Scholars urged to utilise knowledge for social good Ninth TU convocation held

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 23 : Minister for Education and Sports Devi Prasad Ojha distributed certificates to the students, who have completed Ph.D, Masters and Bachelors Degree in various subjects at a function held here today on the occasion of the Ninth Convocation Day of the Tribhuvan University.
On the occasion, Minister Ojha urged the students to utilise the knowledge properly for the betterment of the society.

A total of 3,570 students received the certificates in Masters and Bachelors Degree level in various subjects. A total of 12 students received the certificates of Ph.D on the occasion of the convocation day today.

Chief guest of the function, senior medical scientist of Sri Lanka Dr. Palitha Abeykoon urged the students to serve as a fountain of knowledge to develop the hearts and minds of the leaders of our society for tomorrow.

He also urged to the graduates to keep them continually informed and educated on the newer developments in the arts and the sciences and above all, to mould and to develop their character.
"My purpose today has not been to ask you to accept the opinions I have offered. You should seek your own truth. It is you who should decide what you believe is in the best interest of yourself, your family, your country and your fellow beings," Dr. Abeykoon said.

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what is a heaven," he quoted the succinct poems by a famous English poet Robert Browning.

Vice Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University Navin Prakash Jung Shah said the University has forwarded some reforms programmes including the reform in the internal management, implementation of the decentralisation, mobilisation of the internal resources and change in the curriculum to make the education programme more effective in accordance with the changed context.

CIAA not politically biased: Upadhyaya

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RATNANAGAR, Nov. 23: Chief Commissioner of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Surya Nath Upahdyaya has said that the CIAA was not politically biased in its works towards the elimination of corruption.

Responding to queries posed by the participants of a training programme on local awareness for good governance organised by the Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro-Public) Chitwan at Narayangadh, he said that the allegation levelled against the CIAA that it was politically prejudiced was unsubstantiated.

Stating that the CIAA has been winning the cases it had filed, and special court had been constituted by modifying the acts and rules, he disclosed that the activities of the CIAA was being extended to ten more districts.

Commissioner Krishna Ballabh Kafle shed light on CIAA activities.

CDO Ratna Kaji Bajracharya and programme director Kedar Khadka also expressed their views on the occasion.

Attending the three-day training programme are 68 persons including representatives of good governance radio programme Listeners' Club of Narayani, Lumbini, Bagmati and Gandaki zones and also of other institutions and organisations.

Security forces, Maoists clash in Lamjung, Gorkha

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Nov. 23: Intense fighting between the security forces and the Maoist terrorists are going on in Gorkha and Lamjung districts in the western region of the country.

The Maoists are reported to have suffered massive casualties in their clash with the security forces at Fulgiri of Lamjung.

The Nepal Television reported today that the security forces had launched a blocking operation to nab the terrorists, who had fled after attacking the Tarukot Police Post in Gorkha. Twenty-three policemen had died in the attack on November 15.

The fighting, which began Friday afternoon, is going on till Saturday evening and the Maoist terrorists are making repeated attacks to find their way out of the cordon. The site of the clash lies in the jungle between Fulgiri and Dalifi of the district.

No casualty in the security forces has been reported and additional troops have been sent to the area as reinforcement.

According to our Gorkha correspondent, there has been another fighting at the Thulo Kavre and Fulunggiri of Ilampokhari Village Development Committee of Gorkha district after the terrorists suddenly attacked a patrol team of the security forces.

The fighting had started after a team of the security forces launched a search operation in the area on Friday afternoon after being tipped that there were Maoists in the area. When the fighting continued till late evening, helicopter equipped with night-vision devices had reached the site and make attacks from the air.

Security sources say the casualty on the terrorists' side could not be assessed as the fighting is going on but patches of blood and clothes left by the terrorists could be seen indicating significant injuries or deaths on the Maoists side.

The security forces have cordoned the possible exit routes, and security source said that more than 350 terrorists are trapped and they are narrowing the cordon. The source also claimed that there is little chance of them getting away.

In another incident at Bhoteodar area of Lamjung the security forces have shot dead two women terrorists - Shova Thapa and Kristi K.C.

However, the Defence Ministry said today that five terrorists were killed on Friday in separate search operations carried out by the security forces in Khotang, Lamjung and Baitadi districts. The Ministry's statement said the forces found guns, explosives and socket bombs from the areas.

Despite demands medical scholarship are limited

By Indra Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nov. 23: Studying medicines is costly. A student has to pay more than a million rupees for the five-year course, which is beyond the reach of many. Getting scholarship means saving those millions. With scholarships from abroad drying to a trickle, there is a stiff competition in getting seat in any of the eight medical colleges within the country.

Last year, there were 20 scholarships for MBBS and BDS provided by four countries - Bangladesh, China, Russia and Turkey. But that number from medical colleges within the country was 107. In the last eight years these colleges have provided 502 seats for government scholarship in those subjects.
The government providing scholarships to Nepalese students to study medicine in the private colleges here started in the fiscal year 1994/95.

According to regulations, medical colleges run by Nepalese have to provide 10 per cent of their total seats for government scholarship, and that figure for the colleges run by foreigners or with foreign collaboration is 20 per cent.

The first private college to start MBBS courses in the private sector was the Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, after the government allowed medical colleges to be run by the private sector.

At present, there are 11 private medical colleges in the country and eight of them are providing seats for government scholarships. The Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhairahawa provides 28 scholarships in two faculties - MBBS and BDS - the highest amongst the eight colleges. The College of Medical Sciences at Bharatpur and the Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, provides 20 seats each, while the Nepalgunj Medical College at Nepalgunj, Kathmandu Medical College and Nepal Medical College both in Kathmandu provide 10 seats each. The National Medical College, Birgunj provides three and People's Dental College in Kathmandu provides six seats.

The Institute of Medicines under Tribhuvan University, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, and a medical college run by Kathmandu University in Kavre have yet to allot seats for government scholarship.

The government scholarships are provided mainly on the basis of the marks secured in the entrance test - both written and oral. The entrance test is taken by the Scholarship section of the Ministry of Education and Sports.

This mark carries 70 per cent of the total aggregate with written form of examination carrying 60 per cent and 10 per cent in oral test. The marks in the SLC and the Intermediate or equivalent, cover the remaining 30 per cent.

According to Tej Raj Pandey, under-secretary at the Ministry, only those students securing first division in the SLC exams are eligible to apply for the scholarship.

The scholarships are provided to students on merit basis by adding the marks they gain in the entrance test and the SLC and the Intermediate, he said. But the students must score at least 36 marks in the written test to be eligible for the scholarship.

Pandey assures that there is no hanky-panky while selecting students for the scholarship. "There is a committee comprising of university professors to set the questions and evaluate the answer papers," he said. The committee also conducts the oral tests, he added. The Ministry invites applications from student for the MBBS and BDS studies twice a year.

Getting scholarships means the students saving millions of rupees. Medical colleges charge exorbitant sums for the courses. The Nepal Medial College, for example, charges Rs. 1.6 million and the Kathmandu Medical College Rs.1.4 million, which means there is bound to be a stiff competition for getting scholarship. Other private colleges also charges in the same rate.

Pandey said, last year there were 1,500 aspirants for the 107 seats, and this year it could reach more than 2,000. There is no age bar for applying for the scholarship.

"Sometimes the students continue applying till they reach the Master's level," said Pandey.
But sometimes there are allegations of less qualified students getting the scholarships because of power and money.

But academic coordinator of the Nepal Medical College Biyogi Budathoki, the college is satisfied with the performances of the students coming from government scholarships. He said that these students have proportionately better performances than other students, who pay for the courses.

Although there is no bondage for the students who get the scholarship to serve for the government after the completion of the courses, the regulation has a provision that the students should report to the Ministry after the completion of their courses. But, Pandey says, very few of them have reported so far. Less than a dozen of them have presented themselves at the Ministry. Even they have come for recommendations from the Ministry for further studies.

The Ministry also does not have records of the passed students or what they are doing, or whether they have left the country for good. It means the country has failed to gain expected benefits from those, who have studied medicine under government scholarship.