Kathmandu, October 8, 2005 A total of 28,000 grade-11 students, who have failed in one subject in exams held this year, will get an opportunity to clear the subject this year. Passing through the chance tests will mean that the students who have already passed grade-12 examinations won’t have to waste a year to get enrolled at the Bachelor’s level. What is especially encouraging to the students is that such chance examinations will be held ever year. In previous years, such students were compelled to waste a year because the results of the grade-11 examinations would be published long after the commencement of another academic session. A seven-member committee headed by the Education Minister, Radha Krishna Mainali, made the decision to this effect this week. This is the first time the Education Ministry and the HSEB have decided to conduct chance examinations for the grade-11 students. There is no such provision for students studying in the intermediate level under the Tribhuvan University. “The decision will benefit 28,000 students this year,” Gorakh Bahadur Singh, the examination controller at the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB), told this daily. Out of 28,000 failed students, 17,000 have failed in English, he said. “The decision has been made so that the students do not have to waste a year,” said Singh, hoping that pass rate will also increase. Korean docs provide health services to 2,200 people Kathmandu, October 8, 2005 A visiting Korean medical team from Wonkwang University Oriental Medicine Hospital in Kwangju held a health camp at Lumbini from October 3-6. More than 2,200 people benefited from the camp where the Korean doctors provided consultations and medicines for free of cost. The service was provided by a team of five doctors, five nurses, a pharmacist and a lab technician along with four volunteer medical students who had come from the Korean university. In the camp organised jointly by the People Together With — a South Korean Organisation working in Nepal and Bodhichitta Foundation, Nepal, medical services and medicine worth $30,000 were provided to poor and needy people residing in the periphery of the Lord Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini. Jung Won Lee, representative of People Together With, said the organisation has been working in Nepal providing social services to poor people for the last five years. The PTW also plans to open a day care centre and teachers’ training school at Kavresthali VDC of Kathmandu, she said, adding that an orphanage is also being run by the organisation with economical support from Korean nationals. Likewise, the PTW is also conducting literacy classes and is providing scholarships to economically weak Nepalis students.