Education reform: university mapping, infrastructure for 109 schools, bill draft underway

Minister for Education and Sports Sasmita Pokharel has said the mapping of universities and assessment of schools' physical infrastructure are progressing rapidly.

She said this while inaugurating a two-day workshop on strengthening the higher education system, organized by Bagmati University in Hetauda.

Minister Pokharel said the government plans to make need-based investments to stop duplicate investment in universities.

She stressed that when opening new universities, geographical need, justification and the employment sought by that region should be the basis.

She also said the state would not invest in universities that cannot be run.

She said the confusion surrounding the role of the University Grants Commission and the relationship between federal and provincial universities needs to be removed.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has said it has allocated about NPR 6.54 billion to strengthen infrastructure at 109 community schools across the country with more than 2,000 students each.

About NPR 5.34 billion has already been released for 89 schools in the first phase.

Minister Pokharel said each school would get a three-storey, 12-room building with a laboratory and library at a cost of about NPR 60 million per school.

The ministry has also accelerated work on finalizing the draft of the School Education Bill.

The bill is among the priorities on the list of 166 bills to be presented to parliament in the current fiscal year 2083/84.

Ministry spokesperson Shriprasad Bhattarai said the drafting work is proceeding on schedule based on suggestions received from provincial-level discussions.