MP Arjun Kumar Karki Warns of School Closures Due to Student-Teacher Ratio Norms

Kathmandu. CPN (UML) MP Arjun Kumar Karki has warned that the government's set criteria regarding the ratio of students and teachers will lead to the closure of schools in remote areas.

Participating in the discussion on the upcoming fiscal year's budget in the House of Representatives meeting on Monday, MP Karki claimed that the ceiling for the number of students set for the mountains, hills, and plains is not practical.

Fear of Schools Becoming Empty in Mountains and Hills

Questioning the government's working style, MP Karki said, 'If we consider 1 teacher for every 50 students in the mountains, 45 in the hills, and 40 in the plains, then there will be no schools left in the mountains and hills. This criterion will certainly push the children of remote areas away from access to education.' He argued that applying such numerical criteria in areas with geographical difficulties and sparse populations would lead to the collapse of schools in villages.

Education Budget Half of International Commitment

Stating that the allocated 288 billion rupees for the education sector is insufficient, he said that it is only half of the international commitment of 20 percent of the total budget. He emphasized that the education system has become merely certificate-oriented and should now be learning outcome-oriented.

Commenting on the unbalanced distribution of the budget, he said, 'It was seen that 1 billion rupees has been allocated as budget for schools with more than 2,000 students, but there are only 128 such schools with infrastructure across the country. This serves only the big ones and neglects the small schools.'

Violation of Rights of Child Development Facilitators

MP Karki stated that setting the salary of child development facilitators at 12,000 rupees is a violation of human rights. 'By giving a salary less than the minimum wage for laborers, teachers and employees have been insulted,' he said.

Proposal for Specialized Universities

He suggested that Yogmaya Ayurvedic University, Agriculture and Forestry University, and Lumbini Buddhist University should be developed as specialized universities for the development of higher education.

Furthermore, he drew the government's attention to the fact that even the poor citizens are forced to pay hefty fees due to the lack of quality improvement in government schools.