The Ministry of Education’s proposal of free education under the School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP 2009-2015) has drawn flak from the community schools, which say it is simply ‘not practical’.

The government’s SSRP 2009-2015 has categorised school education into two levels — Basic Level from Grade I to VIII and Secondary Level (Grade IX to XII).

After full implementation of SSRP, a National Examination Board will be formed which will conduct secondary level exams.

The government has already committed free education till secondary level, but it is not possible at once. Therefore, currently, it has taken the initiative to provide free and compulsory education at the Basic Level. The education ministry has sent the ordinance prepared for the implementation of free and compulsory education to the Ministry of Finance for the latter’s consent. The ordinance has proposed a penalty of up to Rs 50,000 from school principal, teacher or school employee if they collect fees from guardians and students on any pretext. The community schools have, however, objected to the proposal in the ordinance.

Community school stakeholders said such a proposal was impractical and they were ready to pay even Rs 50,000 fine by violating impractical provisions as it is difficult to implement them.

Rajendra Adhikari, president of Nepal Teachers’ Union (Kathmandu), who is also the principal of Tangal Higher Secondary School, said, “The annual expenditure to run a school comes up to one million rupees. But the government has been providing a paltry Rs 1.93 lakh annually. Thus, it is not possible to manage the expenditure only from government grants.”

“Until and unless the government manages enough budget and teachers for schools, it is not possible to implement such a provision.”

They said that 90 per cent of the budget provided by the government is spent on teachers’ and employees’ salary and services, so without collecting fees from students, the schools cannot survive.

Surya Prasad Ghimire, principal, Kupandol based-Pragati Sikshya Sadan, said the government should shut down all community schools if it is planning to enforce such provisions.

Defending government’s move, Rose Nath Pande, assistant spokesperson, MoE, said the government has taken this initiative to provide education to all children of school-going age. “School principals and other stakeholders should take this initiative positively and help the government implement it.”

Currently, there are three levels of school education — primary level (Grade I to V), lower secondary level (Grade VI to VIII) and secondary level (Grade IX and X).

source: the himalayan times,17 Nov 2013