Kathmandu, February 20

A special convention of Higher Secondary Schools’ Association Nepal (HISSAN) elected Ramesh Kumar Silwal as its new chairman and Lok Bahadur Bhandari as general secretary unanimously today.

Silwal is the chief of Golden Gate College and Bhandari is the Executive Director of Xavier International.

Yubaraj Sharma and Nawaraj Pandey were both elected senior vice chairs. Bhesh Raj Pokharel, Tanka Prasad Acharya, Umesh Thapa, Rameshwor Aryal, Sher Bahadur Gurung, Jiban Prakash Sharma, Surendra Prasad Singh, Swagat Shrestha, Binod Sah, Dharanidhar Adhikari, Ishwor Prasad Pokharel, Manish Singh and CB Chandra were also elected vice chairmen.

Kapil Regmi, Harichandra Lamichhane, Jayaram Khanal, Rishi Tiwari, Ramhari Silwal, Rajendra Adhikari and Dipendra Bhandari were elected secretaries of HISSAN; and Tirth Pokharel was elected treasurer and Dipak Rawat was elected joint-treasurer, said General Secretary Lok Bahadur Bhandari.

A special committee has formed a direction committee comprising Umesh Shrestha, Baburam Pokharel, Madhab Prasad Baral, Shivadatta Gyawali, Ramchandra Acharya, Shivahari Mudvari and Birendra Kumar Shah.

HISSAN is an umbrella organisation of private higher secondary schools/colleges across the country. It was established in 1996. Its executive committee in Kathmandu has been organising and initiating a number of academic and scholarly programmes since its inception.

HISSAN is a common platform of all privately funded higher secondary schools affiliated with Higher Secondary Education Board, Nepal.

The previous government had extended school level education — Grade I to X  up to Grade XII — while implementing the Higher Secondary Education Act 1989. There are about 3,500 Higher Secondary Schools including private, community and government run campuses and schools with grades XI and XII in the country.

Chaired by Manorama Rana, the late principal of Mahendra Bhawan Higher Secondary School, Kathmandu, the Higher Secondary Schools’ Association was conceived in 1996 with a nine-member executive committee. The objectives of this umbrella organisation were to guarantee stability, ownership, autonomy, and to fulfil the interest of school owners, teachers staff-members and students in coordination with HSEB and its various divisions like Examination, Affiliation, Curriculum and Training, Planning and Supervision.