Nishan Gautam recently sat for his Secondary Education Examinations from a private

school in Katari in Udaypur. He passed with 2.6 Grade Point Average (GPA). While
the results weren�t what he�d expected, he convinced himself that he still had
grades 11 and 12 to prove his potential.

Gautam left his hometown and came to the Capital hoping to study at Prasadi
Academy in Lalitpur. But to his dismay, the school refused him a chance to even sit
for the entrance exams, saying he needed a minimum GPA of 3.5 to qualify for the
test.

�The response from the school was a disappointment to him,� Som Pahadi, Gautam�s
brother-in law, told the Post. �Don�t these schools need to follow the law of the
land?�

Any student who gets a minimum 2.0 GPA and a C+ in Mathematics and Science is
eligible to study science in grade 11, according to the government's criteria. For
those who want to study management or humanities, the requirements are a 1.6 GPA
and a D+ in subjects related to their respective courses.

However, despite the government�s regulations, many schools have been setting their
own qualification standards, barring students from even sitting for the entrance
examinations. A majority of the more exclusive private schools have set a minimum
3.0 GPA for science and 2.4 for management and humanities.

Students like Gautam believe this is unfair. Not allowing students to take the
entrance exams is injustice, said Pahadi.

Parents and guardians say that it is illegal to deny students who have obtained the
minimum grades as mandated by the government from studying the courses of their
choice.

Suprabhat Bhandari, coordinator of the Nepal Guardians� Federation, said that

private schools need to put an end to this monopoly or the government must step in
to ensure that its rules are followed.

�We condemn such defiance and demand that the government allow all students with
the minimum qualifications to study in the institutions of their choice,� Bhandari
told the Post.

Alongside Prasadi, parents and guardians named St Xavier�s, Pentagon, Capital

College and Research Centre, Global College of Management, Himalayan White House
and Bridgewater among the schools that had set their own minimum standards.

School officials, however, said that they were complying with the government�s
rules.

�We had set our minimum standards three years ago, but we are ready to review it if
necessary,� said Bikram Rai, principal of Prasadi Academy.

Lok Bahadur Bhandari, general secretary of the Higher Institutions and Secondary
Schools' Association Nepal, an umbrella body of high schools, agreed that no
eligible students should be turned away.

�Every student with the required GPA should be allowed to take the entrance exams
at the schools of their choice,� he told the Post.
 Education experts say that as high school has been integrated into the school
system, the debate should focus more on allowing students to study grades 11 and 12
without any entrance exams. Three years ago, through the eighth amendment to the
Education Act, the government had brought the higher secondary level into the
school system. However, students still need to sit for the SEE after their grade 10
and take entrance exams at various schools offering grades 11 and 12.

But according to the Education Act, passing grade 10 and 11 should be the same as
passing from grade 8 to 9.

�The entrance exam is nothing but an opportunity for schools to make money,� said
Basudev Kafle, a professor at Tribhuvan University who has extensively researched
school education in Nepal. Kafle believes that setting up new criteria to join
grade 11 and asking students to sit for entrance exams is illegal and can be
challenged in court.

Published: 06-07-2019 06:52

The Kathmandu Post �National � Binod Ghimire

http://bit.ly/2NBaOGP