KATHMANDU - In a program organized on the occasion of Education Day (September 18), Prime Minister (PM) KP Oli has said that the pass percentage in the School Education Examination (SEE) is poor due to the shortage of teachers, and that he is going to make arrangements for Online Classes, the news published. The PM said that the goal of achieving 70 percent pass rate in SEE next year will be achieved even by conducting Online Classes in subjects like mathematics, science, and English, mentioned in the news.

However, academicians and stakeholders called PM’s commitment to achieve a pass rate of 70 percent in the upcoming SEE as ambitious, the news came. At least two years of homework is needed to achieve the prime minister's goal, according to experts, the news quoted. But, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) is unaware of the plan of Online Classes as mentioned by PM, quoted in the news. However, MoEST got the information about the PM's Office asking donor agencies to support Online Classes, news mentioned.

The Center for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD) has made digitized every subject from class 1 to 12. The same program can be accessed online for free. Those programs are also broadcast on radio and television. Experts say that the programs created by the center are of good quality. But, question has been raised from various sides about the need to ask for donors to run an online classes to produce a program to bring internet facilities to students' homes to buy equipment for students to use the Internet. It seems that there is no need for asking support from donor to run Online Classes by an excellent teacher of mathematics, science or English. They have to be made accessible to more students and teachers need training to do the basic operation. Stakeholders have suspected that PM is trying to publicize the program of a certain company by making rumors of conducting Online Classes to improve academic results.

As suspected, on the pretext of insufficient teachers, if PM tries to advance a program that will benefit the company of a person affiliated to him, it will be a counterproductive act for the country.

There was news that Community Forest Group and parents of Thimura Village of Bharatpur Metropolitan City located in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park, have arranged security arrangements for school going students for fear of tiger attacks. On the initiative of the local parents, the Community forest Goup deployed a person to protect the students going to Ramnagar Secondary School after crossing Satanchuli Community Forest, known as Ramnagar Forest, about one and a half kilometers from Thimura. According to the news, 30 studying in Ramnagar High School, 16 in Bhanu High School in Narayangadh and 42 of various private schools students are going to study crossing the forest every day from Thimura.

Similarly, there was news of not being able to find teachers in public schools in municipalities of Karnali province and remote area and also some accessible municipalities despite repeated advertisements. There is a shortage of teachers in public schools due to the lack of people who are interested in becoming teachers, news mentioned.

The number of students has increased since English medium of education started in Janata Secondary School (SS) in Bharatpurkhor of Mahottari, news came. After the initiation of English medium education from Early Child Development Class to Class 12, the number of students has increased to 1,160.

The MoEST awarded this year's National Education Award in the public school category, to Sri SS of Tulsipur Center in Dang and on the private side, to Fluorescent School in Kathmandu based on the results of the 2080 Secondary Education Passing Examination (Class 12). In the same way, in the public school category, Vishwaniketan SS of Kathmandu is the second and Janakalyan SS of Dang is the third. Similarly, the school of business campus under Pokhara University was awarded for the college side, the Janbhavana Campus at Chapagaon in Lalitpur for the community campus and the Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences in Kathmandu from the private sector. 

The news published a few weeks ago that the government has not been able to distribute medals awarded to the best student, Vidya Bhushan for five years due to the lack of budget for making medals is repeated this week as well.

The MoEST has prepared extensive revisions in the school level curriculum after discussing with experts.

The MoEST has left aside the main work in the education sector and the solution to the main problems, and has started the discussion of curriculum revision. The return of the government's investment in the education sector should be seen in the learning and results of the students. But the results of basic level examination (Class 8), SEE and Secondary Education Passing Examination (Class 12) were poor, and in this situation where the government is being criticized, it seems that the MoEST started the rumors of curriculum modification as the Ministry tried to show the curriculum is the reason for the failure.

After implementing the course, it should be evaluated after practicing it for a few years to see what results it gave. But there is no basis for judging the merits and demerits of the curriculum if it is changed quickly without the time to give results. On top of that, after the curriculum is changed, it requires adequate orientation and training according to intensity and expansion of the change. For example, it has been 4 years since the implementation of the 'Integrated Curriculum' for classes 1 to 3. There are more teachers who have not received any training at all (the writers of these lines have met plenty) than those who have received. 

There is no limit to improving curriculum but experience shows that teaching skills, training and materials required by the curriculum could not be given to the teachers who implement that curriculum. After implementing the new curriculum, if there is no attention paid to the necessary preparation to implement the curriculum and to provide appropriate training skills to the teachers who will 'deliver' it, then no expert need to say that no matter how good the curriculum is, it will not achieve results.

Without practicing it properly and without accounting for the achievements, the changes that are happening in without planning seem to make school education even more unstable and weak. It is important to note that experts, leaders and campaigners who are compelled to say something about education in their speeches, they speak about this without realizing that the main reason our education has deteriorated at the moment or for some decades is not because the curriculum is not good but because its delivery is poor. Of course, who has understood what by  ‘curriculum’ also needs to be accounted for!

Pokhara is becoming a center of education as students from all over the country started coming to study at various levels and subjects from school to university level, news published. The attraction of students in Pokhara has increased after Pkhara University and Gandaki University came into operation due to the activation of Gandaki Provincial Government, news mentioned.
Similarly, Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) will provide industrial training to more than 2500 trainee free of cost, news came. The council has asked applications for the training of 24 months duration of pre-diploma level, news quoted.

Sinja Rural Municipality of Jumla was declared ‘full literate’ on the occasion of Education Day after around 96 percent of the citizens of the municipality were accounted literate, the news published.

There was the news that the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the Federal Parliament has started investigation on the current situation of Lumbini Buddhist University. A committee formed for this purposes,  made site visit at the Dean's Office in Devdah and also Devdah Education Development Project and the City Campus at Butwal Naigaon, the news mentioned.

The government has extended the deadline of the Commission formed to investigate the land and property of Tribhuvan University (TU). Mahendra Kumar Thapa has been appointed as new Coordinator following the illness of Sharda Prasad Trital, the news quoted.

Thirteen people, including current Dean and Assistant Dean, Director of the TU Teaching Hospital and former Director, have applied for the post of Dean of the Institute of Medical Sciences (IOM).

After clash between two student organizations affiliated to the ruling party Nepali Congress and CPN (UML), there was news that the Padlocked University of Agriculture and Forestry at Rampur in Chitwan has not been opened even after three weeks.

The Minister of Education and Culture of the Madhesh Province Government Rani Kumari Tiwari said that the Madhesh Province Government will soon introduce its own education policy.

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 14 - 20 September 2024 are covered – The Editor.

Read it in Nepali : अनलाइन कक्षाबाट नतिजा सुधार्ने 'सदिच्छा' !

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