National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Urge To Learn

Overwhelming number of students throng at the stalls of the education consultants to get information on studying overseas

By THAKUR AMGAI

Educations stalls : Useful information

“I came here to learn about the different opportunities of study here and abroad as we can get all kinds of information from the experts under the same roof here,” said Subash Shakya, 21, a student of Tri-Chandra College. “I also got the information in detail and a chance to talk with the counselors face to face here at the exhibition.”

Thousands of students like Shakya visited the 8th Nepal Education and Book Fair 2004 that kicked off on Saturday, May 22. The Education and Book fair, which is comprised of Education and Career Section; and Book Exhibition section saw flocks of students thronging at the stalls of foreign educational institutions and local education consultancies that provide counseling on overseas study.

The exhibition had more than 150 stalls including publication houses of Nepal, India and the UK in the Book Exhibition Section. Likewise, it had educational institutions - both national and foreign - and educational consultancies in the Education and Career section.

Computer training colleges particularly multi-media were the next major attraction after the stalls related to overseas study. Most of the computer training institutes tried to lure the visitors by providing up to a 100 percent scholarship in their trainings.

Although, there were many different kinds of stalls, most of the students were eager to know about the procedures and requisites for studying abroad. The enquiries of the visitors kept the exhibitors at such stalls busy. While other stalls seemed relatively empty, the students queued up to get a chance to talk to the exhibitors providing counseling services about overseas study. “Obviously, most of the people who come here want to know about studying abroad,” said Roshan Shrestha, the Chief Counselor at the Alpha Beta Educational Consultancy.

The trend of going abroad for study is ever increasing. Shrestha claims to have sent more than 200 students abroad last year from his consultancy alone. “We have sent some 200 students abroad last year. More than half of them have gone to china for the MBBS program,” he boasted.

Shrestha feels that these kinds of exhibition help to bring together the students and the consultancies. “These kinds of exhibitions help to mediate between the service providers and the service users.”

While some of the visitors are specific about the kind of information they want, others are quite open. Renuka Pradhan who has done a diploma in Interior designing from the Exterior-Interior at the Hotel Blue Star, wants to know about TOEFL and other requisites for going abroad. “I want to know about the procedures and requisites for going abroad to study,” she said.

The exhibition will help the students know about different career opportunities around the world. They can get first hand information and counseling from experts of the field about their field of interest. It helps them choose their career, place of study and the institution to study. Some of counselors have come from abroad for the purpose of the exhibition to give the students detailed information about their institutions.

Josephine Chua, Assistant Manager for the Asia Pacific Region of the Raffles La Salle Network, who came all the way from Singapore solely for the purpose of the exhibition, found the journey more than worthwhile. “Most of the students here are ignorant of the study opportunities available at Singapore. So, I can provide them information,” she said. “Singapore is a very feasible place for study for Nepalese students. It is nearer, cheaper and the degrees there are recognized worldwide. They can get good jobs here in Nepal as well as abroad.”

The exhibition is organized by Global Exposition and Management Services (GEMS). Ever since the inception of the exhibition in 1999 the number of visitors have always been increasing. While the number of visitors back in 1997 was a meager 5000, the organizers expect 65,000 visitors to visit the exhibition this year.

In addition to the students, experts, writers, educationists, journalists and intellectuals, various people from all walks of life benefit from the exhibition. The exhibition at the education and career section went on from May 22 to May 25 while the Book Exhibition will be on till May 29.