KATHMANDU: Officials at the Ministry of Education and Teachers' Service Commission (TSC) said today that the amendment to the Teachers' Service Regulations would be approved soon from the cabinet and the teachers' licence exam would be held at the earliest.

Their reaction came after the appointment of Ram Chandra Kusbaha as the Minister for Education.

Uncertainty loomed over teachers' licence exam as the proposal to amend the regulations had been pending in the cabinet for long. The TSC postponed the exam twice because of the protest of Nepal Educational Republic Forum (NERF) and other technical reasons.

The exam, scheduled to be held in December last year, was postponed till June 5 and 6. But the TSC again postponed it until further notice.

Janardan Nepal, joint secretary at the MoE, said they had already proposed the draft amendment to the regulations in the cabinet. "The minister was appointed today. He will take an initiative to approve the amendment at the earliest," Nepal added.

As many as 119,500 examinees are waiting to take the examination for all three levels — primary, lower secondary and secondary — in 75 districts, said Jawaharlal Hamal, section officer at the TSC.

According to Hamal, the exams were last postponed due to the NERF protest.

The NERF has been demanding that the government reinstate the teachers who left their jobs during the decade-long insurgency.

It has also been demanding the formation of a council to enhance the professionalism of teachers.