HSEB board officials ‘stab’ stipend-seekers in back
KATHMANDU, SEP 26 -
The scholarship quota allocated by the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) to higher secondary level students has been misused right, left and centre by the Board officials, according to schools and some officials of the Board.
HSEB selects three percent of the total number of +2 students enrolled in various schools from across the country on a “merit basis” and directs all its affiliated higher secondary schools to provide free education to them. Each college is to provide free education to students who are recommended by the board.
Currently, around 13,000 - around 3,600 in the Valley alone — Plus Two students, are recommended in some 2,510 higher secondary schools across the country, according to chief of the HSEB’s Accreditation Division Durga Prasad Aryal. The students are supposed to be from marginalised and rural communities and inclusion should be the key factor in the selection process.
However, facts depict a different picture. Many students who never sat for the scholarship test are selected while the deserving ones are out.
Narayan Prasad Koirala, Chief at the Division of Planning and Monitoring, and his close officials of the board prepared the list sitting in a private hotel. There are too many irregularities in that list, say officials at HSEB.
Students from the higher-class families have grabbed most of the scholarships and recommended students are more than the actual quota. “The nuimber of students more than double the actual quota has been recommended in our college,” coordinator of Trinity College coordinator Nirmal Adhikari said.
“Very few of the students awarded scholarships the poor, marginalized and rural communities.” Last year, just seven out of 50 who got the scholarship represented the backward community.
The case is no different at Golden Gate College. “The quota in our college is around 40 but the Board has recommended more than 80 students,” said administration chief Madan Gautam. “No genuine case has gotten scholarship and many of those who have are from private schools and who do not represent the poor class.”
Though talk about the irregularities is out in the open, HSEB officials at the board’s Koteshwar office expressed inability to show the record of the
students having got scholarships.
HSEB Director Jung Bahadur Aryal said he was helpless as the file had been taken away by former director Bhawa Raj Koirala. “Koirala was transferred to the HSEB central office in Bhaktapur a month ago but no document has been handed to me,” Aryal said.
Aryal said the foul play in awarding scholarships might be the main reason for Koirala taking the file with him.
“If he had done a fair job, he would have had no hesitation giving the file to me.”
However, Bhawa Raj has a different say. “I was transferred at the behest of HSEB’s Member Secretary and so, I have refused to go to Bhaktapur,” he said. “I have all the files with me and can show them if needed.”
The scholarship quota allocated by the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) to higher secondary level students has been misused right, left and centre by the Board officials, according to schools and some officials of the Board.
HSEB selects three percent of the total number of +2 students enrolled in various schools from across the country on a “merit basis” and directs all its affiliated higher secondary schools to provide free education to them. Each college is to provide free education to students who are recommended by the board.
Currently, around 13,000 - around 3,600 in the Valley alone — Plus Two students, are recommended in some 2,510 higher secondary schools across the country, according to chief of the HSEB’s Accreditation Division Durga Prasad Aryal. The students are supposed to be from marginalised and rural communities and inclusion should be the key factor in the selection process.
However, facts depict a different picture. Many students who never sat for the scholarship test are selected while the deserving ones are out.
Narayan Prasad Koirala, Chief at the Division of Planning and Monitoring, and his close officials of the board prepared the list sitting in a private hotel. There are too many irregularities in that list, say officials at HSEB.
Students from the higher-class families have grabbed most of the scholarships and recommended students are more than the actual quota. “The nuimber of students more than double the actual quota has been recommended in our college,” coordinator of Trinity College coordinator Nirmal Adhikari said.
“Very few of the students awarded scholarships the poor, marginalized and rural communities.” Last year, just seven out of 50 who got the scholarship represented the backward community.
The case is no different at Golden Gate College. “The quota in our college is around 40 but the Board has recommended more than 80 students,” said administration chief Madan Gautam. “No genuine case has gotten scholarship and many of those who have are from private schools and who do not represent the poor class.”
Though talk about the irregularities is out in the open, HSEB officials at the board’s Koteshwar office expressed inability to show the record of the
students having got scholarships.
HSEB Director Jung Bahadur Aryal said he was helpless as the file had been taken away by former director Bhawa Raj Koirala. “Koirala was transferred to the HSEB central office in Bhaktapur a month ago but no document has been handed to me,” Aryal said.
Aryal said the foul play in awarding scholarships might be the main reason for Koirala taking the file with him.
“If he had done a fair job, he would have had no hesitation giving the file to me.”
However, Bhawa Raj has a different say. “I was transferred at the behest of HSEB’s Member Secretary and so, I have refused to go to Bhaktapur,” he said. “I have all the files with me and can show them if needed.”
Prez draws UML flak
Some CPN-UML lawmakers have taken exception to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav’s remarks that “statute writing was delayed due to lawmakers”.
“The president’s remarks are against the constitution and democracy. The major political parties are responsible for that but not the lawmakers,” said UML lawmaker Ramnath Dhakal.
Speaking at a function in Sunsari, Dr.Yadav had said that he hoped that God would bless the lawmakers with the wisdom and inclination to draft the constitution. Speaking at the Parliamentary Party meeting here on Sunday, lawmakers Rabindra Adhikari and Yam Lal Kandel, among others, asked the party leadership to respond to the issue on time. “Some lawmakers expressed their concern at the meeting but no decision has been taken regarding it,” Chief Whip Bhim Acharya said.
The meeting also decided to table the party’s decision to seek “immediate amendment” to the existing procedural laws to end the prime ministerial election process. “We have decided to table the amendment proposal in the parliament,” Rabindra Adhikari said.
Karnali goes hungry as food supply stays cut
KALIKOT & MUGU, SEP 26 -The prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed in five districts of Karnali zone due to obstruction on the Karnali Highway for the last four months. Seventy-eight vehicles transporting essential goods and construction materials to Kalikot and Jumla have been stranded.
With the disruption in transport system, prices of essential goods have risen almost double. Price of one kg sugar and pulse have increased from Rs. 55 and 75 to Rs. 120 and 130 respectively, while people are forced to pay Rs. 65 for a kg of flour that used to cost Rs. 40 earlier.
Even worse, there are not goods in the markets. Acting Chairman of Federation of Commerce and Industries, Kalikot, Ratan Bahadur Shahi said shops in Kalikot and Jumla districts are running out of goods due to the road obstruction. “Consumers cannot buy commodities even if they are willing to pay high prices, “he added.
Development work has also been affected due to the obstruction along the highway.
Kalikot chapter Chairman of the Federation of Contractors’ Associations, Keshar Singh Bom said lack of construction materials has affected construction of roads, school buildings and culverts. Shoratage of essential goods has equally hit hard Mugu district. Products such as sugar, oil, packet milk, wheat flour, beaten rice, among others, are in short supply due to the road obstruction.
Shopkeepers said they bring in goods from Jumla on beasts of burden, which has halted for the last three months.
Air service in the district has also been halted due to bad weather, they said.
