Govt for removing boarding facilities from the scope of scholarship

KATHMANDU: The government has proposed including the provision of boarding facilities under full scholarships in private schools in the regulations, rather than explicitly mentioning it in the School Education Act.

Minister for Education, Science and Technology Raghuji Pant made the proposal during a meeting of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives on Monday. “It is better to leave it to the regulations rather than place it in the Act. Let us manage it properly through regulations. Please trust the ministry,” Pant told the committee.

He added that the law should not be made overly rigid or restrictive. “Regulation must be strict where necessary, but it should not be drafted in a way that leaves no room for flexibility,” Pant said.

Members of the committee, however, insisted that boarding facilities should be included under full scholarships.

Private schools have been saying that they are willing to allocate 10% of their seats for scholarships, but cannot provide boarding and uniform facilities for scholarship students.

A subcommittee formed by the committee under Chhabilal Bishwakarma earlier included tuition fees, examination fees, textbooks, learning materials, uniforms, transportation, and boarding facilities (where available) under the scope of full scholarships.

A proposal to remove boarding and uniform facilities from the definition of scholarship was also made during the meeting held on August 7. However, it could not be approved due to strong objections by the members.