NATIONAL7Spotlight Weekly)]

Crisis In The Making

While HSEB top brass are busy quarrelling among themselves, the future of higher secondary education has never looked so bleak

By A CORRESPONDENT

Internal squabbles within the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) has thrown cold water over the progress of 10 plus two education in the country.

The board, which is responsible for giving affiliations, monitoring and conducting examinations of over 500 higher secondary schools throughout the country, has raised a question mark over its integrity following an intense conflict of interest among its top administrators.

The HSEB Vice Chairman Kaushal Raj Regmi has ignited the dispute by encroaching upon the authority and jurisdiction of its member secretary.

Students at Nilkantha School : Facing Uncertainty

Just when Nepalese parents were gaining confidence about the country's higher secondary education, the ensuing struggle and the resulting uncertainty over the board's ability to conduct this year's exams (scheduled for April) on time has dealt a set-back to 74,000 students in particular and the education sector in general.

"If examinations do not take place on schedule, the future of HSEB itself will be endangered," says Dr. Tirtha Khaniya, former Vice Chairman of the board.

Apart from its present crisis, the HSEB has also failed to monitor the ten plus two schools. Many such schools in Kathmandu valley itself are found employing under-qualified teachers and maintaining less than adequate space.

Last year's results of the HSEB showed the schools in Kathmandu in poor light with less than 25 % of students passing. As the situation of schools situated well within the valley is in such state, it is anybody's guess how they are operating outside the valley.

Although, the government has said it would abrogate the SLC exams and introduce the HSEB board ones within next couple of years, the present situation speaks otherwise.

Higher secondary schools outside the valley are facing more problems. Parents, there, seem to be losing confidence over the ten plus two education. Take for instance the Nilkantha Higher Secondary School of Dhading district. With the acute shortage of qualified teachers, education materials and building, the school is on the verge of collapse.

Established amidst much fanfare four years ago, initially the school promised bright prospect for the villagers. As the district lacked a single campus, the opening up of the ten plus two school encouraged the local people.

During the first year of its establishment, an encouraging number of 75 students enrolled to the school. Subsequent years, however, witnessed their dwindling number as neither the government nor the local politicians kept their promises of developing it. "The unkept promises have pushed the school to the brink of closing down," rues principal Shambhu Shrestha.

Local guardian Bhupendra Kumar Shrestha says that since there is not even a single campus in the district, students have to go over to Kathmandu for higher education. "With the opening up of the Nilkantha school, we were happy but its deteriorating condition has once again saddened us," he said.

As scores of ten plus two schools around the country are facing problems similar to that of Nilkantha school, it is high time that top brass of HSEB instead of indulging in useless rivalry, roll up their sleeves and seriously work for the betterment of higher secondary education in the country.