Kathmandu - Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has instructed the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) to come up with a concrete plan that can be tangible within 100 days. It was mentioned in the news that in the discussion regarding the problems and solutions in the education sector at the office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, PM expressed the opinion that relevant quality education should be ensured and that the share of technical stream in education should be 70 percent.

Similarly, the news came that Nain Singh Mahar, head of the education department and central member of the ruling party Nepali Congress (NC), has said that a special education policy should be formulated to stop the migration of educated youth. In the party's central committee meeting, Mahar said that only 48 percent of students passed in School Education Examination (SEE) and 52 percent in class 12 and most of those who failed dropped out are an alarming situation, mentioned in the news.

The work in education that may not be giving result immediately but decisions and actions that can have an impact should be initiated. PM Oli has instructed the MoEST to prepare a plan of action results of which can be tangible within 100 days. He can be given the 'benefit of doubt' to the fact that he has given priority to education.

PM Oli also has a history of refusing to publish the report of the High-level National Education Commission in the year 2075 in his previous tenure. The former government rather former minister of education has made that report public after 5 years of its submission. In a way, the problems and solutions of the education sector have been laid out in the report. The Oli government needs to clarify its 'position' regarding the report. By keeping quiet about that report and asking the MoEST to come up with a concrete plan, it should not be as if the government is trying to divert attention by making what it wants to do in education to avoid the criticism that is currently being made by the poor results of SEE and the Class 12 examination. 

In the same report, a team including experts suggested what should be done to make education qualitative and useful for life, and to emphasize technical education, as the PM said. It is not that the suggestions in that report of 5 years ago cannot be made up-to-date. For that too, it seems necessary to make public the views of the Oli government to make it clear whether this government takes the ownership of the report of the Commission. The problem of governments in Nepal is that they create commissions, task forces or plans and produce reports but do not implement or follow it up. The Oli government had not even made the report even public.

The news that 65 percent of the students of the public schools within the Kathmandu Metropolis have passed the class 12 examination was in the Onlinekhabar news portal. Out of 5,406 students of 40 schools in the Metropolis, 3,549 students have passed, mentioned the news.

There was news in Ratopati that Sudurpaschim Province is the weakest in the results of SEE and Class 12 published by the National Examination Board. 60 percent of the students who took the exam have received 'non-graded' results, quoted the news.

Educationalists and stakeholders have interpreted the lack of expected improvement in SEE and Class 12 results as insufficient investment in school education, a news was published in Gorkhapatra Daily. After poor results of SEE and Class 12, the method of teaching in schools, the method of examination and evaluation and the curriculum were made the main topic of debate, news mentioned.

Kantipur published an editorial under the title 'Students fail: someone should take responsibility!'. The editorial wrote after the results of SEE and Class 12; even though half of the students failed, no one took responsibility. The editorial mentioned that those who are in the responsible bodies should be made immediately accountable for the recent results and even when half of the students fail, no one should get an opportunity to excuse with superficial reasoning. 

The exam which held in SEE or Class 12 are the exams of later years at school level; its foundation is laid from grade one or earlier, wrote the editorial. If the students learnt the knowledge and skills required in each class, the results of higher levels will be better. The overall results can be improved only by paying adequate attention to the learning achievements of all classes and correcting the weaknesses, mentioned the editorial.

Achyut Wagle wrote in Kantipur that English has become a burden after analyzing the SEE and Class 12 results. English subject teaching and learning is seen as a major challenge for both levels and due to insufficient lingual knowledge of English, the results of science and mathematics subjects have also been adversely affected, he argued. If the learning of English subject can be improving only minimum in both levels of exams, there will be an improvement in the number of passes in those levels that such an effort has not been made by the responsible bodies of education, the article analyzed.

There was news that the students who have got an 'NG' in Class 12 exam will not be allowed sit in the ‘integrated medical entrance exam’ conducted by the Medical Education Commission. The students who applied before the announcement of Class 12 results but got 'NG' results have been disqualified for the exam. Their exam fee is also ‘wasted’. Even the students who have applied for ‘re-totaling’ will not be allowed to participate in the integrated exam conducted by the Commission as the exam will be conducted before the result of re-totaling.

According to Gorkhapatra, the important program of health and education sector of the Bagmati province government 'one school, one nurse' has been extended because after it is felt to have helped retaining students in school. The 'One School, One Nurse' program started in 20 schools in the fiscal year 2075-76 has been extended to 848 public schools this year. According to the news, this year, the program has been extended to schools also up to Class 12. 

Pradeep Khadka English teacher of Mahendrodaya Secondary School of Sunkoshi of Sindhupalchok, has remained absent for two and a half years since he went to Israel for employment; teaching has been affected due to his absence from school, the news was published. Naveen Bhatt, 51, from Tandrang in Gorkha, has just started going to school after raising two sons and a daughter!

Sunita Baral has defended the government by writing an article in Gorkhapatra that not only the government is irresponsible for education, but also the civil society, the private sector, the management committee of government schools, teachers and staff, and parents and students.

Prof Wagle has wrote again a 10-point Letter to the Editor in Kantipur saying that there was party interference in the University Senate. The PM preventing to present the policies and programs of the University by the Vice-Chancellor is directly a political interference in the University Senate, mentioned stated the letter. There is a little hope that this will lead to something new in higher education, he vented his frustration. The letter concluded that the current NC-UML alliance has retaliated against the Vice-Chancellor Keshar Jung Baral because he was appointed by the Maoist government even if he was qualified and  appointed through a transparent process! 

In Kantipur, Sachin Ghimire wrote an article about manipulation of equivalency by mixing methods and procedures in TU. He alleged that the decision makers have vested interests benefitting themselves or their kins and groups in an environment of ‘policy  emptiness’.

There was news that the TU Examination Control Office has started publishing the results in short periods. The result of political science was announced in 11 days after the examination were held, MBS first year result in 10 days, MA first year (partial) result in 4 days, mentioned the news.

The Keshar Library – established by the member of Rana aristocrat by that name has started functioning in its own building after the renovation of the Keshar Mahal, that was damaged by the earthquake of 2015, the news published. After 10 years, the materials from make-shift-house were moved to Keshar Mahal (palace), quoted the news.
There is news that a writ has been filed in Pokhara High Court against the advertisement calling for the appointment of Dean by Gandaki University.

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 pedagogy 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 news portals Online Khabar, Setopati and Ratopati and Himalaya TV and Nepal Television from 3-9 August 2024 are covered – the Editor.