Although the School Education Bill has been passed by the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives, the issue of providing free housing facilities to private schools while providing full scholarships is yet to be finalized. The bill passed by the committee on Thursday mandates that private schools should provide full scholarships to 10 to 15 percent of students. But the parliamentarians are divided on whether the full scholarship should include free residential facilities or not.

Although the secretariat of the committee has been assigned the task of writing the report of the bill, the Ministry of Education has been instructed to further study and inform about the full scholarship. Committee Secretary Dasharath Dhamala said that Education Minister Raghuji Pant has been asked to study and inform the committee about residential facilities on full scholarship. Parliamentarians want to provide residential facilities to orphans, poor and disadvantaged children. How facilities can be provided, it has been asked to study further and inform the committee," he said.

The sub-committee chaired by UML MP Chabilal Vishwakarma agreed that the scholarship should be provided in the form of a full scholarship as prescribed by the prevailing laws related to education. Full scholarship is defined as fees charged and provided by the school, including tuition, examinations, textbooks, learning materials, clothing, transportation and residential facilities (if available at the school).

It should be written in the bill that the registration of schools that do not give scholarships should be canceled, let's find a way to implement the law, but we need housing for the poor: Sumana Shrestha , MP , RASWP However, the consultation committee formed under the committee to agree on the bill has explained that it should be remembered that full scholarship means excluding residential facilities . After the majority of parliamentarians opposed it saying that the agreement of the sub-committee was overturned, the committee passed the bill and the Ministry of Education was instructed to submit its views on residential facilities .

Pabson, an organization of private school operators, after Npabson expressed dissatisfaction with the issue of full scholarship, the advisory committee removed the provision on housing facilities . UML MP Vishwakarma along with Vidya Bhattarai, Sarita Bhusal, Ishwari Gharti, Congress MP Chandra Bhandari, Maoist MP Rekha Sharma, RSVP MP Sumana Shrestha are standing in favor of providing residential facilities. They argue that the private schools that operate hostels should provide free housing facilities to 10 to 15 percent of the students who have received scholarships based on the number of students. They pointed out that despite getting a

scholarship, children from poor, disadvantaged families have to spend up to 20,000 per month for camp rent. They say that such an arrangement should be made at least for the poor and orphans. Maoist MP Sharma said that there should be food and lodging arrangements for the children who have received scholarships.

Private schools cannot provide residential facilities, practical laws should be made, private schools should be regulated, but should not be brought to a state of closure: Raghuji Pant , Minister of Education Scholarship Act and Compulsory and Free Education Act have scholarship provisions. Private colleges have been providing scholarships up to higher education based on the same act. There is a complaint that it has not been fully implemented at the school level. In the Act, educational institutions with up to 500 students will be given 10% scholarship, 12% for 500 to 800 students and 15% for more than 800 students.

RSVP MP Shrestha argues that residential facilities should be provided according to the capacity of the hostels . "Even if a hostel with 50 beds accommodates 5 people for free, it is a big relief," she said. Education Minister Pant argued that private schools cannot provide residential facilities. He said that a practical law that can be implemented should be made. Private schools also contribute to education. They should be regulated but not closed, he said.

Pabson, N. Pabson has been demanding to remove the system of full scholarship and to arrange a fair scholarship. Education Minister Pant said that although private schools are not ready to provide facilities such as clothing, transportation, etc., apart from residential facilities, they have been approved . Congress MP Shyam Ghimire is also against residential facilities.

He said that private schools should not be given residential facilities. There was also a discussion on the same issue between MP Ghimire and MP Sumana in the committee meeting. Ghimire argued that the government should subsidize those schools if residential facilities were to be provided. MP Shrestha said that the state can only give budget to non-profit schools. MP Ghimire gave examples of different foreign countries and asserted that the state can give subsidies to private schools.

Ghimire got angry when Shrestha questioned that the passage of the bill was not stopped because of pressure from private schools. She argued that it was clear that the bill was stopped for private reasons after the sub-committee removed the provisions related to housing facilities on the scholarship. It should be written in the bill that the registration of schools that do not provide scholarships will be cancelled. Let's find a way to implement the law . But housing is needed for the poor.' 

Then MP Ghimire insisted that he is not the owner of a private school. "I am working hard to get the school education bill passed, but the media also said that the bill was stopped because of me." What is my interest? I didn't come to break, you blamed me . I have come to pass this bill quickly. Everyone should welcome the passing of the bill. The people who are responsible for solving the problem should come forward after the processions on the streets. Ministers have experienced this many times," he said. Although there was an agenda to pass the bill on June 16, it was stopped after Education Minister Pant and MP Ghimire asked for time to negotiate with the teachers' federation. Only the matters of teacher performance evaluation and promotion were to be decided.