A 13-member monitoring committee set up to monitor the implementation of Code of Conduct formed by Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB), today decided to direct Plus Two colleges not to destroy answer sheets of students till at least six months after entrance examinations.

This is probably the first time in the history of education that the academic institutions have been asked to preserve the answer sheets of entrance examinations for at least six months so that the monitoring committee can re-examine them. The decision was taken at the second meeting of the committee formed under the coordination of Narayan Koirala, joint secretary, HSEB. It comes in the wake of irregularities in students’ admission.

Bhim Lal Gurung, member-secretary, HSEB, said the motive behind issuing such a directive was to give all students a fair chance to study in their desired academic institutions through open competition. He said, “Our main objective behind this directive is to ensure participation of students from every corner of the country in the entrance examinations and their selection on merit basis.”

Suprabhat Bhandari, president of Guardians Association Nepal and a member of the monitoring committee, said the move was a must because many plus two colleges were playing foul in the admission of students. According to him, many colleges enrol their relatives at the expense of qualified students. “Many reputed colleges were found to be closing the entrance form within a few days of the SLC results. This affects students outside the Kathmandu Valley.

HSEB, last week, had issued a notice directing plus two colleges to keep admissions open for at least 15 days after publication of SLC results, but to no avail.

Some schools were found to be distributing forms and conducting entrance examinations even before the results were out. Bhandari said, “We have also called principals of five reputed schools in Kathmandu tomorrow for quizzing regarding students’ admission.” The schools called by committee for interrogation tomorrow are Jawalakhel-based St Mary’s and St Xavier’s, Maitighar-based St Xavier’s, Sanothimi-based SOS and Budhanilkantha-based Budhanilkantha School. He stated that they have prepared a questionnaire for the principals. The committee is going to form a sub-committees to minutely examine the irregularities in various issues such as entrance examinations, scholarship distribution, expenditure in advertisements, photos of celebrities and students in hoarding boards and many other things which are prohibited by the code of conduct, he added.

source: the himalayan times,23 June 2013