PRIME Minister Girija Prasad Koirala expressed clear-cut commitment of His Majesty’s Government to ensure good, effective and efficient administration in the country. Inaugurating the two-day interaction programme on "Enhancing management quality in civil service" organised by Nepal Administrative Staff College in Kathmandu the other day, Prime Minister Koirala said that His Majesty’s Government would not lag behind in taking any measures to discourage corruption and bureaucratic red tapism. As the government is engaged in alleviating poverty, raising the social and economic status of the people and accelerating the pace of development of the country, good and efficient governance is a must to accomplish these lofty goals of the government. Moreover, bureaucracy is the vehicle to implement plans, policies and programmes of the government. Unless the administration is efficient and effective, the development programmes cannot reach and benefit the target section of the society. However, there is a widespread feeling among the general people that our bureaucracy has not been up to the popular expectation. Corruption and red tapism are serious problems in our bureaucracy. Against this background Prime Minister Koirala has rightly said that there has been a decline in the image of Nepal’s administration. It is thus very imperative to check corruption, tendency of avoiding responsibilities and red tapism in the bureaucracy. Bureaucratic red tapism and corruption not only affect development activities but also erode people’s faith in administration and democracy. As such the role of bureaucracy is crucial in institutionalizing democracy, strengthening democratic institution, providing quick service to the needy people and carrying out development activities in a more effective and efficient way. Prime Minister Koirala is concerned about more effective and efficient administration because he came to power promising the people to root out corruption and give the nation a good and effective government. As promised earlier, the present government has been making its sincere efforts to discourage corruption and ensure good governance. However, corruption has been so deep rooted in our society and administration that it cannot be totally eradicated overnight. The process of ensuring good governance takes long time. In the same way, strong political will and collective efforts from all sectors are needed to completely wipe out corruption, red tapism and other distortions in our administrative mechanism. One more important aspect that needs to be given equal attention is that administration first needs to be made free from politicization and political interference for enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness.

THE holding of examinations is an integral part of any university’s academic curricula and system. Tribhuvan University (TU), the oldest and, till date, still the premier educational institution of the country, is not an exception to this practice. In fact, TU has a full-fledged examination schedule that usually runs throughout the year because it is still the nation’s biggest educational institution. TU, with the largest number of campuses teaching many disciplines at various levels, for it to have a busy examination schedule is not surprising. But what is quite incomprehensible to the students and their guardians alike is that sometimes the examination schedules for one or the other level do tend to run beyond their fixed times. In other words, get postponed; for example, the first year exams for the Intermediate of Commerce (I.Com). According to the Controller of Exams, the exams for that level, instead of being held as per earlier schedule, are to be held between August 6-14. The TU Office cited "special reasons" for the postponement of the I.Com. exams.

While the concerned TU authorities should be given the benefit of the doubt for the postponement of the said exams, what is but obvious to all is that the results of the same exams, because they are to be held in a new timetable, could be delayed by some weeks. Or, by even months, considering the tight examination schedules for various levels and disciplines. Delayed results, in turn, could lead to students forfeiting their chances to go in for higher studies. This, without an iota of doubt, will definitely cause the students to lose some months or even a year. Particularly when the TU is not noted for publishing the results as per schedule even for regular exams. Since higher education does not come cheap in a country like ours, it will also saddle the students’ guardians with additional costs. As for the nation, it will have to bear with the frittering away of its meagre resources simply because the government heavily subsidises TU. Hence, considering delayed exams’ multiple repercussions, it looks to reason for TU to come up with requisite initiatives to not only hold the various exams in a timely and orderly manner but also in giving top priority in publishing the results of delayed examinations as per prior schedules.