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Private Foray
The government announces its intention to introduce reservation in private schools
By A CORRESPONDENT
Even as students of premier medical, management and engineering institutes in India continue to protest the decision by their government to introduce quotas for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in private educational institutions, the Nepalese government has announced similar policy.
Last week, the cabinet approved the draft bill to amend the Education Act with provisions making it mandatory for private schools to set aside 10 percent of seats to underprivileged groups such as girls, Dalits and indigenous people.
Dilendra Prasad Badu, the government spokesperson and State Minister for Information, said the cabinet has endorsed the bill, which would now be presented before the parliament for final approval.
The news was received with a fair degree of surprise by the private school operators. “This was unexpected news for us. In fact, we were working with the government to provide 2 percent reservation in scholarships to conflict-hit students and children of families of martyrs,” said B.N. Sharma, vice president of Private and Boarding Schools Organization of Nepal (PABSON). Sharma added that even if this decision is ‘imposed,’ they cannot implement it now in the middle of one academic year.
“We can implement new scholarship provision in next academic year only and we are not in a position to provide 10 percent quota,” he added.
Sharma added that the private school operators, by themselves, cannot provide full scholarship. “We may be able to take care of academic tuition fees but what about lodging, boarding, food and other costs. The state cannot wash its hands off by announcing such provision,” he said.
Likewise, Karna Bahadur Shahi, general secretary of National-PABSON, accused that the Ministry did not consult with them while announcing the percentage. “This is not practical. Perhaps some schools have capacity to provide 10 percent quota but not all of them can do so,” he argued.
Baburam Pokharel, principal of VS Niketan College and advisor of PABSON, said that the government should not announce such mandatory quotas. “There are many schools that are not in a position to provide big chunk of scholarship due to their poor financial capacity,” he said. He, however, conceded that the private schools, too, must demonstrate social responsibility and try to help the underprivileged students.
The officials claim that the new provision would benefit backward section of society. There are around 800,000 students in over 10,000 private schools across the country, at present. The new bill also proposes to set up criteria to select the students for scholarship under reserved quota.
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