Kathmandu — The Nepal Engineering Council has announced that 66 percent of the students have failed the license examination conducted on July 6, 7, and 8.
Out of the 24,774 candidates who appeared for the second round of the license examination, only 801 passed, according to the Chairman of the Council, Padma Bahadur Shahi. A total of 25,668 candidates had applied for the exam. Shahi informed that 94 candidates were absent from the examination.
In the previous license examination held in Chaitra (March), 72 percent of the candidates had failed. At that time, out of the 19,881 candidates who appeared for the exam, 565 had passed. The examination has a provision where the candidates must score a minimum of 50 marks out of 200 to be eligible for the license.
The Council conducted the license examination in various subjects related to engineering. According to Chairman Shahi, students from civil engineering discipline participated the most in the examination.
Chairman Shahi provided information that the majority of the failed students had studied abroad. He said, "All the questions asked in this examination are from the first to fourth year of the engineering course. It might have been challenging for those who have studied abroad." Nepali students go to countries like India, China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Bangladesh, and others to pursue their engineering studies.
Students from various domestic universities also participated in this licensing examination. Engineering studies are conducted in Kathmandu, Tribhuvan, Purbanchal, Mid-West, Pokhara, and Sudurpashchim Universities in Nepal.
Registration with the Council and obtaining a license is mandatory for working as an engineer in Nepal. After the question is raised about the quality of the engineering graduates, the Council made licensing exam mandatory through an amendment to the Act in Ashoj of the previous year. Before that, the Council used to provide an Engineer Registration Certificate after passing the exam.
According to Chairman Shahi, there are currently 77,000 registered engineers in the country. The Council conducted the computer-based examination at the Pulchowk IT Center.
