The Social Justice and Human Rights Committee of the Legislature-Parliament directed the Ministry of Education (MoE), Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine (IOM ) and Nepal Medical Council (NMC) to end the crisis at Janaki Medical College (JMC) in Janakpur and begin classes within 10 days. Classes at JMC had remained suspended for the past ten months.
The committee today gave a 10-day ultimatum to the concerned authorities to begin MBBS classes and submit its report to the committee.A meeting of the committee held under the chairmanship of Sushil Kumar Shrestha today expressed concern about disruption of academic activities in JMC due to dispute between members of the management team.
It said that the future of 317 students pursuing MBBS degree at JMC was in jeopardy due to prolonged suspension of teaching-learning activities in the college and directed the concerned authorities to immediately resolve the problems to ensure students’ future.
It also directed the concerned to immediately initiate the process of action against JMC operators and make the provision of appropriate compensation to victimised students. The committee formed a five-member taskforce to study the existing problems in affiliation and management of medical colleges across the country and submit its report to the committee with recommendations.
Recently, a high-level committee under the coordination of former vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University Kedar Bhakta Mathema had prepared a report with recommendations for drafting health education policy to end all kinds of irregularities in medical education. Earlier, MBBS students of JMC had staged a protest in the Kathmandu Valley.
A majority of the students have been staging protests in Kathmandu demanding immediate resumption of their classes. The students, after several failed attempts, had approached the House committee asking it to resolve their crisis.
The meeting was attended by Education Minister Chitra Lekha Yadav and IoM Dean Rakesh Shriwastav, among others.
