Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives has approved the School Education Bill,2023.
The Committee approved the Bill following intense discussions since Thursday morning.
Lawmakers from three parties, the main opposition CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have registered their notes of dissent on the Bill.
Devendra Paudel, Rekha Sharma, Gyanu Basnet and Mahindra Ray Yadav of the Maoist Center opposed some provisions in the Bill. Sumana Shrestha of the RSP and Bina Jaiswal of the RPP also recorded dissenting views.
One of the most contentious issues in the Bill related to scholarship in residential schools was resolved by amending the government’s original proposal. The government had proposed allocating 2.5% of residential seats for scholarship students. It has been raised to 3% in the Bill.
The bill will now be tabled in the House of Representatives. According to Committee Chairperson Ammar Bahadur Thapa, tabling the Bill will be included in the agenda of the upcoming session of the lower house.
The School Education Bill was registered by then-Minister for Education, Science and Technology Ashok Kumar Rai on September 13, 2023. It was sent to the committee for clause-wise discussion on October 12.
