editor in the Kantipur. He wrote that the appointment of associate professors and professors in NOU has been made without the position of professors. Appointment of a higher academic position such as a professor in the recommendation of a political party, the entire academic community has lost its face. It was mentioned in the letter that if professors are continued to be appointed this way, the quality of higher education will go down to the bottom and the credibility and respect of Nepal's academic sector will be lost.

The meeting of the Educational Human Resource Development Council chaired by the Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ms Bidya Bhattarai has approved various courses including Professional Teacher Development Training Course, Service Entry Training etc., the news came. 

There was news that the National Examination Board has released the application form for Secondary Education Examination (SEE) 2025 with a deadline of a month. The form should be filled within January 25th and a security deposit of five hundred rupees to be made.

There was news that the government has decided to place students studying at the under-graduate level on internships in government offices. Preparation of procedure has been started in coordination with the Prime Minister's Office, the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Education to be implemented from January, the news mentioned.

Janaki Rural Municipality of Kailali will give grants to improve educational quality and English, science and mathematics teachers could not be found in the schools of Gulmi's Musikot municipality, the news covered. 

JB Vishwakarma in the Kantipur has written that the curriculum included in schools in Nepal does not contain a content of the nature that reflects social diversity, social contradictions and the reality. Therefore, he argued that multifaceted aspects of social diversity should be included in curriculum development, teaching method development and teacher quality measurement. He asserts that its already late to have such a curriculum. 

The curriculum is a continuous process of revision. There is no limit to take it towards excellence but we have a big illusion that if the curriculum is good then everything will fall in place by itself. Most of our teachers are still teaching by reading textbooks to the students. Many teachers don't even know that there is a difference between a textbook and a curriculum. Most of the teachers have not received necessary training for the Integrated Curriculum that has been implemented for 4/5 years, for example. Changing the curriculum without training has caused more confusion. It has been a tendency for journalists, experts and politicians to tell what they think without thinking through. The main reason why our education is in crisis now is not for the lack of advanced curriculum but its delivery! May all of us be aware of it!  

Sheela Mishra has written in Gorkhapatra that it is necessary for the province to conduct a special program to increase the literacy rate in Madhesh, to inform the parents and the community about the importance of education, to bring the children who do not go to school or bring drop-outs of school back to the school.

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 and Nepal Television and Himalaya Television is summarized and presented with commentary on relevant issues. We have covered the contents from 21 December- 3 January 2024 in this issue - The Editor.

Read last two week's analysis in Nepali :

शिक्षक स्थानीयका कि संघका ?
 

अध्ययन गर्ने थलो कि आन्दोलन गर्ने ?

Read last week's content : Last week in education