KATHMANDU: Students of the Central Department of Psychology have continued padlocking the department, demanding Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology and Industrial Organisation Psychology programmes, all be under the Central Department of Psychology itself.

Meanwhile, Dean of the department Professor Dr Shiva Lal Bhusal has urged the students to let the department carry out the classes until the next meeting of Education Council of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, within a week.

Pravash Kumar Raut, a student of Clinical Psychology who is also involved as a coordinator of the programme to protest against the decision of the Education Council, said that the subject programme had been handed over to the Office of the Dean without informing students.

He said, “The Master’s Programme in Counseling Psychology and Industrial Organisation Psychology are privately run programmes by the Office of the Dean, while Counseling Psychology Programme has been running under the Central Department for more than 15 years.”

Presently, the students of psychology study under the common syllabus until second semester and thereafter Clinical, Counseling, and Industrial Organisation Psychologies separate to specialise in third and fourth semester of the Master's programme.

Raut argued, under present curriculum, the students from Clinical Psychology would not be allowed to practise counseling since the course is not practical but full of theories. So the students have demanded to make changes in the course, he added.

The Education Council of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences decided to hand over the programme to the Office of the Dean saying that there were only 10 students enrolled into the programme and it was not fair on the students, according to Raut.

“Students have to pay a hefty amount for Master’s Programme in Counseling Psychology although it is a private course,” Raut said. He said, the students studying the private programmes have to pay 65,500 per semester while the students of Clinical psychology pay the fees of Rs 22,000.

The Education Council of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences had decided to run Counseling Psychology and Industrial Organisation Programme as a private course for the Master’s Programme from February 26, 2018.

The Council had also decided to provide the authority of setting the syllabus, question papers and other necessary academic materials to the Dean’s Office.