Speaking at the program organized by Education Journalist Network (EJON), Educationist Mana Prasad Wagle said that the Ministry of Education (MoE) is forced to form education task force following frequent change in political leadership which has weakened the gravity of such reports.
In 2000, the report on systematizing the School Leaving Certificate was prepared spending Rs 180 million under a committee led by educationist Kedar Bhakta Mathema. However, the MoE did not even make the report public.
Similarly, different reports on regulating private education sectors were also submitted to the ministry in 2003 and 2004, but they have not been brought into policy.
“The government needs to form an autonomous education commission that would be authorized to integrate particular reports in concerned sections of the ministry,” said another educationist Basudev Kafle adding “We can´t expect the implementation of any report as there is no agency that would take ownership for the failure of their implementation."
Government officials expressed their helplessness saying protracted political crisis has been a hurdle to work. Tek Narayan Pandey, Director of the Department of Education (DoE) said time constraint has also been a major factor preventing the reports from being given a legal shape.
“One education minister forms taskforce and his government collapses before the report is published. As a result, the new leader shows reluctance to implement those recommendations,” said Pandey. “The political will and wish is more important if we really want to improve the overall education quality.”
Timeline
- 1991/92- National Education Commission in 1991/92 submitted a report for improvement of education policy
- 1996- National Education Commission submitted a similar report.
- 1998- A high level task force prepared third report regarding the implementation of the initial two.
- 1999- Same year, two reports were issued on regulating private education sector.
- 2000- Report on systematizing the School Leaving Certificate was prepared by spending Rs 180 million under a committee led by educationist Kedar Bhakta Mathema.
- 2003- Report on regulating fee in private education institutes. The student unions had protested against its implementation.
- 2004- Task force led by current MoE spokesperson Janardan Nepal submitted report on regulating school fees in private school
- 2010- A report on text book development was submitted to the Department of Education.
- 2011- Another report on text book by a committee led by the government secretary Jaya Ram Giri
- 2012- Study and investigation report of the higher secondary education institutions in Nepal prepared by the Higher Secondary Education Board.
