Kathmandu, April 22:

With a view to finding out whether private schools in the Valley are abiding by the government rules and regulations, the Department of Education (DoE) today made ‘surprise visits’ to various schools in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.

DoE director Mahashram Sharma said five teams had been sent to the schools. He added

that the inspections would continue for a week and the results would be had by next week.

The inspection teams today concentrated more on the fee structures and scholarships being provided to the conflict-hit, poor and underprivileged children. The team also tried to find out whether the schools are providing all the facilities as mentioned under various titles.

Sharma said the kind of action to be taken against schools would depend upon the type of activity they are engaged in. However, he refused to divulge more details.

There are around 1,700 private schools under the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal and around 500 private schools under the National Private and Boarding Schools Association of Nepal in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.