Parliamentarians criticized the Education Ministry for ignoring problems in the education sector, such as leakage of exam question papers, demands from temporary teachers, and lack of textbooks in rural areas. The Education Minister was also accused of not cooperating with the parliamentary committee aimed at addressing education issues. While the Education Secretary acknowledged some problems, such as issues around temporary teachers, and said efforts were underway to establish an Open University, critics said more urgent action was needed to address the many concerns facing the country's education system.

1. Govt slammed for not caring about education issues
Parliamentarians today alleged that Education Ministry was not addressing relevant issues in the
education sector.
Speaking at a meeting of the Education Sub-Committee under the Parliamentary Committee on
Women, Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare today, they said the education ministry
was ignoring problems in the education sector.
They raised questions regarding leakage of the MBBS Scholarship question papers, unheeded
demands of temporary teachers, the state’s passivity in amending the Education Act and
University Umbrella Act, delay in establishing Open University in Nepal and unavailability of
textbooks in rural parts of the country, among others.
Constituent Assembly members Jeevan Pariyar and Shree Maya Thakali spoke of the urgency to
address these issues soon.
Ganesh Man Gurung, coordinator, Education Sub-committee expressed said the Education
Minister was not cooperating with the committee to address problems facing the education
sector. “The Education minister not cooperating with a mini-parliament and this is very sad,” he
said.
Chairperson of Women, Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare Committee Ranju Jha said
the Ministry was indifferent to the needs of around 25,000 temporary teachers and human
resource issues at Janak Education Materials Centre where more than 200 employees were
sacked a few months back.
Addressing the queries of parliamentarians, Bishwo Prakash Pandit, Education Secretary, said 50
per cent temporary teachers had been made permanent. He said, “The government will announce
vacancy for more teachers soon and the problems of some retiring temporary teachers will also
be addressed by bringing some provisions for them.”
Regarding the establishment of Open University, he said the Ministry of Finance had already
given the nod and the process of establishing it would begin soon.
He said the tenure of the sub-committee was going to end tomorrow and they had urged the main
committee to extend the tenure by one month.
He said, “For the next month, we will be monitoring various universities such as Purbanchal
University, Pokhara University and interacting with former education ministers, education
secretaries, student unions and others to prepare a report to submit to the main committee with
recommendations for development of the education sector.”
He said the committee will also direct the government to form a high- level National Education
Commission.