New varsities not to be set up on basis of access to power: Education Minister

KATHMANDU, June 27: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel has asserted that the government has given top priority to expanding the technical education and the work of establishing technical high schools in each province has been forwarded.

Education Minister Pokharel made this assertion while responding to the queries by MPs during discussions on the Appropriation Bill in the meeting of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. He informed the House that 10.23 per cent of the total budget has been allocated to the education sector this time.

Stating that the Higher Education Commission has already been constituted, he said attention has been given to increasing the efficiency of the community schools, works on setting up schools for the differently-able pupils have been moved ahead in all the seven provinces, attention has been given to establishing model schools and feasibility study has been forwarded regarding setting up engineering colleges in all provinces.

“Appropriate budget has been allotted to the universities including the Nepal Sanskrit University and Tribhuvan University. Shortage of school textbooks was not seen in this academic year. Provisions have been made for providing mid-day meals as well as scholarships to the students from the dalit, indigenous nationalities and marginalized communities,” the Education Minister said.

He stated that the student enrolment campaign has made a notable progress, adding, “Out of the total 313,000 children of the school-going age, only 59,000 are yet to be admitted to schools. The Minister further said that household survey has also been started to bring the remaining children of the school-going age into schools.

Suggestion not to open varsities at will

Putting a supplementary question on the Minister’s reply, lawmaker Prem Suwal demanded an end to the practice of opening universities as per the government’s whim and fancy.

MP Tejulal Chaudhary wanted to know from Minister Pokharel how many students had passed the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) this time and with what grades.

Parliamentarian Somlal Pandey called for paying attention to science in school level education.

Responding to the MPs’ questions, Minister Pokharel declared that the tradition of opening universities on the basis of one’s access to political power and an investigation committee has been formed for looking into the SEE results this time. He added that educational transformation was still awaited in the country. RSS