July 19: School education has become a hot topic these days as it has been unable to take its normal course like earlier years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The debate peaked after the private schools decided to close their ongoing virtual classes saying that they were not allowed to collect fees from guardians.

The restlessness of private school owners after they failed to collect fees from guardians just for three months shows that they are only doing business in the name of education though they never get tired of boasting of doing social service, stakeholders claimed.

The online classes being run by the private schools have been suspended from Thursday after Private and Boarding Schools’ Organization, Nepal (PABSON) and National Private and Boarding Schools Association Nepal (NPABSAN) stated that they discontinued online classes after they could not raise tuition fees from guardians.

Along with suspension of online classes they have sent teaching and non-teaching staff on unpaid leave. The decision of the private schools has drawn criticism from stakeholders some of whom have demanded to nationalize the private schools as guided by the constitution.

Sudesh Parajuli, secretary of the All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (ANNISU), said the state had to take responsibility of school education as the constitution guarantees education as a fundamental right. He further said that the private school owners proved that they were opened just for business because their ‘service motive’ was not reflected even at the time of crisis.

Binod Khanda Timilsana, lecturer of Saptagandaki Multiple Campus, Bharatapur, said though communist leaders talked more about ‘Janabadi’ or people-centred education and free education it could not be materialize even when they were in power. He said it is the right time to intervene to give it the right shape. The stance of private school operators shows it is the right time to nationalize them.
Suprabhat Bhandari, chairperson of Guardians Federation Nepal, however, said private schools were established as desired by guardians. So, nationalization of the private schools right now was not possible because every citizen must have the right of choice.

He suggested to strengthen public education sector by ensuring quality as well as free education in the true sense. But, he also said strong regulation among private schools is a must to control their monopoly.

Regarding the recent state of private schools, Bhandari said capable guardians were ready to pay only tuition fees but it was also necessary to set tuition fees scientifically as per the time spent for running online classes.

Dr. Tulsi Prasad Thapaliya, director general of the Centre for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD), said it was no time to discuss nationalization of private education. The government has been holding discussions with stakeholders about the problem of private schools. “So, a solution will be found soon.”

Tika Puri, chairperson of the PBASON, said that they were compelled to stop all programmes when they were not in a condition to sustain in lack of source of income. Regarding the claim that private schools had earned huge profits in the past, Puri stated that though some schools were in profit, more than 80 per cent were vulnerable as they had been opened for the purpose of self-employment rather than profit making.

In this backdrop, is it really possible to nationalize private education now? Here are the numbers about the state of private and public schools to assess their contribution to school education from Grade I to XII.
Public and private schools in figures

According to Flash Report 2019/20 of the CEHRD under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology high number of private schools are located in the city areas.

Out of 36,450 schools across the country, only 6,411 schools are private. According to the data, private schools’ number is higher in
Province 1, Bagmati province and Province 5 in comparison to other provinces. There are a total of 1,914 private schools in Bagmati, the highest number in comparison to other provinces. And Karnali has only 175 private schools.

Likewise, out of 6,910,852 students studying in school level across the country 4,917,313 are community school students and only 1,993,539 students are studying in private schools. The number of students enrolled with private schools in Bagmati province is 720,085 while 683,238 are studying in private schools.

Similarly, out of total 316,734 teachers across the country, 88,848 teachers belong to the private schools and 227,886 teachers belong to community ones.

Even if only 17.5 percent of schools are private 28.9 per cent students study in private schools. Likewise, 28.05 per cent teachers are employed in private schools, the report shows.  

source: risingnepal, 19 July 2020

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