The newly appointed Education, Science and Technology Minister Raghuji Pant has taken oath. President Ramchandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to Minister Pant on Thursday at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sheetalniwas.
On the recommendation of the Prime Minister, President Paudel appointed Pant as the Minister of Education on Wednesday.
Vidya Bhattarai, who became Education Minister from UML, resigned on Monday due to non-cooperation and neglect of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Pant has been given the responsibility of the Ministry of Education under challenging circumstances, including the violent teacher's movement with academic strike, the increasingly complicated discussion in the parliamentary committee on the school education bill, the dismissal of Education Minister Bhattarai and Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor Kesharjung Baral due to the non-cooperation of the Prime Minister. The main responsibility of the newly appointed Education Minister Pant is to find a solution to the teachers' movement and conduct educational activities.
The then Education Minister Bhattarai took a 7-point proposal to the Council of Ministers to address the teachers' demands. Officials of the Ministry of Education say that Prime Minister Oli and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel were not positive about it, so he resigned.
Newly appointed Education Minister Pant has the experience of becoming the Minister of Labor and Transport in 2061. He was the press advisor of Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari in 2051 and Madhav Kumar Nepal, Prime Minister in 2066. Currently, 67-year-old Pant, who is also a member of the UML Standing Committee, is a member of the House of Representatives elected through the proportional system.
