Chitwan, June 9

Although there are only 13 registered education consultancies in Chitwan, more than 150 are operating here.

An inspection conducted by a joint team of District Education Office, Administration Office, Police Office, and Small and Cottage Industry Office found that most education consultancies in Chitwan are operating illegally.

District Education Officer Govinda Aryal said that education consultancies need to register with the Home Ministry office and receive permission from the Ministry of Education before being allowed to operate.

The consultancies offer entrance preparation classes for post-SLC courses, IELTS, TOEFL, and SAT, among others.

Market Conservation Officer at District Administration Office Om Narayan Sharma said that his team had inspected more than 26 education counselling centres and only five were found to have received permission.

“We will check the illegal operations of counselling centres in the district,” Sharma informed. He added that the monitoring team had delivered warning letters to the organisations stating that they needed to register.

Chief District Officer Binod Prakash Singh said, “The concerned authority will be compelled to take action against illegally operating consultancies if the letters are disregarded.”

Educational Consultancies Associations of Nepal Chitwan Chairman Jiban Rijal said that as many as 30 consultancies were members of the association, while 13 have been registered. He further added that 48 organisations have already submitted the required documents to the Ministry of Education.

“They have yet to get permission due to delay in processing on the part of the authority,” he said. He accused the administration of acting beyond its jurisdiction in monitoring the consultancies.

“Education consultancies fall under Ministry of Education’s jurisdiction, not of the local administration,” Rijal said. He added that the administration’s job was to monitor the market only.

Rijal said that while ECAN is in favour of scrapping illegal consultancies, it condemned the decree to close consultancies that are in the process of acquiring permission.

Students from Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Makawanpur, Dhading, Gorkha, Lamjung, and Tanahun, among other places, come for counselling to these centres.