Many private schools in the Kathmandu Valley have been selling textbooks on their premises even after collecting hefty sums from parents for these books, booksellers say.

The recently-issued Institutional School Standard and Operation Directives-2069 prohibits the sale of textbooks on school premises. Defying the government directive, schools, which had already charged parents for the textbooks at the end of the last academic session, are selling books to the same parents now, according to Nepal Book and Stationery Entrepreneurs’ Federation (NBSEF). On top of it, some schools have prepared fake bills in the name of distributors to sell the textbooks.

Tukanath Sharma, NBSEF secretary, today said they found a number of Kathmandu-based private schools violating the government directive and a Supreme Court ruling against the sale of textbooks and other educational materials on the school premises. NBSEF has been monitoring the sale of textbooks and other educational materials at private schools in Kathmandu for two weeks.“Baluwatar-based Meridian International School collected Rs 5,500 to Rs 7,000 from guardians in the last week of the last academic session in the name of providing textbooks to students. Despite this, we found it selling books to the guardians from its premises,” he said.

Sharma said they found Kalimati-based Gillette International Higher Secondary Boarding School, Chhetripati-based Whitefield School, Nayabazaar-based Darwin Academy, Maitidevi-based Little Flower School and Sundhara-based Sumadeep Boarding School selling textbooks on their premises this week.“It is illegal to sell textbooks on the school premises, but the government has chosen to remain quiet,” he added. Sharma said they briefed the Kathmandu District Education Office about this violation a few days ago, but the office neither monitored such schools nor took action against the schools at fault.“Some schools have been selling textbooks on Saturdays, while some have been been selling them in the evening to escape the government’s scrutiny,” he said.

According to Sharma, schools in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have also been resorting to such unscrupulous practices. The Guardians Association Nepal has also urged the government to take action against unscrupulous textbook publishers and distributors, which have been been selling books at hefty rates, making a mockery of government-fixed prices.

Suprabhat Bhandari, GAN president, said the government has remained indifferent towards these issues. After the Curriculum Development Centre and the Department of Education failed to address these issues, guardians have turned to Chief District Officers in the Valley for prompt action against unscrupulous publishers and distributors.

source: the himalayan times,19 april 2013