Deepak Lama, a 10th grade student in a community school in Kathmandu, wanted to score good marks in the School Leaving Certificate Exam. So he resorted to studying guess papers.

“I have no other option to achieve my dream,” Lama said adding “Our teachers are not regular and the school library lacks sufficient reference books.

I too am not a regular student because there are household chores to attend, so guess papers provide an easy way to good marks in the exam.”

However, now onwards, life won’t be easy for such students because the government has banned their sale in the market.

A meeting at the Education Ministry today decided to ban the sale of guess papers for grades X, XI and XII.

Various publishing houses have been printing guess papers of various subjects from Grade X to the university level.

Suresh Man Shrestha, secretary, Ministry of Education said the ministry had received complaints from guardians that their wards were not paying attention to studies and losing their creativity. Hence, the decision to ban the sale of guess papers in the market.

Shrestha said, “Guess papers had created confusion among students and cases of cheating in the SLC exam and the higher secondary board exam had also increased.”

He stated that some publishing houses had published pocket-sized guess papers which helped students cheat in the exam.

The ministry will direct the Curriculum Development Centre to implement the decision.

Suprabhat Bhandari, president, Guardians Association Nepal said banning guess papers would enhance creativity among students but the way the decision was taken was not right. He said the government should have discussed with stakeholders, students and guardians before taking such a decision.

He stated that such an arbitrary decision could increase frustration among students and suggested that the government overhaul the education system instead of taking such decisions.

source: The Himalayan Times,4 Dec 2012