Kathmandu, February 6

Education sector tops the chart of complaints received by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority in the past five fiscals.

In the last seven months of the current fiscal, the anti-graft body has received 819 complaints relating to the education sector. While 556 complaints have already been addressed, 263 cases are under preliminary investigation, according to Padam Prasad Pandey, spokesperson for the CIAA.

Sector-wise distribution of complaints registered at the CIAA in fiscal year 2016/17 shows that the highest number of complaints (about 20.30 per cent) were from education sector. There were 15.54 per cent complaints related to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, 6.85 per cent related to the Ministry of Land Reform and Management, 4.6 per cent related to health service, 4.57 per cent related to the Ministry of Home Affairs and 3.87 per cent related to the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation.

“Complaints relating to the education sector are about irregularities in schools, district education offices, Department of Education, Ministry of Education and universities,” said Pandey. Most of these complaints are regarding irregularities in the construction of school buildings; distribution of scholarship, and books and stationery; and appointment, transfer and promotion of teachers. CIAA has filed 37 cases at the court against the Ministry of Education.

“The trend of transferring budget allocated for the education sector under different headings has given rise to financial irregularities,” said Bidhyanath Koirala, an educationalist.