Kathmandu - Manahari Rural Municipality (RM) of Makawanpur has introduced a ‘Golden Handshake’ or the Retirement Package targeting teachers who have been in teaching for long and wish to retire, there was the news.

The RM has introduced this program to encourage teachers who have been involved in teaching for a long time but yet to retire, the Gorakhapatra covered the news. Teachers and employees participating in this program will receive up to a one time sum of Rs. 250,000 (USD 1800.00) mentioned the news.

Staying in the teaching profession for a long time can result to the loss of enthusiasm and the lack of innovation making it difficult to adapt oneself to new teaching styles and techniques. This will affect children's learning negatively. Therefore, it is desirable to provide teachers the opportunity to retire through such programs. This provides an opportunity to replace old teachers with new, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Since the Constitution bestowed the responsibility of school education to the Municipalities, few of them such as this one have come forward to identify problems in the Municipality and come up with programs that need to be introduced to improve school-level education in the municipality. Initiative as this one should inspire other municipalities to look for their own solutions.  Another important aspect of this news is the implementation of federalism. The federal government would have to think several times before making such a decision as it will have implication throughout the nation. But a decision made by a municipality would be applied to the municipality and would not have impact to the larger area. Such a leverage makes it easier to look for specific solutions to locally specific problems. 

There was news that Kailash RM of Makawanpur is going to provide free accommodation and food to SEE examinees from remote areas of the Municipality. 

There are reports that less than 10 students from 15 percent of the schools in Kavre Palanchok will participate in the SEE. The news reported that fewer than 10 students from 32 out of 216 schools, including Public and Private, will participate in the exam.

Although the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives consulted all seven provinces last December on the School Education Bill, the Committee has not yet made any progress. After consultation, they were supposed to discuss the bill clause-by-clause, the news published.

There was the news that Nepal Teachers' Federation (NTF) has continued their phased protest until the School Education Act is promulgated. The news published that that the federation has staged a sit-in at the central offices of the main political parties to exert more pressure. The federation has also warned that it will go on a relay hunger strike after the sit-in program and that it will hold a final and decisive stage of the protest after 2 April 2025, mentioned the news. There was news that lawmakers have also raised the issue of the NTF's agitation in the House of Representatives.

Students are reported to have stressed out on how to score good marks during the SEE exam and skip eating and sleeping. It is not good to get stressed during exams and not managing stress properly can lead to complications, Neha KC wrote on the Onlinekhabar news portal.

Children from Champa Devi RM in Okhal Dhunga are being forced to risk their lives to cross the Sunkoshi River by a tube (of the vehicle) to go to Sunkoshi Secondary School in Fikkal RM of Sindhuli, the news repeated this week also. 

Since the textbooks of local curriculum set by some RMs in Humla could not be printed, teaching is being done based on those lessons, the news covered. In Taplejung, there is news that the textbook of public schools have started arriving well before the beginning of the academic session this year. 

There was report that Binod Kumar Tamrakar, ward chairperson of Siddhi Charan Municipality in Okhaldhunga, has distributed uniforms to students from his salary.

Newly elected Chairperson of the Private and Boarding Schools' Organization of Nepal  Mr Krishna Adhikari said that he will raise the issues related to private schools in the School Education Act effectively, and work in protecting the investment of private schools, there was the news.

There was news that Budhanilkantha School has called for applications for scholarships for financially weak students. Students who have studied at least grades 3 and 4 in public schools consecutively and have completed grade 4 in the academic year 2081 are eligible to apply to study at Budhanilkantha School, the news mentioned. (It is a government subsidized elite school in the country – ed.). 

Shubha Prabhat Secondary School of Dang, Ghorahi Head Teacher Mr Rudra Budha along with NCP (Majority) affiliate Student Organization, Dang District Chair Mr Narendra BK and student leader Mr Pawan BK   were beaten up during a dispute over the formation of the School Management Committee, published the news. Ward Chair of Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City Mr Bhanu Singh Budha and others had thrashed them for refusing to write the minutes despite the lack of a quorum, mentioned the news. The Setopati news portal reported that the police did not take action against the Ward Chairperson's group who assaulted the Head Teacher.

TU demands action against group that vandalized the offices of TU Rector and Dean of the Faculty of Science, there was the news. TU claims that this action was taken to prevent the Free Student Union (FSU) elections from being held in a free and fearless environment, the news mentioned. Similarly, Himalayan TV has aired a news report asking: "Student Organizations or a Bunch of Hooligans?" stating that incidents of vandalism and lockouts in the name of student organizations have increased in recent years. 

All four research centers of TU, the Center for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA), the Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST), the Centre for Educational Innovation and Development (CERID), and the Center for Nepal and Asian Studies (CINAS), are not conducting research, the news published. As the research centers were found to be under performing, a proposal to merge those research centers into one was presented at the TU Senate held on December 12, 202. However, Premier-Chancellor KP Oli asked to postpone the proposal stating that further discussion was needed, mentioned the news.

In the same context, there was news in the Ratopati news portal that few lecturers of the RECAST are visiting the office to make attendance and leaving afterward but keep on taking their salaries and allowances without working. According to the news, it has been found that 6 out of 13 members of the RECAST have not conducted a single research for years.

372 students were graduated from the fifth convocation of Far-western University, there was a report. On this occasion, Premier-Chancellor KP Oli suggested that universities should prioritize updating the subjects and prevent students from migrating abroad. Similarly, 8,150 students took part in Purbanchal University's 13th convocation, there was news.

A public notice has been issued to various Campuses in the Province to get affiliated to Bagmati Provincial University. Campuses operating in the Province in affiliation with any university of Nepal can apply, there was the news.

Dr. Yuvraj Sangraula, the founder of the Kathmandu School of Law under Purbanchal University, has been accused of abusing a student sexually, the news published. A student in Instagram has accused the former Attorney General Sangraula of making sexually explicit comments to female students at the college and using derogatory words about women's bodies, the news quoted.

There was news that the Ministry of Education has issued Eight-point Instructions to educational consulting companies to refrain from giving false promises such as free visas, guaranteed employment, and providing dependent visas etc. 

The Medical Education Commission has announced the calendar for upcoming academic year. According to the calendar, the commission will open a call for applications for the undergraduate entrance examination in the last week of July 2025, quoted the news.

There was report that Karnali Province has initiated discussions with stakeholders for its draft Education Policy.

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 the 8 o'clock news of Nepal Television and 7 o'clock news of Himalaya Television is summarized and presented with commentary on relevant issues. We have covered the contents from 8-14 March 2025 in this issue - The Editor.

Read last week's analysis in Nepali : शिक्षकलाई पालिकाको स्वर्णिम अवकाश [भिडियो सहित]

Read last week's content : Last week in education