KATHMANDU - A black board is hung on a middle pole of a hut. More than 15 students are sitting on blue tarps spread on the cold ground. Some students are studying sitting on the used sacks of grain or cement   A teacher is writing something on the board sitting on a plastic chair. Other classes are also running on the right and left sides of the same hut. There is a sugarcane field behind the class.

The Kantipur Daily published this news under the title 'Children Studying on Cold Floor for 17 Years' with a photo of  of the described scene. This is the situation of Dalit Primary School running in a hut on the banks of Lalbakaiya River in Rautahat's Fatuwa Bijayapur Municipality. Students bring used sacks and tarps together with their books from home. In the evening, they take  the things back.

According the news, there are two small huts in the name of the 'school building'. It has no walls on any side (other than thin class separating walls). There are 192 students in this school, up to 5th grade, mentioned the news. There are 6 teachers in the school including a facilitator for Early Child Development class. Children and teachers resort  to adjoining sugarcane field for toilet.
It is the right of children  to have adequateeducational materials, skilled teachers, an amicable positive environment, with the learning achievements specified for specified grades the Kantipur Daily added in its  Editorial. It is not the intention of the Constitution that students should bring sacks and tarps from home to sit on to study, otherwise they have  to sit on the cold floor; it is also inhuman opined the Editorial. Education should bea priority of the state to prevent such a worsening situation of public schools, suggested the Editorial.

It is positive that the media is paying attention to such matters. However, nothing is mentioned about why and how the children are going to school and how their learning is progressing even in such a situation. Neither questions have been asked with the concerned Ward and Municipal authorities nor are about the regularity and enthusiasm of students and teachers talked about.  While raising such issues, it is relevant to raise the question what is happening in schools with grand buildings! And questions such as why those teachers (appreciating what they have been doing) are allowing this to happen should also be asked. And how about the parents? Otherwise we risk that discussion on our education will confine from building to building.

Education Science and Technology (MoEST) Minister Bidya Bhattarai said that the current investment is not enough to improve the quality of education so that the government is committed to investing in education as the first priority, on the Golden Jubilee and Parents' Day of Shree Saraswati Secondary School located in Ahale of Gorkha Municipality. Since the federal government invests only ten percent now the Minister stated that it should also be ensured how much all the three tiers of governments must invest the news mentioned. 

In the same ceremony, there was news that Supremo of CPN Maoist Center Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said that 20 percent of the total budget should be allocated to  education sector as education is the main basis of the country's development, the news quoted. 

21 billion rupees of state funds were spent under the educational reform program in the last three years. But schools like Dalit Primary School where children from mostly marginalized communities study did not get any facilities. It is found that the budget went to the districts and regions of powerful and accessible leaders. In this situation, it seems that schools like Dalit Primary School have teased the country. But the political leadership does not stop making education improvement a topic of speech instead of reform. What initiative will the Comrade Supremo take to allocate 20 percent?

There was the news that public and private schools in Banke's Nepalganj and Khajura were closed for three days due to the 'cold wave'.

A team including the Chairperson of Education, Health and Information Technology Committee (EHITC) of the House of Representatives, Mr Ammar Bahadur Thapa, has visited Lumbini Province to seek suggestions on the Federal School Education Bill, there was the news. Collection of suggestions of 6 provinces including Lumbini have been completed and in Bagmati Province, they are to take suggestions on January 27, mentioned the news. With the representatives of the committee, the stakeholders of Lumbini's education sector have suggested making a law to allocate the number of teachers based on the number of students, quoted the news. 

After the Confederation of Nepalese Teacher (CNT) is planning to stage a protest with the demand that the School Education Act should be promulgated, Education Minister Bidya Bhattarai told the teachers that there is no need to protest now and asked them to go to the classroom instead of protest. Similarly, according to the news, the third national committee meeting will be held on January 29 and 30 of CNT to prepare to stage a protest in Kathmandu demanding that teachers' professional demands be addressed. 

The Task Force formed to study  restructuring of the National Examination Board proposed to make the Secretary of the Ministry of Education or an expert as the Chairperson of the Board, published the report.  It was also mentioned in the news that the Task Force concluded that the relationship between the ministry and the board is not smooth.

It is appropriate the Board to be chaired by an expert or a university professor. From the point of view of government coordination, the member of the board will be the secretary and the Member Secretary represents the government. The main thing is that if the board is to be filled by most government officials, then it can run as a department of the ministry. 

Changing the structure of the Board has little meaning if the structure of questions is not changed. Changing scoring system from numbers to letters is not enough. Currently questions are asked that overwhelmingly demand memorization. It is important to change the  questions in such a way that they should be answered from memorization combined with creativity and  thinking. For example, after reading a text  introducing  a place, students should be asked to write an introduction about  their or places instead of having to write answers to the questions asked about the place. 

It does not appear that the examination board is trying to get out of the colonial examination administration system. Rather than diverse and school-centered questions, they seem to be interested in making standards. If the Board is to be saved from intellectual inbreeding, it is necessary to have a significant number of people from outside the government in the mechanism.

The MoEST has clarified that only the teachers who will be appointed from now on in public schools will be included in the Social Security Fund for pension scheme. The teachers had protested against the inclusion of teachers appointed prior to the date of enforcement in the Social Security Fund for the pension in the recent ordinance brought by the government, the news published.

The Central Campus Chief coming to a conclusion that  frequent cricket tournaments in the Tribhuwan University (TU) playground are hindering the studies of the University, there was the news. During the 22-day Nepal Premier League held in November-December, the dispute between student organizations regarding the issue of unorganized parking led the central campus to be padlocked for one-and-a-half-months, the news mentioned. The lock was opened after an agrement to discuss the impact of frequent tournaments in the University, among the Campus Chief and  representatives of  professors and students' organizations, etc., quoted the news. Near the cricket ground, there is  girls' hostel,  University health post and professors' residence.

The meeting of the Student Welfare Council of the TU agreed to hold election for the Free Student Union (FSU) on the 5th of Chait, (March 18) there was the news. Earlier, FSU elections were scheduled on February 27th in the academic calendar of the University. 

Putting different demands by different student organizations made obstruction at offices of three Campuses of Kathmandu Valley, the Campus Chiefs could not enter in their offices, there was the news. Mr Dyanendra Rai,   Chief of TU's Kirtipur Central Campus and Ms Kavita Luintel, Chief of Bhaktapur Campus, were prohibited from entering the campus. Trichandra Campus Chief Ms Neelam Shrestha was not able to enter her office as  part time teachers have padlocked the office, mentioned the news. 

Taking serious note of  continuing lockouts and strikes in Campuses and institutes  providing educational services under various universities by various professional groups and student organizations, MoEST has instructed those organizations not to lock down and go on strike in those institutions, the news published. 

After the tenure of Mr Bhola Thapa, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Kathmandu University (KU) was over, Chancellor and Prime Minister KP Oli appointed Registrar Prof. Dr. Achyut Prasad Wagle as acting VC, there was the news.

Similarly, according to other news, the VC selection process of KU has been in controversy. As nephews of Dr Suresh Raj Sharma, the Coordinator of the selection committee also applied, ethical questions have been raised. The committee got into a dispute over the issue of amending the procedure so that doctors can also apply to the VC, mentioned the news.

There was the news that the Executive Council of the Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) has appointed three deans and a Director Prof. Arjun Kumar Shrestha in Agriculture, Prof. Dr. Bhuminanda Devkota in Veterinary and Pro. Vasudev Pokharel in Forestry Faculties and Pro. Dr. Nirajan Bhattarai as Research Director, there was news. 

In the Online news portal, Mr Ujjwal Khadka wrote an article about the partisanship in TU. There are sit-ins, lock-outs, donation terrors and vandalism of the fraternal organizations of the parties in the university and his conclusion is that party affiliation has remained the main basis for the appointment of officials and the department heads of the University.

There was news that Tityang Secondary School of Baglung Municipality has grown potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli on rooftop and using for lunch. The students grew different types of vegetables in the school yard as part of extracurricular activities, quoted the news. 

Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City of Dang Ward 11 Committee meeting has decided to give  a stipend of 1000 rupees each to all students who enroll in class 1 in public schools of the ward from the next academic session, the news published. It has been decided to provide free uniforms to all Dalit students in class 1 to 12, mentioned the news. 

Hari Singh KC wrote an article in Gorkhapatra, mentioning that Nepali Congress (NC) should play a leading role to make a task force with all major parties under the leadership of NC and to formulate a realistic, need-oriented education policy with objectives, and including the views of all parties.

Amrita Anmol wrote an article in the Kantipur titled 'Where is the school without punishment?' In the name of discipline, the students were punished by making them stand outside the classroom all day, making chickens, making them do sit-and-stand up, standing on the bench, etc., she wrote.

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 to the policy makers and stakeholders to help make informed decisions. In this joint effort of the Center for Educational 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 18-24 January 2025 in this issue - The Editor.

Read last two week's analysis in Nepali : कहिलेसम्म चिसो भुईँमा ?

Read last week's content : Last week in education