Mahashram Sharma, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, has admitted the national education policy and is faulty and that it is the cause of poor School Leaving Certificate examination results.

Underlining the need for reforms in national education system, he said the ministry was doing its homework to formulate a new policy. Speaking at an interaction here in the capital today, Sharma stated that the total cost of studying in a private institution for a student amounts up to seven times of the total investment for a student in a community school and argued that the private schools are performing far better than community ones.

He also informed that performance of community schools in Dhading was the best across the nation, whereas Rautahat community schools witnessed the lowest pass percentage.

Examination Controller Bishnu Dware urged all the stakeholders to expedite discussion aiming to bring reforms in education and examination policy. Educationist Hridaya Ratna Bajracharya said SLC exam results are not the only measuring rod to evaluate a student’s intelligence.

Chairman of the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation Nepal, Lakshya Bahadur KC, asked the government to invest more in the education sector. He also suggested the government to promote public-private partnership in education. Chairman of the Higher Secondary School Association Nepal, Umesh Shrestha said poor results were due to politicisation of education.

This year’s SLC results were declared yesterday, with 43.92 per cent students passing the exams, slightly higher than last year when 41.57 per cent students had cleared the iron gate. The pass percentage this year is the fourth lowest in past one decade. Pass percentages in 2005 and 2006 were 38.72 and 40.30 respectively. The highest pass percentage in the last 10 years has been 68.47 in 2009. In 2008 and 2010, pass percentages were 63.73 and 64.31.

While the MoE agrees that the education system is faulty, experts for long have been saying that it was in urgent need of reforms. No change has been seen so far. On top of that, every year after SLC results, MoE does talk about need to reform the education policy, but only says it’s ‘doing homework’.

source: the himalayan times,14 june 2014