KATHMANDU - Nepali Congress (NC) is preparing the Party's Education Policy with the aim of timely reform of education system from Early Childhood Development to the University level as well as for assisting the government in formulating the National Education Policy, the news was published in the media last week. Since there is no education policy of the Party, different views of the leaders come to the public that creates confusion, mentioned the news elaborating the need for such a policy.

It is a relevant action for all political parties mainly to the main ones to make their own education policy. While the School Education Bill (SEB) is under discussion in the parliament, NC's education policy will make its 'position' clear and transparent. When it is clear what NC is trying to do on education, it also provides a basis either for support for criticism. It will also help to keep the party leaders ‘disciplined’ in that matter. If large parties make their education policies it also provides a basis for national consensus on the matter.  It also makes the Party’s style of educational governance in its governing system. 

There was news that discussion on SEB in the Education Health and Information Technology Committee (EHITC) of the Parliament has started again. The discussion with the parliamentarians who amended the Bill was over before Dashain (mid of October). The meeting of the Committee will be regular to discuss the Bill, mentioned in the news. 

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) Minister Bidya Bhattarai has said that the SEB will not put for-profit private school operators, the news published. In the 3rd International Education Conference organized by the Private and Boarding Schools Association (PABSON), Minister Bhattarai said that the government is not in favor of enacting laws to make the private sector feel insecure, mentioned the news. 

The Education Bill is under discussion in the Parliamentary Committee. Such assuring words by the Minister interferes with the sovereign right of the Parliament and the MPs to decide what laws to make. It is not in line with the widely accepted parliamentary practices and the dignity of the Minister to say so. It is one of the most controversial matters on the Bill.  Such premature statements reduce her credibility. Public schools cannot improve themselves without addressing the side effects of haphazardly run privately schools. We know that private schools thrive on the failure of public schools!

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Public Administration has issued a circular to all local levels to provide monthly salary and allowance to teachers, the report published. The Ministry of Federal Affairs made such a circular on MoEST’s request, quoted the news.

There was news that the MoEST is going to implement the National Qualification Framework (NQF) in coordination with the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Technical Education and Vocational Training Council (CTEVT) and the Center for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD). It was mentioned in the news that there will be a legal provision to give opportunities to those people who have sufficient professional skills but who are not able to go to higher level jobs due to the lack of Certificate of Qualifications or who are not able to enroll in educational institutions for further studies.

MoEST has asked for suggestions within 15 days to improve the school level examination system. To improve the examination system, the ministry formed a six member high-level taskforce under the coordination of former secretary Shankar Prasad Pandey. The taskforce will prepare a report after getting opinions and suggestions from the stakeholders, the news mentioned. The ministry has formed another taskforce to redistribute the posts of teachers, the news published.

The MoEST has been forming working groups for years to take suggestions for improving the examination system. But there has been no improvement in the examination system. In Nepal, the biggest problem in the examination system of schools or higher education is in setting questions. Rather than testing whether the students can creatively apply what they have learnt from the textbook, questions are asked more about whether they can copy the content without looking at the book! Many problems in the examination system will be solved just by changing style of questions, teaching will also improve. It is not seen that the attention of the ministry and its experts has been paid to the fact that the questions can be creative even without major structural changes or high investment. The move to form a taskforce when the minister is changed, raises doubts if it is not to give well-paid appoints people close to the minister rather than reforming examination systems.

It was reported that the Faculty of Science and Technology of TU has directed to cancel the admission of 30 students of Bachelor of Computer Science and Information Technology (BScCSIT) at Patan Multiple Campus. TU had given admission quota of 144 students in BScCSIT to Patan Campus. The Patan campus has instructed to cancel the admission of 30 people who were admitted out of merit list.

TU has instructed the concerned offices to provide the details of professors who go on study leave and do not return within 10 days. According to the news, the Coordination Division under the Rector's Office has instructed the Dean's Office, the Central Department and the concerned campuses to send the details. You can read our previous comment about this on

https://www.edukhabar.com/news/16530

Although the number of different universities and educational institutes is increasing across provinces, the attraction of students in TU for higher education has not decreased, the Kantipur daily published the report. There are 22 higher education institutions (16 universities and 6 health science institutes) in the country and their affiliated campuses are in operation. More than 77 percent of higher education students are in institutions under TU, the news mentioned. According to the annual report of the UGC, there are 633 thousand students in higher education, 491 thousand are studying in TU institutions.

There was news that an agreement has been reached between the Advertising Board and the Central Department of Journalism and the Mass Communication of TU. It was mentioned in the news that the Board will provide research scholarship to the students who are doing research on advertising in their graduate courses or Ph.D. in journalism and the mass communication. 
After four points agreed between teachers and staff of Nepal Open University (NOU), the padlocked NOU has been opened, the news reported. Professors and the staff demanding that they should be made ‘permanent’ (i.e. open ended employment) they padlocked the NOU since November 25 until for their demands are met.  According to the news, it has been agreed that NOU will proceed with the process for turning their appointment permanent immediately and form a committee to determine conditions of employment and facilities in accordance with the laborer law.
Such a move of ‘automatic permanency’ (i.e. making them permanent for serving for x number of years) has created chronic problem for decades in the country.  Enrolling people without meritocratic scrutiny is a recipe for making an institution a low-graded institution.  It is not to mean that the staff and professors at OUN are low-graded but it does not ensure the quality. Such a system by-passes established scrutiny system out of urgency or for nepotism or partisanship eventually ending in such a ‘political vandalism’. 

Similarly, After the Vice-Chancellor of the NOU had suspended Khagendra Prasain, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education; It was reported that Prasain submitted an application to the Chancellor and Minister of MoEST Bidya Bhattarai, Bhattarai has written a letter to reinstate Prasain in the same position until this dispute is resolved. 

In the 15th meeting of the Medical Education Commission, there was a discussion about the fact that private medical colleges were exploiting resident doctors the admission process was stopped, published the news. The ex-officio Chairperson of the Commission PM Oli has put forward the idea to compromise to give seats to private colleges (even if the issue is not resolved) rather than wasting.

Experimental classes of agriculture at Uttarpani Polytechnic School of Dhankuta and  Ratna Kumar Bantawa Polytechnic School of Ilam have been held at Maipokhri Herbal Organic Agriculture Farm in Sandakpur, Ilam, the report published.

After errors were found in Social Studies, Mathematics, Nepali and Population school textbooks, the Curriculum Development Center (CDC) decided not to let them write textbooks again to those authors who wrote the faulty textbooks. 

As the number of students in Jaimini Municipality of Baglung is low, the Municipality has decided to close five schools immediately and has adjusted five schools and plan to close from the next academic session.

There was news that Jumla has been declared a ‘literate district’ after all the indicators of literacy standards have been met. In national literacy standards, there is a provision that a district can be declared literate if more than 95 percent of the population in the age group of 15 to 60 years is literate.

The process of declaring a district literate for competitive purposes may be desirable, it does not depict a true picture. Even after the district has been declared literate, a lot of illiteracy was found even in Lalitpur, adjoined district to the capital. Further, now that the country's governance is federal, there is no need to continue taking district as an executive unit. Of course, there is no harm in looking from district perspective, there is no authority who is to give credit if it is for competition purpose. It appears to be a lame effort by the district educational authority to prove itself and spend some money. There are other good things to do such as supporting the Municipalities to run post-literacy classes or performing other educational duties. Now, looking at the literacy rate at the municipality (or the provincial) level would be a bit more pragmatic. Such efforts reveals our tendency to pay attention to rituals over work. The media would also better be careful about such absurdities.

The CDC will implement the curriculum to accredit students' household work in the assessment even if they plow the fields, cut the grass, cook a meal, look after their siblings, do shopping, sew clothes or clean the yard - from the next academic session 2025. You can read our complement about this initiative in https://www.edukhabar.com/news/16514.

There was news that classrooms in public schools in Far-Western Province are not according to government standards. The height of the chairs, tables and desks are not according to the age of the students and the furniture in proportion to the number of students is not arranged, mentioned the news. 

An article of Khemraj Niraula published in Gorkhapatra stating that Quality Assurance and Accreditation (QAA) certificate is necessary to advance the overall educational activities and improve the quality.

Shantikrishna Adhikari's article published in Gorkhapatra mentions that the method of conducting a survey with professors and staff may be suitable for the selection of vice-chancellors in the university.

Ganesh Bhattarai has written an article in Gorkhapatra that the monitoring and evaluation system should be strengthened to improve the weaknesses in school management. It was mentioned in the article that it can be ensured that all children complete the basic level according to the intention of the Compulsory and Free Education Act through the awareness program about civic duty. 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 23 November-6 December 2024 in this issue - The Editor.