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Kathmandu,Monday February 28, 2000 Fagun 16, 2056.
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Meddlesome ministry
The government seems to have created some
confusion in the education sector by meddling with the school calendar. Apparently, the
Ministry of Education has gone back on a previously reached understanding with the Private
and Boarding School Organisation Nepal and National and Private Boarding Schools
Association Nepal that the new session would start in mid-April. Now, according to the
ministry, the new session will start mid-July. This decision has been a matter of concern
not only for schools but also students and parents. The government would therefore do well
to rethink on the timing of the new session.
In the first place it is not clear why the
government decided to change the previous school academic session which used to begin in
February and end around November-December to mid-July three years back. This
decision had come in for a lot of opposition from educationists as well as the schools.
Everyone had thought that the issue had been amicably resolved. What then should prompt
the ministry to once more change the timing to mid-July after reaching an agreement with
boarding schools on mid-April as the appropriate time for starting the new session.
Surely, there must be a reason for this unexpected decision which has hit boarding schools
like a bolt from the blue. Unfortunately, the unpredictable ways of the Ministry of
Education are such that it is difficult to make any sense of this move. Neither has the
ministry given any sound reason justifying its decision. It is not even possible to guess
whose interest this mover will serve. This makes the directive appear as though it were
arbitrarily imposed.
But education is no light matter and the government
should not fiddle around so much with the school calendar, lest things begin to go
haywire. Many headmasters and principals have complained that with the government given to
such fickleness in decision making, their academic programmes have been jeopardised.
School administrators are confused. So are parents and students. With the academic
calendar itself uncertain, it is going to be difficult for schools to function smoothly.
Similarly, parents will have to cough up more of that hard earned money with the present
academic session prolonged. And students also stand the risk of losing their precious time
in the same class whereas those who plan to pursue further studies in India could end up
losing an entire year. The Ministry of Education must realise that it has no right to play
with the lives of students in this manner. Seen in this light, it does make sense to have
the new academic session begin in mid-April. The ministry would therefore do well to let
better sense prevail.
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