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The government is reluctant to increase investment in public education. When the political parties who won the elections came to power with the commitment to increase the state investment in education to 20 percent of the total budget, the budget has not been able to increase more than 11 percent.
Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has allocated 2 trillion 11 billion 17 crores to the education sector in the budget presented on Thursday. This is only 10.75 percent of the total budget. In the current financial year, 10.95 percent of the budget was allocated for education. As the School Education Act is in the process of being promulgated, it seems that this year's budget has fallen further, contrary to the demand that the state should increase its responsibility to improve public education. In the year 080/081, 11.27 percent of the budget was allocated to education.
Kathmandu University School of Education Dean Balchandra Luintel said that the government has not come up with a clear blueprint in the budget for the reform of public education. The budget came according to traditional calculations. There is no budget for improving learning. The quality of teacher production seems inadequate," he said. "The government could not even come up with a plan to improve public education. The draft of the School Education Act also calls for investment. The government's commitment was not seen. There is no leap forward budget.
Finance Minister Poudel presented a budget statement with some new, most old and some programs that were announced earlier but could not be completed. He said that an incentive program based on educational results will be conducted in 100 public schools. According to the program, 2.5 million per school will be provided for each district with at least one school. Arrangements will be made for those schools to help improve the results of other schools. The model school program was conducted in the same model. 422 model schools have been announced across the country. He said that the construction of the model school under construction will be completed.
The previous program of adjusting community schools and reviewing teacher positions has been given continuity. In order to prevent the shortage of English, science and mathematics teachers in the budget, it is mentioned that a teacher bank will be established in collaboration with the university, and graduate students will be mobilized as volunteer teachers.
Finance Minister Paudel said that arrangements will be made for SEE operation and management at the provincial level. In the sub-committee of the School Education Bill pending in the Education Committee of the Parliament, there has been an agreement among the MPs to conduct the SEE examination. The parliamentarians are unanimous in conducting the final examination of the school level in class 12.
The mid-day meal provided to students up to class 5 and free sanitary pad distribution program to girl students has been continued in the budget. 10.19 billion has been allocated for the lunch of 2.8 million children and 1.29 billion has been allocated to distribute free pads to 1.3 million girl students. It is mentioned in the budget that the scholarships provided to students from the target communities and difficult Himalayan districts will be continued. The program to provide incentives for higher education in medicine to students from Musahar, Dom, Chamar communities is still ongoing. Paudel said that 2 billion 44 crores have been allocated for scholarships.
10.16 billion has been allocated for the salary of early child development support workers (ECD teachers) and school staff working in public schools. He announced that virtual teaching system will be used in school education. The Ministry of Education has been operating a portal called 'Sikai Chowtari' ever since the Covid epidemic.
It is mentioned in the budget to arrange hostels for students with disabilities to complete their basic education. Finance Minister Paudel said that effective monitoring of private schools will be done by preparing national regulatory standards. The government will implement the National Educational Reform Program by revising the Presidential Educational Reform Program. Even though the education program has reached the local level, there has been criticism that the budget is distributed on the basis of accessibility by conducting programs of this nature from the center. 2.72 billion has been allocated for the program. Under this program, it is mentioned in the budget that the physical infrastructure of schools with more than 1,500 students in Tarai Madhes, 1,000 in the mountains, and 500 in the mountains will be built.
The issue of maintaining consistency in university operations by creating an umbrella law related to higher education has continued this year as well. Emphasis will be placed on reducing the trend of going abroad for studies and developing manpower according to the job market. The departments and faculties of the university will be restructured, said the budget.
Madan Bhandari Science and Technology, Vidushi Yogamaya Himalayan Ayurveda University physical infrastructure construction and Shahid Dashrathchandra Health Sciences University are mentioned in the budget. 56 crores have been allocated to build the infrastructure of medical colleges in Bardibas, Butbal, Surkhet and Dadeldhura. The mentioned subject of the policy and program to deploy interns in public bodies has also received priority in the budget. "To encourage entrepreneurship-friendly education, the program will be conducted while earning 20 hours of work per week with the minimum wage," said Poudel.
