National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

Master Malaise

The resignation of the Teachers Service Commission chairman is bad news for 84,000 examinees

By THAKUR AMGAI

Bishwanath Sapkota, chairman of the Teachers Service Commission, had gone to the United States last month to visit to his children studying there. He had given no indication of his intention to resign till then, although the Lokendra Bahadur Chand government had directed politically nominated government workers to step down. On November 12, the Ministry of Education received his resignation in an unusual way. He faxed a hand-written letter.

In the letter, Sapkota has cited poor health as the reason for his resignation. Stating that he had to remain in United States for further medical treatment, Sapkota said he was resigning to ensure that his extended absence did not hamper the commission's work.

A classroom : Instability in education

The ministry was skeptical about the authenticity of the letter until Sapkota himself called and verified the resignation. According to ministry sources, he requested that his resignation be accepted forthwith. The letter must be presented before the council of ministers for approval.

Before leaving for the United States, Sapkota was interrogated by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) about his involvement in alleged irregularities in the Bakraha River Control Project. Former minister Khum Bahadur Khadka is also an accused in the case. The latter is charged with awarding the project contract without calling for a tender. Sapkota was the secretary at the Ministry for Water Resources at the time.

However, Ministry of Education sources claim his resignation could be a response to the Chand government's call on all political appointees to resign. In any case, the move could result in another delay in the long-awaited results of the exams taken 1997 to fill 14,500 schoolteacher posts.

After many hassles, the results were scheduled for publication last May. However, they were postponed after the House of Representatives was dissolved and Election Commission stopped the care-taker government from taking major decisions.

Earlier, the resignation of Sapkota's predecessor, Dr. Bishwa Nath Bhattarai, created a delay. Dr. Bhattarai had to step down as he was not eligible for the post according to the new education regulations. Under the new rules, one has to have served as a gazetted special class officer for at least five years to be eligible.

A three-member committee led by the chairman of the Public Service Commission recommends eligible candidates for the post. The process to fill the teachers' posts cannot be resumed until the new chairman is appointed.

According to Yuvraj Pande, spokesman of the Ministry of Education, delay in the appointment of the chairman is responsible for the delay in the publication of the results.

His Majesty's Government had published advertisement for 14,500 teachers in March 1997. Some 85,000 candidates had passed the written exam taken shortly after that, of which some had also given the interview.

Then-minister of education Govind Raj Joshi had the regulations amended in order to pass all getting above 35 percent marks in the exams. This created more public controversy, with the minister accused of having done this to appoint his relatives and party workers. Because of the controversy, the interviews were stopped. They resumed after the Supreme Court ordered the publication of the results. The CIAA later interrogated Joshi in connection with the case.

Nepal needs 28,000 permanent teachers. At a time when the education sector is already facing a big shortage of teachers, educationists say, the delay in the publication of the results marks another spell of bad news.