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What's in a name? A business trick?

Himalayan News Service

April 05, 2014

KATHMANDU: Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) by-law 2055 says the applicant for new plus two college should have Nepali names; but every year, dozens of colleges with foreign names are established. 

The colleges are named after a states of the US, provinces of England and names of places of Australia. However, HSEB, the ultimate authority for granting affiliation has never questioned the names these colleges give to themselves. 

Giving educational institutions unfamiliar names does not take into account the rule that the name should be easily pronounceable and commonly known. 

Texas, Liverpool, Southwestern State college, Chelsea, NASA college, Pentagon are some examples. 

“It’s the mindset that was well reflected in late poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s essay Hai Hai Angreji that is at work here,” said Educationist Bidhya Nath Koirala. 

Asked why he had named his college Pentagon International instead of a Nepali name, academic director Arbinda Keshari said, “To thrive in the business we should give a name like that. However, it’s also an impact of the society in which parents tend to give their children foreign names.” 

Asmita Chaudhary, a 12th grader at the college, does not find any significance in that name and wishes her college had 

a Nepali name. “We are perplexed by the names. We neither know them nor their meaning,” complained a parent on the premises of the college seeking not be identified. Meanwhile, Don Bosco School has changed into Kanjiroha National Higher Secondary School, the name comes from a mountain in western Nepal. 

Executive Director of the school Kapil Dev Regmi reasoned, “Giving the institution a foreign name due to a visit to Italy, brought me humiliation. So, I decided to change the name,”  However it took him one-and-a-half year to effect the change due to sluggish government service. 

Most of the Nepali names of colleges were changed recently; Kschitiz turned into Liverpool, Siddharth into Morgan, Shuv Shree into NASA, Shikhar into Omega and Deepshikha into Olympia. 

Managing Director Govinda Ghimire of Liverpool International College said they couldn’t go against the trend as giving names popular among youngsters would ensure returns on their investment. Various names of colleges are of foreign universities but they have not taken permission. 

Affiliation chief at HSEB Devi Prasad Barakoti tried to come clean saying that they cannot make change as the colleges are registered with the company registrar. 

The colleges in which political and academic bigwigs invest can put pressure on HSEB when it comes to affiliation. Conflicting law of the Education Act is the reason why we fail to maintain order, said Sanu Raja Pokhrel, legal Adviser at HSEB.

(Source: The Himalayantimes Published on July 5)

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