Most of the schools affiliated to Private and Residential School Organization Nepal (PABSON) in Siddharthnagar are collecting arbitrary fees from students of class 10 and 8 in the name of preparatory practice exams. A high fee is being charged in the name of practice exam from SEE and 8th class students saying that the exam will be conducted from Pabson.
While practice exams are being conducted in most of the schools in the city with fee collection from the students in an arbitrary manner, the regulatory body Siddharthnagar Municipality is silent.
According to the instructions of the Central Committee, Pabson Rupandehi has conducted the examination for the students of both classes under the name of Secondary Education and Basic Level Practice Examination 2081 from last January 6th. In both these classes, there is a provision that such a practice test cannot be taken.
"Both of these types of practice exams cannot be conducted with a fee," said Madhav Banjade, head of the Education Development and Coordination Unit Rupandehi, "The government has closed the 10th class pre-centup exam because there is an opening to raise money." Even for SEE, the center has not charged more than 500.' It has been asked to be kept by the concerned school, fill the online registration form and send 100 rupees to Pabson center and send it to Pabson Rupandehi at the rate of 450 rupees.
Similarly, a minimum of 700 rupees per student was collected in class 8 at the rate of 250 per student and kept by the respective school and at the rate of 450 to be deposited in Pabson Rupandehi's bank account . This exam fee charged by Pabson Rupandehi for practice exam is exorbitant and against the rules . Some schools have charged more than Pabson's prescribed fee .
Pabson Siddharthnagar Nagar President Uday Mallik said that Pabson has conducted secondary education and basic level practice exams in 18 secondary schools of Siddharthnagar. In which 717 students from class 10 and 821 students from class 8 are participating in the exam. He claimed that Pabson raised the cost of conducting the examination according to the quarterly examination fee conducted by the school.
There is a provision that if the school divides 50 percent of the approved monthly fee for the quarterly exams conducted by the school by the number of times the school takes the exam in a year, only the one-time exam fee can be charged. The school, which charged Rs 450 per student for the quarterly examination of class 8, has charged up to Rs 850 in advance for Pabson's BLE practice exam.
The parents say that when the third trimester exam conducted by the school is over, the students are not even given a chance to correct the mistakes they made in the previous exam and thousands of parents are financially hit. Exams are a means of measuring student learning. It is not appropriate to take the exam immediately without getting a chance to correct the weaknesses in the previous exam,' said Kulamani Gyawali of Siddharthnagar-8, 'Here the exam is made as a means of earning money.' He said that the parents were also suffering during thick fog and cold waves. The local level has the right to operate, monitor and take action on the education system up to the secondary level. However, in Siddharthnagar municipality, what educational activities are the schools doing in the city? He is also unaware of the general information.
The employees of the education branch of the municipality shirk from their responsibilities saying that there is a lack of manpower and no authority to regulate. Chetansheel Lamsal, Head of Education Branch of Siddharthnagar Municipality, said that due to the lack of manpower and authority in the municipality, there is difficulty in regular approval and regulation of schools.
