Renu Kshetry

Kathmandu, January 20:

Over 250 students and their guardians, in a bid to ‘illegally’ sit for SLC examinations, are pressing government officials to register their exam forms though the last date for the submission of the forms was December 27. Mostly the students who had failed in Grade IX or sent-up exams are trying to bribe schools and tuition centres to register their exam forms.

According to Kathmandu District Education Office, two schools and five tuition institutes had submitted such students’ forms long after the submission date expired.

Moon Shine School of Swoyambhu and Don International School and Saraswati, Sagarmatha, Apex and Lincoln institutes are the ones involved in such illegal work. According to an education ministry official, parents and students have not learnt from the last year’s incident in which over 25 students were deprived of sitting for the exams as they had submitted their exam forms through such schools, which were not even allowed to run classes beyond the Grade VIII.

“Now they press the government to let the students sit for the examinations by paying the brokers heavy amount without thinking the consequences and when things fall apart they blame the government for it,” said an official at the ministry. Ram Prasad Basyal, chief of School Administration Unit at the ministry, said the ministry had already directed the concerned DEOs and Regional Education Directorates not to register such forms.

Ram Chandra Shrestha, founder of Moon Shine School, said the government should be sympathatic towards the conflict-hit students who cannot submit the forms on time.

Shrestha has applied 50 such students’ forms, besides his regular students. Most of them are from outside the Valley. Shrestha said he had taken time to discuss the matter with education minister on Friday.

However, the education minister could not be contacted till late for his comment.