The MP has insisted on providing residential facilities to 10 percent of the students, while the Ministry of Education has proposed that 2.5 percent of the students will receive the scholarship.
What you should know
When private schools give full scholarships, they also have to provide residential facilities. The education, health and information technology committee of the House of Representatives has agreed in principle that private schools with residential facilities should provide the facility when implementing full scholarships.
How many people or percentage of students will be given this facility is yet to be decided. In the school education bill, the issue of residential facility on full scholarship was yet to be decided since the previous meeting.
In Monday's meeting, Education Minister Raghuji Pant proposed to give this facility to 2 and a half percent students of residential capacity. Earlier, the Ministry of Education was taking a stand that private schools should not be forced to provide residential facilities. The MPs were of the opinion that at least 10 percent of the students should be given residential facilities, but no agreement could be reached. It is said that this issue will be discussed in Thursday's meeting. In the
bill, private school administrators have been expressing dissatisfaction with the provision of full scholarships and private schools becoming non-profit. The report of the bill has been submitted to the committee amidst dissatisfaction. Chairman Ammar Bahadur Thapa said that two days time has been given to the parliamentarians to study the report and the agenda is to pass the bill on August 5. He said that he will come to a balanced conclusion on the issue of full scholarship. Both the government and the private sector should be held accountable. It can be maintained up to 10 percent by giving some percent to the private sector and some from the government," he said.
It has already been agreed that private schools should provide full scholarships to 10 to 15 percent of students. The issue of how many students will be given free housing facilities within the full scholarship has not been decided. Full scholarship is defined as tuition, examination, textbooks, educational materials, clothing, transportation and other fees charged by the school and facilities provided. After the agreement, residential facilities will also be included in the definition.
Scholarship Act and Compulsory and Free Education Act stipulate that educational institutions with up to 500 students will receive 10% scholarship, 12% for 500 to 800 students and 15% for more than 800 students. The ruling and opposition MPs have been arguing that students should be given other facilities by providing full scholarships. Even though the law provides, the scholarship system has not been fully implemented. It is estimated that about 300,000 students studying in private schools will benefit from the implementation. Education Minister Pant asked to make provisions in the residential facility regulations, but the parliamentarians refused.
Congress MP Dig Bahadur Limbu and Chandra Bhandari emphasized that it should be specified in the law. The private sector should also be accountable and responsible. It is better if the private sector and the government move together. "It is appropriate to select 50% from the wealthy and 50% from the poor while providing residential facilities to 10% of the students," he said. MP Bhandari said that the ministry is theoretically ready for residential facilities and asked to increase its percentage.
Former Education Minister and Member of Parliament Vidya Bhattarai said that private schools must be included in the scholarship. "Private cannot be profit-oriented, the same is the purpose of the Constitution and the Compulsory and Free Education Act," she said. "It is appropriate to provide residential facilities to 10 percent of the students." Maoist Center MP Gyanu Basnet said that housing facilities should be targeted at the poor and needy.
Pabson, NPabson, Hisan, a private school management organization, expressed dissatisfaction with the issue of full scholarship and announced a protest. They have demanded that the system of full scholarship should be imposed in an irregular manner and that it should be removed and a fair scholarship should be arranged. In the bill, it is mentioned that clothing facilities under full scholarship will be provided only to poor and needy students. The school will have to send details to the local level to determine the number of scholarship seats.
It has been arranged that the local level has to issue a public notice and ask for applications for those who want to study on scholarship. Students can choose the school they want to study. The local level will have to select 50 percent of the total scholarship recipients from poor and disadvantaged students and 50 percent from meritorious students on the basis of inclusive principles. It is mentioned in the bill that the Ministry of Education will set the criteria to maintain uniformity for student selection and other arrangements will be as per the local laws.
