Kathmandu, March 27
A subcommittee under Parliament’s Education and Health Committee has proposed cuts in the jurisdiction of the local governments in the field of education.
The Constitution’s Annex 8 states that the local governments shall have the right to manage basic and secondary education in their areas. But the subcommittee now wants to curtail the local governments’ responsibilities to allow the centre to conduct grade 12 examinations.
The subcommittee has proposed that the local governments assess the performance of students in grade eight, the provincial governments in grade 10 and the central government in grade 12.
The National Examination Board has been conducting the grade 10 examinations, which were supposed to be conducted by the local governments. However, authorities say that relevant laws are not in place to allow local governments to conduct the exams. They also lack the capacity to do so, says Education Ministry Joint Secretary Hari Lamsal.
The subcommittee has also suggested new categories for school education. As per the new recommendation, classes 1-5 will be deemed as ‘lower basic education’ and 6-8 as ‘upper basic education’.
Meanwhile, the subcommittee has also suggested that the government tighten regulations related to universities to prevent them from granting affiliation to as many colleges as they want. The members of the committee suggest that a university be allowed to grant affiliation to a maximum of 25 colleges.
