600,000 students lost in the middle

It is found that 6 lakh 35 thousand students have left the class in between classes 1 to 10. This fact has also raised questions on the effectiveness of the government's student enrollment campaign.

has been conducting student recruitment campaigns for years. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Education Minister Sumana Shrestha have issued a public invitation to enroll in the academic session starting on Sunday. Central, state and local governments have also given priority by appealing for student admission. But the government has not been able to implement policies and programs to keep the enrolled students in school.

50 percent of the students enrolled in class 1 who drop out of school without completing their education up to class 8, which is mandatory by the constitution. According to the government data, only 5 lakh 69 thousand students have reached class 9. While the government has issued the Compulsory and Free Education Act in 2075 so that citizens who have not completed class 8 by 2085 will be disqualified. In Section 19 of the Act, it is mentioned that a person who has not received education up to class 8 by 2085 Baisakh is not eligible to become a member, elected, nominated and appointed in government, non-government, cooperative organizations. In the previous year, the admission campaign was conducted with the slogan 'Teach children to school, keep them and teach them'. However, 100% of the students are still not enrolled in class 1 and half of the enrolled students leave school without even completing the basic level.

Ministry of Education spokesperson Keshav Dahal said that 2 lakh 13 thousand students are still out of school and there is a program to enroll them this year. In the past years, the president, prime minister, minister, parliamentarian, people's representatives from the state to local level, employees, society and education workers adopted a guardianship program to enroll children who could not enroll in school. Despite that, 100% of students have not been able to get admission in government schools. Another 4 percent of children are out of reach of schools, according to the Center for Education and Human Resource Development.

Spokesperson Dahal said that the target is to enroll more than 7.5 million children, including 542,000 and 2,13,000 who are studying in the elementary child development classes. According to the Ministry of Education, it is a challenge to maintain them as a large number of enrolled students leave the class in the middle.

'A large number of students seem to have disappeared in the middle. It has become a matter to study where they went," he said. There will be an investigation on this matter.' He pointed out that students may drop out of classes at the school level due to family, social, economic and migration reasons.

'Home-like environment may not last if you don't get it in school. The rate of children with disabilities is also high in dropping out of class. After finding the cause, a sustainable program is implemented. If the state needs to help, such programs will be implemented, he said. According to the center, the highest dropout rate has been found in Madhesh province.

The government has been providing free textbooks, mid-day meals up to class 5, poor, underprivileged target class scholarships, sanitary pads to girl students to attract students, parents to schools. Compulsory education up to class 8 and free education up to 12 is provided by the constitution. Even then, not all children have been enrolled in school, and even those who have been enrolled have not continued in class. It seems that there are more female students than male students in leaving the class in the middle of

. In 2071, out of 571,000 students enrolled in class 1, only 248,000 participated in SEE. 3 lakh 23 thousand students dropped out of school. Along with them, 3 lakh 11 thousand students also left the class without giving SEE.

This year, the student enrollment campaign has been started with the slogan 'Ensuring quality education for all children participating in schools'. On the occasion of the campaign, Prime Minister Dahal called to ensure enrollment of all school-age children in schools. Dahal pointed out that the situation of students dropping out of school should be stopped. For that, he expressed his commitment to take concrete initiatives from the community level and emphasize on educational infrastructure and skilled manpower management. Prime Minister Dahal says that the federal, state and central governments should make a collective effort to improve school education.

Education Minister Shrestha has also committed to run a project to sustain the enrolled students. The Ministry of Education has started discussions with the concerned parties to make the campaign successful. In the discussion held with the local level, she said that only with the active participation of all three levels of government and the community, the campaign to improve new admissions and community education will be successful. An education system based on facts should be created. Along with the enrollment of students, the basis for student retention in the school should also be created, she said.

Education Secretary Suresh Adhikari expressed the opinion that since the local government will lead the student enrollment drive, the ministry will provide all kinds of support. Lakshmidevi Pandey, the chairperson of the Rural Municipality Federation, expressed her commitment that the children of the people's representatives should be educated in public schools and the Rural Municipality Federation will take the lead for that. Bhim Dhungana, chairman of the Municipal Federation, explained the solution to the problem of teaching materials and teachers in child development classes. It has been pointed out that there is a shortage of about 56,000 teaching posts in public schools, even though it is said that education is free. Public schools that are considered excellent have been complaining that they have to charge fees from students and parents for teacher management and infrastructure construction due to the high number of students.