Education Minister Mahabir Pun outlined his initiatives and key decisions on educational reform at a press conference on Monday, Kartik 3, after a month in office as the Minister of Education, Science and Technology. Minister Pun detailed that his initial decisions have been wide-ranging, covering four key areas: the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTEVT); school-level education and curriculum reform; issues related to higher education and universities; and necessary steps for institutional reform and management within the sector.
Regarding CTEVT
Regarding the CTEVT, Minister Pun confirmed several crucial decisions. He highlighted a major challenge stemming from the recent Gen-Z protests, during which an estimated 10% of the Council's exam answer sheets were destroyed by fire. This destruction, primarily affecting records in the Koshi and Bagmati provinces, had created significant uncertainty regarding the next steps for the affected students.
While students had been demanding direct evaluation for the damaged papers, Minister Pun firmly stated that passing them without assessment was unacceptable. Therefore, he announced the crucial decision to conduct a re-examination for all affected students. He further noted that the re-examination is budgeted to cost approximately NRs 1.75 crore and that the Ministry has arranged for the exam centers to be established within the respective affected regions.
Pun also targeted long-standing bureaucratic hurdles, particularly those concerning CTEVT affiliation. He revealed that 442 applications for affiliation had been stalled since the Nepali year 2059 BS. To ensure transparency and resolve the backlog without irregularities, he has formed a task force and mandated it to investigate all pending applications and finalize affiliation decisions within two months.
A separate task force for restructuring CTEVT was announced. The goal of this team is to reform the institution to better fulfill its role in producing qualified mid-level technicians essential for national development.
School and curriculum decisions
Minister Pun announced six major decisions focused on reforming school-level education:
- Teacher Salary Probe: An investigation has been launched following complaints of teachers' salaries being withheld by local governments, despite funds being released by the federal government.
- Headteacher Selection Guidelines: To curb the arbitrary selection of headteachers based on political pressure, a process has begun to create a new, transparent selection work procedure/guideline.
- Teacher Transfer Policy: The existing teacher transfer procedure will be revised to make provisions for the easy transfer of disabled and sick teachers to suitable locations.
- Curriculum Update: The Curriculum Development Centre is being utilized to make the curriculum contemporary by integrating subjects such as Moral Education, Pre-Vocational Education, History, and the Constitution.
- Compulsory Co-curricular Activities: A new guideline will be introduced to make subjects like Yoga, Life Science, and Disaster Management compulsory via co-curricular activities (CCAs), bridging the gap for subjects not in the main curriculum.
- Mandatory Computer Science: Perhaps the most significant decision is the plan to introduce Computer Science as a 100-mark compulsory subject up to the secondary level. This plan includes adding teacher quotas and establishing a licensing system to ensure computer literacy, even for students in remote areas.
Decisions related to higher education and universities
Pun has taken the initiative to keep universities free from politicization. For this, homework has been started to remove the Prime Minister from the role of Chancellor.
As an alternative, preparations are being made to form a board of trustees and take legal steps to impartially start the process of selecting the chancellor through the same trustees. However, he said that this would only be possible after the elections, as the law itself would have to be amended, and it would not be possible to bring an ordinance immediately. Similarly, Minister Pun said that work is underway to fill vacant positions, including senators, due to the lack of allocation in universities.
Minister Pun said that it has been decided to improve the situation where it takes up to 9 months to publish exam results in universities and to withhold grants from departments that delay for more than 3 months. Investigation committees have been formed into complaints of land encroachment at Tribhuvan University and Far-Western University. If the ministry cannot resolve the matter, it will be referred to the CIAA. Just a few days ago, the committee formed to investigate the land of Tribhuvan University submitted its report. Similarly, work has begun on the construction of a park by removing land encroachment on the Tribhuvan University campus.
Institutional Reform and Management
During this period, Minister Pun informed that an initiative has been launched to create a separate and strong ministry with a budget for science and technology, research, and innovation by dividing the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology for the country's economic development and innovation.
Minister Pun has announced that he will not receive any salary, allowances, or other expenses from the ministry during his tenure.
