Kathmandu, May 2

Government authorities have not been able to lay out clear plan about the process of holding Grade X exams (Secondary Education Examination) which has left hundreds of thousands of SEE appearing students in confusion.

A high-level suggestion committee formed under the leadership of Chandra Mani Paudel, chairman of National Examinations Board, has forwarded a three-point suggestion to the government about procedure for holding SEE.

Multiple sources told THT that the high-level committee has suggested that the SEE could begin three weeks after the lockdown is lifted.

It has also suggested scrapping the currently designated exam centres and allow schools to hold the examinations on their own by swapping security guards and teachers of the schools.

The committee has also suggested that the answer-sheets should be checked within a few days and result should be published pronto.

The government on the night of March 18, just a day before had indefinitely postponed SEE. The action was taken due to increasing fear of COVID-19 outbreak.

The government has recently hinted that the lockdown will be eased, but due to lack of authentic information about how or when the lockdown will be lifted, the authorities have not been able to take any decision about conducting SEE.

Paudel, chair of NEB, said, “We are in no position to say when or how the examinations will be conducted.”

According to Mahesh Prasad Dahal, education secretary at the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, who retired from his position yesterday, they are still not able to decide how to conduct SEE. He said, “We had, earlier, fixed a tentative date to begin the examination by May-end so that it would not hamper the academic calendar that begins from mid-June, but looking at the present condition, there is uncertainty ahead.”

Dahal also said that to conduct SEE, first all schools should publish examination results of Grade I to IX.

“We need at least three weeks to make necessary preparations for conducting SEE after the lockdown is lifted,”

Dahal said. However, educationist Bidhyanath Koirala said it was a time to change our orthodox education system and go for innovative system.

“It is high time we started conducting aptitude test of students using modern technologies,” he added.

He further said that since the delay in examinations would affect the entire academic calendar, it would be better to dump the orthodox education system in favour of progressive education system.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 3, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.