Government’s one year: education bill in parliament; timely access to textbooks ensured

Kathmandu- The incumbent government has presented registration of the bill related to school education in the parliament and easy availability of text books as its achievement in education sector in a year.

After the enforcement of the Nepal Constitution with a new federal republic in the country, the bill related to school education has been taken among the essentials for fulfilling fundamental rights and administrative restructuring in every sector. The stakeholders comprising education sector advocates and province and local governments had been demanding enactment of the Federal Education Act at the earliest.

Due to delay in introducing the Act, there has been a persisting confusion in the scope of work and responsibilities among the three tiers of the governments. Various debates have been made in regard to the federal education bill after its registration o in the parliament. The incumbent government has put the education bill on priority since most of the parties in the last year election had emphatically included this agenda in their manifestoes.

In his address to the nation on the occasion of a year completion of the government on Tuesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ reiterated his emphasis on endorsing the school bill after adequate discussion in the parliament. The bill was registered at the House of Representatives (HoR) on last September 13.

The HOR Education, Health and Information Technology Committee had commenced deliberations on 1,758 amendment proposals on the bill since December 24. Likewise, in the period, the government has freely distributed textbooks to around 5.2 million students of public schools from grade 1 to 12 before the start of the educational year. It has averted unavailability of paper, delay in the revision of curriculum and deficit recurrent budget in Janak Education Material Center.