Minister of Education, how much is the budget?

2. If the government schools are not exempted from charging illegal fees, the schools will not run because the Ministry of Education has not been able to counter the gradually decreasing budget in education for a decade and a half. Failure to do so is unfair to children from marginalized groups. It is contempt for the children of the poor.

3. Although the ceiling of the national budget has been set at 18 billion for the next financial year, the Prime Minister has given instructions to increase it to 20 billion. But the ceiling given for the Ministry of Education is only 206 billion. Out of that, only 150 billion is for classes 1 to 12, the rest is spent on other works.

4. Hardly any education minister has been able to get the Ministry of Finance to accept the amount of expenses required for their own school children by lobbying. According to the Nepal Education Sector Analysis Report, the government of Nepal invests 18,000 at the basic level and 23,000 at the secondary level per student per year.

5. According to European Union statistics, private schools invest about 40,000 per student per year. If the indirect investment of the parents is added, then 50,000 at the basic level and 65,000 at the secondary level will be seen.

6. If government education is to be made like private schools, how will it be possible with the current investment? What kind of quality can the Ministry of Education expect by just disbursing teachers' salaries? Lost budget in student development activities? Don't take the initiative?

7. The investment in education that we have committed to in the international arena is 20 percent of the total national budget or 6 percent of the gross domestic product. According to this, should not education get 360 billion in the budget of 18 billion? Even if the gross domestic product is to be calculated from 57 trillion, should not 342 billion be allocated?

8. According to the World Bank report, South Asia invests 358 US dollars per student per year in school education, which is about 47,600 Nepalese rupees. Shouldn't we spend on education like South Asian countries? If it were to be done, 248 billion would be the minimum for the 5.2 million students studying in government schools.

9. Accepting 150 billion in school education for the next fiscal year, what quality will the Ministry of Education talk about? Talking about the quality of America and Australia during the speech and not even half of the investment compared to South Asia? This is the root cause of deterioration in the quality of government schools.

10. The budget will come on May 15. Now is the last time to lobby the Ministry of Finance and many ministries are engaged in it. I could not understand where the attention of the Minister of Education is.
– Manprasad Wagle, Meen Bhavan, Kathmandu