KATHMANDU, Aug 21: Parliamentary committee has endorsed the long-awaited School Education Bill despite street protests by private school operators and teachers’ unions and formal objections from three political parties including the main opposition CPN (Maoist Centre).
The Education, Science, and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives approved the bill on Thursday by majority vote after nearly nine months of deliberation. With this decision, the bill—which is expected to have far-reaching implications for the education sector—will now be presented to the full House for final approval.
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Although the committee passed the bill, it failed to secure broader political consensus. Maoist Centre lawmakers Devendra Paudel, Rekha Sharma, Gyanu Basnet and Mahindra Ray Yadav registered note of dissent, while Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Sumana Shrestha and Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Bina Jaiswal also recorded separate views.
On the contentious issue of scholarships in private residential schools, however, the committee reached a new agreement. The government’s initial proposal of 2.5 percent scholarships was raised to 3 percent.
