An expert group has suggested to the government to immediately close or adjust schools/colleges with low student numbers, expanding the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) to the provincial and local levels in line with federalism.

The CTEVT Restructuring Task Force, formed under the coordination of former Vice Chancellor of Kathmandu University Suresh Raj Sharma, has pointed out that educational institutions should be closed or adjusted by setting standards. The task force includes former CTEVT member secretary Ramhari Lamichhane and former National Planning Commission education member Usha Jha.

The task force has suggested that colleges with less than 25 percent of their capacity for the past three years should be closed or adjusted. In its report submitted to Education Minister Mahabir Pun on Monday, the task force stated that the process of closing or adjusting schools run by CTEVT, schools run by (TEX) and technical stream programs for grades 9-12 should be started immediately. Education Minister Pun stated that the process of implementing the report will be started.

The task force has also set some criteria for adjusting or closing colleges. Schools that do not have the minimum infrastructure, have an employment rate of less than 50 percent, do not have instructors, and have a pass percentage of less than 50 for 3 consecutive years should also be closed or adjusted. "If the same type of subjects and programs are being run in the same district or neighboring municipality, and if there are no agreements with labs, workshops, fields, and industries for experimental practice, the ministry or CTEVT should formulate guidelines and close or adjust them," the report said.

The task force concluded that it would be sufficient if there were 30 formal schools in Nepal, 50 schools in municipalities without formal schools had a Tex program, and 50 technical programs in grades 9-12 at local levels that do not have both of these programs. It is suggested that partnership schools should be run by the municipality and that the state should stop providing subsidies to private schools. Currently, technical education programs are being run in 67 formal, 58 partnership, 438 private, and 639 community schools across the country. In addition, 1,850 training centers conducting skill-based training are operating with the permission of CTEVT. Currently, there are 90,000 students in CTEVT across the country. 

Due to the large number of schools, the enrollment rate of CTEVT has shrunk to 49 percent. In recent years, 51 percent of the seats allocated for student enrollment have remained vacant. The task force, which included experts, has pointed out that CTEVT has been expanding schools/colleges without a plan, resulting in an extreme shortage of students and instructors. ‘It was found that schools and programs were expanded in a hurry without a plan, and the reason for this was the lack of skilled instructors and students,’ said a member of the task force. ‘Skill mapping, program selection, and feasibility studies in CTEVT were found to be very weak or almost non-existent. 

In 2019, 275 community schools were allowed to operate programs at once without any study or assessment of school capacity. Almost all schools have limited programs like agriculture (crop science and animal husbandry), engineering (civil, electrical, computer), health (nursing, health assistant, lab, pharmacy) and forestry. As a result, many schools and educational institutions have enrolled fewer students than their capacity, the report said, "due to which educational institutions are forced to run programs by collecting students rather than selecting them."

Although the number of technical schools across the country has increased threefold in a decade, the attraction of student enrollment has not been seen accordingly. There is no quota-based enrollment in schools. In previous years, only 55 to 60 and 30 to 35 percent of the capacity were enrolled at the diploma and pre-diploma levels. The percentage of students admitted according to the overall seats is only about 48 percent. That is, 52 percent of the seats are wasted due to lack of enrollment. Until 2070, there were only 500 schools. That number has increased to 1,200 now. After stopping receiving students, CTEVT has changed its admission policy since 2080. Now, students can get admission in CTEVT educational programs without an entrance exam. Before that, there was a practice of competing among students and taking admission on the basis of merit.

The government has put forward a policy of opening technical schools at every local level, but the data confirms that there is no attraction of students to the existing educational institutions. CTEVT officials say that the shortage of students is due to the competition to establish random educational institutions based on political access rather than on the basis of need. CTEVT has the capacity to admit 47,000 students towards diploma and 29,500 students at the pre-diploma level.

On the other hand, the report mentions that since there is a lack of skilled instructors (teachers) to conduct teaching in the schools, even government employees are being hired on contract. ‘There is a shortage of skilled instructors in educational institutions. Most of the technical schools and community schools in rural areas are running programs without qualified and skilled training. It has also been found that some community schools are hiring government employees on contract to complete a one-year curriculum in two months,’ the report states. The task force has pointed out that many institutions do not have qualified and skilled instructors and the rate of instructors leaving is also high. The task force has concluded that opening colleges in a hurry and the extreme shortage of students and instructors are the main challenges and problems of CTEVT. 

The task force has recommended that the schools/colleges run by CTEVT be transferred to the provincial and local governments and operated. It is suggested that the private and private colleges be transferred under the provincial government. Similarly, the government has been suggested that the partnership and community colleges be transferred to the local level and operated. The task force's report has recommended that the work of transferring colleges be completed within 6 months. The task force has suggested that the federal CTEVT, in coordination with the provincial government, can arrange for the transfer of private and private colleges as well as their operation by the decision of the Council of Ministers. Similarly, the provincial CTEVT can transfer colleges according to the capacity and readiness of the local level in coordination with the provincial government, the task force has stated.

Even since the new constitution was promulgated in 2072, there has been no restructuring of CTEVT. The task force formed by Education Minister Pun under the coordination of former Vice Chancellor Sharma to make suggestions for restructuring has suggested that the number of schools be adjusted (merged) by setting criteria since there are a large number of schools. ‘Technical schools (TEX) run in community schools should be kept only in those districts where there are no formal schools. The number of such schools should be limited to a maximum of 50 across the country,’ the report says. 

CTEVT operates a diploma program as a 3-year program after SEE, while the technical stream is operated in community schools as grades 9-12. ‘Partnership schools should be operated by the local municipality. If they are not operated in partnership, they should be converted into private schools and all grants given by the government should be stopped,’ the task force suggests. It has been recommended to establish a vocational training branch at the local level and carry out regulation and monitoring work. The task force has also suggested the government to formulate an act related to technical education.