The main challenge of the newly appointed Education Minister is to resume educational activities in search of a solution to the teachers' movement
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UML MP Raghuji Pant was appointed as Minister of Education, Science and Technology on Wednesday. Congress MP, Minister of State for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Poorna Bahadur (Kancharam) Tamang was dismissed on Wednesday.
President Ramchandra Paudel has appointed Pant as the Minister of Education on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Education Minister Pant's oath and assumption of office will be held on Thursday.
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 fierce teacher's movement along with the 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.
Due to the teacher's movement, the school enrollment and textbook distribution of children, which should start in the first week of Baisakh, is blocked. Due to the suspension of admissions, the studies scheduled to start on 15 Baisakh are uncertain.
A month after the end of SEE, the answer book test has not started. The class 12 exam which was supposed to start on Thursday has been postponed by 10 days due to teachers' agitation. Until the agitating teachers return to school, these educational activities cannot be resumed. Officials of the Ministry of Education say that with the assumption of office, Education Minister Pant should negotiate with the teachers and find a solution.
On the other hand, the school education bill is under discussion in the sub-committee under the education, health and information technology committee of the House of Representatives.
Education Minister Pant has a challenge to finalize the school education bill in a sensible manner. Complicated issues including the jurisdiction of the local level in school education, management of private schools and teachers will have to be decided in the bill.
Tribhuvan University has been under the care of the Acting Vice-Chancellor for a week. The responsibility of immediately proceeding with the process of appointing the vice-chancellor has also come before Education Minister Pant.
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. Now 67-year-old Pant, who is also a member of the UML Standing Committee, is a member of the House of Representatives elected by the proportional system.
