Kathmandu- Cancellation of land lease contracts of educational institutions, the more and more students getting attracted in public schools and the decisions of municipalities were covered in the media in last two weeks.

It was reported that a lease agreement for the use of 3.7 acres of land located in Naxal by Brihaspati Vidya Sadan, a for-profit private school, for 50 years has been cancelled by Nepal Children Organization. The news mentioned that the land was leased to the school by the then officials and employees of the organization with vested interests with the blessings of the power center and that it the school has mortgaged the said leased land.

Similarly, the news was published last week that out of 125.7 acres of encroached land of Tribhuvan University (TU), about 2.2 acres is being leased illegally by the professors and the staff of TU. TU Teacher's Association (TUTA), and TU Employees Association (TUEA) have been leasing the high value land in front of the main gate of the University by the side of Balkhu-Dakshinkali road. It was mentioned in the news that TUTA has leased land to operate Sumo (jeep) parking lot and a tree nursery and TUEA has been leased for operating a petrol station.

This news was published and broadcasted before. There has been much follow up of this news. 

Increasing trust of people in public schools was also published in the media last week.

There was news that Mohanmaya Secondary School in Birtamod, Jhapa has been running in morning and afternoon shifts due to the large number of students. They made this decision in response to 950 applications whereas the school called for applications for 300 places. Similarly, the number of students who wanted to enroll in Triyuga Model Secondary School located at Gaighat, Udaipur has increased this year as well. Interest of students was increased due to the engineering subject offered from class 9 onwards and that the school has a good physical infrastructure.

It was mentioned in Gorkhapatra's article in special issue called 'Anavarat Yatra' that students who have completed class 12 from public schools are scoring high marks in the undergraduate entrance exams for further studies for engineering, medicine, management and other subjects.

Similarly, in another news last week, it was mentioned that public schools are better than private ones because they have skilled teachers and safer classrooms.
The news that the result of the basic level (class 8) examination (BLE) in various municipalities of the country was very low also came last week. It was mentioned that in order to hide the low result, it was found that Kohalpur Municipality of Banke fed the fake results in the computer. This incident was uncovered when the Municipality formed an inquiry committee after having found the involvement of the head of the education section of the municipality to show high results was suspected. The examiners of  schools in Municiplaity checked the answer sheets of their own students, entered higher marks than the students obtained into the computer; the teaching and learning facilitator solved the question by adding a new copy sitting in the office of the education officer of municipality; some of the outer and inner pages of answer sheets were changed; are the issues included in the investigation report, the news mentioned. 

Although the basic school at Kalitar in Rapti Municipality of Chitwan received the permission to conduct Class 8 this year, the school built a small bamboo-framed thatched roofed classroom for teaching because there is no classroom. It was mentioned in the news that Krishna Bahadur Praja, chairman of the school management committee, said that they couldn't build a new building for the school due to lack of budget.

It was mentioned in the news that the Bagmati Provincial Government (BPG) has decided to issue an ordinance to amend the provisions regarding the formation of the Board of Trustees of the Provincial University (PU) contained in the provincial Higher Education Act, 2078. The ordinance is going to be brought to amend the provision in the law which the chairman working as a full-time official and the term of office of the chairman and members of the Board of Trustees, except ex-officio members. BPG has also established a contact office of Bagmati PU to run its own university.

TU had formed the high-level inquiry committee regarding missing answer sheets formed under the coordination of its former registrar Prof. Dr. Chandramani Poudel on March 28, has recommended to take action against the staff including the Controller of Examinations Pushparaj Joshi. It was mentioned in the news that the committee questioned 20 related employees including the controller of examination.

In the presence of Minister of Education and Joint Chancellor Sumana Shrestha, Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Dr. Kesharjung Baral announced the formation of various committees through a press conference on Tuesday. VC said that the committee was formed to solve the problems faced by the university and to improve the standards of education. There was news in Setopati newsportal that the Minister gave direction to TU administration to fix the annual work schedule and conduct the examination and publish the results accordingly. The news also came last week that the University is spending 250 million rupees per anum on retired teachers and staffs and will have to spend 300 million rupees for pensions in the next financial year.

There was news that the Prime Minister and Chancellor of Universities Pushpa Kamal Dahal has appointed VCs in the Eastern, Midwestern and Farwest Universities, Prof. Dr. Biju Kumar Thapalia, Prof. Dr. Dhruv Kumar Gautam and Prof. Dr. Hem Raj Pant respectively. 

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced the results of the written examination for the post of lower secondary level third grade teacher under 'open' category. The examination for the post was conducted on April 20th last year for 840 vacancies in 9 subjects, the news note. The TSC has now also advertised for 4,462 posts of teachers for primary level. The call is for 'Open' category and reserved quotas for Women, Tribal Tribes, Dalits, Disability, Backward Areas and Madheshis, Backward Classes or Minority Muslim Communities living in Terai Madhesh the news mentioned. Applications are called for 1103 seats in Bagmati, 1077 in Koshi, 800 in Gandaki, 508 in Madhesh, 495 in Lumbini, 302 in Far West and 177 in Karnali Provinces.

According to the news Arkha Secondary School in Pyuthan had to advertise for the fifth time for secondary level science teachers. In the advertisement for the vacancy of science teacher for the secondary school in Gaumukhi RM, when the requirement of teaching license was removed, only 2 applications were received, it is mentioned in the news.

There was news that the Aam Janata Party (AJP) and Aam Vidyarthi Morcha, which is close to the AJP, has protested in various districts of Madhesh province the last week and submitted a memorandum to the Federal Government through  District Administration Offices, demanding for more teacher vacancies in Madhesh. The party claims that the number of teachers in Madhesh is very low compared to the number of students.

There was news that the MoEST is going to form a task force to study the scholarships provided by the MoEST, as there is a heavy financial burden in providing scholarships to students studying medicine in government educational institutions. The meeting chaired by MoEST Sumana Shrestha has taken the decision to submit the proposal to 'National Development Problem Solving Committee' to form a task force. Government-owned medical colleges have to teach 75 percent of the total student under scholarships at the undergraduate level.

The instruction of MoEST to the ministry administration and related agencies when submit the progress report in the coming days, besides the statement of expenses, should mention the results obtained from the program operation as well as the learnings obtained from the program implementation, also came in the media last week.

Another news was that the MoEST has instructed the Center for Education and Human Resource Development to return the teachers who have been on the job other than teaching without the approval of the School Management Committee and the Education Development Coordination Unit.

Gopal Bahadur Mahat, the principal of a private school 'Prolific Secondary School' in Dhumbarahi, has been arrested for setting up five fake candidates for Class 12 exam including his brother. Similarly, it is in the news that Kaski police have arrested Narayan Bastola and Ram Chandra Bastola on the charge of leaking class 12 question papers before the exam. According to the police, eight additional answer sheets of class 12 and three mobile phones were seized from them. There was another news that a girl student who was returning home after giving her class 12 exam was shot in Jhapa. 

In Achham, it has been found that the students of class 12 gave the exam from the old question paper. It was mentioned in the news that the students found out that they had given the exam from the old question paper of the year 2023 only after taking the exam.

It was news that the Hetauda Sub-Metropolity and all local government of Sindhupalchok started to teach the local curriculum from the current academic session.
There was news that Arjunchoupari RM of Syangja has started teaching religious education under the 'local subject' from 6th to 8th grade. Raskot Municipality of Kalikot and Jaljala RM of Parbat has done adjustment the upper classes after the number of students started decreasing in the public school.

Morning classes are to be conducted in nine public schools in Halesi Tuwachung Municipality of Khotang due to extreme heat. It was mentioned in the news that in the nine public schools along the Dudhkoshi River, after the students had problems due to the heat in the afternoon, the meeting of the Municipality executive decided to conduct classes from 6 am to 11 am.

Last week, there was a report that administrative work and student enrollment campaign were affected after two people were appointed as acting principals at Sri Vani Secondary School of Kamala RM in Jhapa. Due to this reason, the teachers were not even able to get their salaries, mentioned in the news. 

There was news that for three years since the blackboard of the Balkalyan Basic School in Dang was broken, it has not been changed. Similarly, there was a news that there is a problem in teaching and learning in Janjyoti Basic School at Naya Gaun, because the computer lab and the teachers' room is the same. Although the student enrollment rate is increasing, little attention is paid to improving the school, mentioned in the news. 

A video made public caught the school management committee chairman Mahendra Rai, member Ashok Shrestha, Principal Ravindra Yadav and Parent-Teacher Association Chair Vinod Kumar Kharal of Su-Sanskrit Secondary School of Siddharthanagar Municipality of Rupandehi, drinking in the school. 

There was news that 90 schools in Kathmandu metropolitan area have submitted proposals to change their names. The metropolis had issued a notice also directed all 335 private schools to change their names.

According to the letter sent by the MoEST to the Education Development and Coordination Unit in the district, the coordination unit also issued a notice, it was mentioned in the news that the teachers who were members of different parties in Baglung started resigning from the party membership.

Last week, the announcement of the Working Committee of Nepal Teachers Federation (NTF) was postponed due to the dispute between the main constituents of the NTF, the Nepal National Teachers' Organization and the Nepal Teachers' Association. Amid the dispute, Lakshmi Kishor Subedi was selected as the President, the news was covered by all the media last week.

Baikuntha Aryal, the Director General of the Curriculum Development Center, said that the Center has been asked for clarification to Rato Bangla School and Kathmandu World School on the fact that they are teaching foreign courses without permission. Earlier, the MoEST had instructed to take action against schools that conduct foreign educational programs without permission. The Ministry had earlier requested parents not to enroll students in schools that are conducting foreign programs without taking permission.

There is a need to review the issue of the work has been done or not according to the plan despite the investment of billions of investments in the name of technical education project in Nepal, a news mentioned last week. 

Prof. Dr. Man Prasad Wagle has written a letter to editor in Kantipur as '10 reasons to close the Open University' (OU). Even after nine years after the establishment of the OU, its condition is deteriorating.  Sharing the leadership positions among the parties and they influencing even in the hiring of faculty heads, teachers and staffs and the bitter relationship between the first VC and the Registrar, the OU could not move forward, were some of Wagle's arguments for the closure. 

In Gorkhapatra, Hari Gyawali wrote an article on the slogan of this time's enrollment campaign, increasing children's participation in schools and ensuring quality education, although the goal is complex but not impossible. 

Laxman Timalsina wrote in Online Khabar newsportal that the directives sent by the MoEST to all local levels regarding free education in public schools and fee determination and management of scholarships in private investment schools, indicates the Minister of Education not only raises issues in Parliament, but also works when given an opportunity. 

The Secretary of MoEST Suresh Adhikari has retired, mentioned in the news. After his retirement, Dr. Deepak Kafle has been transferred as Secretary of MoEST who was previously the Secretary of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. 

In an article written by Rita Bhandari in Gorkhapatra, mentioned that to make the educational system practical, the teaching method should be made student-centered, bilateral, interactive and technology-friendly.

The 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 padagogy to the policy makers and stakeholders in one place. In this joint effort of Center for Education Policy and Practice (CEPP) and Edukhbar, the news of daily newspapers Kantipur, Gorkhapatra and The Himalayan Times, online newsportals Online Khabar, Setopati and Ratopati and Himalaya TV and Nepal Television from 27Aprl-10May 2024 are covered - Editor.

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