Himalayan News Service:

In a bid to improve the quality of education, the management of over 8,000 public schools across the country has been handed over to local communities. According to the Department of Education (DoE), as many as 8,002 public schools had been handed over to the communities by March 13.

Niv Raj Joshi, deputy director of School Management Section, DoE, today said the number of schools under community management was increasing by the day due to its positive impact on the quality of education.

Bir Bahadur Nepali, section officer, said 2,604 schools have been handed over to the communities in the eastern region, 2,284 in the central region, 1747 in western, 627 in mid-western and 740 in far-western development region. Among them, 5,471 are primary schools, 1,695 are lower-secondary schools and 836 are secondary schools.

More schools have been handed over to the communities in Kavre, Morang, Illam, Udayapur, Nawalparasi, Baglung, Nuwakot, Jhapa, Rammechhap and Dolakha districts.

The school handover programme was first launched in 2003/04 in 15 districts and has been expanded to all 75 districts now, according to Nepali. The government has allocated Rs 2,035 million for the community-managed schools in the current fiscal.