Renu Kshetry

Kathmandu, May 1:

The Department of Education (DoE) has recently issued notices to all the district education offices to fill up the forms for the student identity cards so that the students can be tracked down and enrolled in any schools across the nation based on their ID numbers.

“The department has already issued notices to all the DEOs to distribute the forms to all the schools to fill them up. The ID system will be effectively implemented once the department receives all the details,” Mahashram Sharma, deputy director at DoE, told The Himalayan Times.

Sharma said that ID system would help solve the problem of displaced students and achieve the EFA goal of increasing the student retention rate in schools.

“Giving ID numbers to the student will help track the students and their real identification so that they will be able to study in the same class in any schools across the nation,” he said. The scheme is basically for the students who had been compelled to leave the schools at the middle of the academic session.

The students will be identified through thier serial numbers defined by their birth date,

state, school and other necessary information.

Janardan Nepal, director general of the department, said the ID system has proved effective in Latikoili village of Surkhet as a pilot project where none of the school-age children are

out of schools.

Currently, the pilot programme is on at Mahendra Jyoti School at Bashdole of Kavre with the

support from Save the Children, Norway.

“As soon as we get all the information regarding the students’ data, we will distribute the ID numbers to the students so that they can continue their study as per the provision,” he said.

Besides, the Ministry of Education has already introduced ‘flexible schooling’ by condensing five-year curriculum to three years. This scheme is targeted for displaced, migrated and child workers in urban areas.

The government is planning to double the number of ‘flexible schools’ in the next year from the present 450.