KATHMANDU – The Education, Health, and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives has concluded its discussions on the report of the sub-committee related to the School Education Bill-2080. The meeting, held today at Singha Durbar, finalized the deliberation on the report, and the responsibility of drafting the final bill has been handed over to the committee secretariat, according to Committee Chairperson Amar Bahadur Thapa.
Key Decisions and Proposals
The meeting resulted in several key proposals and agreements aimed at reforming the education sector:
- Teacher Union Leadership: A new proposal states that if a member of the Nepal Teachers' Federation is appointed as a head teacher, their union membership will be automatically inactivated. They will be restricted from participating in any union activities for the duration of their tenure as head teacher.
- Performance Evaluation: An agreement was reached to calculate teacher performance evaluation based on an average of 80% of the last five years' performance.
- School Management: The bill will include provisions for a School Management Committee and a Parents' Association.
- Teacher Promotion: The committee approved a proposal for teacher promotions that will consider performance evaluation, seniority, and internal competition.
- Secondary Level Recruitment: For secondary-level teacher recruitment, 80% of positions will be filled through open competition, while the remaining 20% will be filled through internal competition.
Members' Input and Recommendations
Committee members also offered their perspectives during the meeting. Member Rekha Sharma emphasized the need to create a path for permanent appointments for early childhood education teachers through competitive processes. Bidya Bhattarai stressed the importance of making teacher leaders more accountable, while Kaluram Rai urged for the swift passage of the bill.
Other members, including Deepa Sharma, called for a provision in the bill for the state to act as the guardian of orphaned children. Sumana Shrestha suggested that officials of the Teachers' Federation should be engaged in the teaching profession. Members Chhabilal Bishwakarma, Devendra Paudel, Binitakumar Singh, Shyam Ghimire, Dig Bahadur Limbu, Chandra Bhandari, and Gyanu Basnet Subedi also supported the need for the bill to be passed quickly.
Education, Science, and Technology Minister Raghuji Panta requested the committee members to provide their necessary feedback, acknowledging the hard work of the advisory committee in amending the bill's clauses. He also informed the committee that the teacher promotion system was developed in consultation with the Teachers' Federation.
