School monitoring continues

Kathmandu, May 10

Two high-level monitoring teams led by joint-secretaries Hari Lamsal and Baikuntha Aryal from the Ministry of Education today visited four schools in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts.

Lamsal-led team visited Gyaneshwor-based Galaxy Public School and Anamnagar-based Occidental Public School in Kathmandu, while Aryal-led team inspected Sanepa-based Shuvatara School and Jawalakhel-based DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati School in Lalitpur.

During monitoring, they found that DAV School was charging nursery students Rs 24,500, Grade I students Rs 38,500 and Grade II students Rs 39,350 in monthly tuition fees.

Similarly, Shuvatara School was found charging students from Grade I to V Rs 48,592 in monthly tuition fee, while Galaxy School was not granting scholarship to students. Occidental School had hiked tuition fee by 10 per cent this year.

Lamsal said they were collecting details and would prepare a report with recommendations.

Suprabhat Bhandari, a member of monitoring team, said, “Some schools have hiked tuition fees through parents’ assembly as mentioned in the guidelines. But government officials have neither approved nor rejected their fee structure.”

Likewise, some schools were not paying salary to teachers on par with government school teachers.

RC Lamicchane, secretary, CPN-UML aligned All Nepal National Free Students Union, said scholarship distribution was not transparent in most of the schools.

He said 10 per cent scholarship should be provided to students from poor financial background as per the Education Act, but schools were found awarding scholarships to their near and dear ones.