MoE, students unions at odds over school monitoring

KATHMANDU: A meeting between the Ministry of Education and 13 student unions regarding monitoring of the fees charged by private schools ended inconclusively.

The meeting failed to reach a decision after the Ministry could not fulfill the unions' demands. The meeting was held this morning at the Ministry.

Spokesperson of the Nepal Students Union, one of the constituents of the alliance of 13 student unions, UP Lamichhane said that the meeting ended without any decision as their demands went unheeded.

The student unions are calling for full implementation of the 10-point agreement that the Ministry had signed with them last year.

"We asked the Ministry to carry out monitoring of the fees increased by the private schools while demanding implementation of the 10-point agreement. However, the Ministry officials said that monitoring was not immediately possible and it could be done after some days with the formation of a mechanism for that purpose, which we did not agree to," Lamichhane said.

The Ministry of Education had urged the student unions to stop their monitoring forthwith.

The Ministry spokesperson Hari Lamsal said the talks would be held with the student unions again tomorrow and a monitoring committee including the student union representatives would be formed.

The student unions have continued their monitoring of the fees charged by the private schools today also after the talks with the Ministry failed.