Education Regulations 10th Amendment Approved, Implementation Underway

Kathmandu. The 10th amendment to the Education Regulations, approved by the Council of Ministers on Asar 22, is being prepared for publication in the gazette and implementation. The Education Regulations 2059 have been amended for the tenth time using the authority granted by Section 19 of the Education Act 2028.

According to the approved 10th amendment to the Education Regulations, a deposit of 1 million rupees will be required to open a secondary level school. Similarly, to obtain permission to open an institutional school, a deposit of 500,000 rupees will be required as security for school operation for opening a basic level school. As per the regulations, the branch looking after education at the local level will function as the secretariat of the village or municipality education committee. The regulations mention that the village or municipality education committee will meet at least once every three months.

A learning achievement testing committee will be formed at the local level to test the learning achievement of basic level students. The chairperson of the committee will be a principal from a secondary school within the local level, designated by the local level. Its members will include at least one woman representing teachers from basic and secondary levels within the local level, and two representatives from the Education Development and Coordination Unit nominated by the chief administrative officer.

The regulations stipulate that the member secretary of the learning achievement testing committee at the local level will be the chief responsible for education-related matters of the local level. The term of the committee will be three years, and this committee will carry out all tasks related to examinations necessary for testing students' learning achievement.

Schools will no longer be allowed to engage in activities that negatively affect students' physical, psychological, and psychosocial conditions. According to the 10th amendment to the Education Regulations passed by the Council of Ministers on Thursday, no activities that negatively affect students' physical, psychological, or psychosocial conditions will be allowed to be conducted or caused to be conducted within school premises or classrooms under any circumstances.

Students cannot be humiliated for reasons such as not paying fees. The regulations state that students cannot be publicly shamed, treated discriminatorily, deprived of participation in classes or exams, forced to have their hair cut or have it cut, or looked down upon based on their physical appearance, attire, makeup, or grooming.

According to the amended Education Regulations, a District Informal Education Committee will be formed at the district level to oversee, manage, coordinate, and inspect informal education. The chairperson of this committee will be the chief of the District Coordination Committee.

Members will include the Chief District Officer or an officer designated by him/her, the District Coordination Officer, one person nominated by the chairperson from among the officers responsible for women and children's affairs in local levels within the district, and one member nominated by the District Education Committee from non-governmental organizations operating informal education programs.

Similarly, the informal education committee will have at least one woman from among Dalits and persons with disabilities, two nominated by the District Informal Education Committee, and one representative from the Nepal Teachers' Federation, with the chief of the Education Development and Coordination Unit serving as the member secretary. The Secretary of the Ministry of Education will be the chairperson of the Distance Education Committee to formulate, coordinate, oversee, and manage policies related to distance education.

The levels of schools have been divided. Classes 1 to 8 have been named basic level, and classes 9 to 12 have been named secondary education.

According to the 10th amendment to the Education Regulations, local levels must issue a call for applications for the appointment of principals in vacant positions in community schools from among permanent teachers working in the concerned level of the concerned school who have passed a bachelor's degree for the basic level and a master's degree for the secondary level. However, teachers who have passed a bachelor's degree or equivalent in education and have served for five years as permanent teachers are eligible to apply for the position of secondary level principal, and teachers who have passed a certificate level or equivalent in education and have served for five years as permanent teachers are eligible to apply for the position of basic level principal.

However, according to the regulations, if there are no permanent teachers working at the concerned level of the concerned school, there will be no obstacle in calling for applications from permanent teachers working in any school within the local level, and if there are no permanent teachers working at the concerned level within the local level, from permanent teachers working in any school within the district.

According to the amended regulations, teachers who have completed three years of permanent service can be transferred from one community school to another community school. The regulations state that when transferring, teachers at the basic level should be transferred to vacant positions at the same level, and subject teachers at the basic level and teachers at the secondary level should be transferred only to vacant positions for their respective subjects.

A teacher position in community schools will be considered vacant if a teacher working in a government-approved and sanctioned post by the Government of Nepal is transferred elsewhere, retires compulsorily, dies, takes voluntary retirement, is removed or dismissed from service according to prevailing laws, or if new positions are added.

The regulations state that upon receiving information about a vacant teacher position, the school must enter the details into the center's integrated educational management information system and mandatorily inform the concerned local level in writing within seven days of the vacancy. However, if a teacher position is to become vacant due to compulsory retirement, the transfer process can be initiated thirty days in advance.

The regulations state, ‘Upon receiving information about a vacant position, the concerned local level, after confirming the minimum staffing as per Schedule-12 of the regulations and whether there is a subject priority, and ensuring that there is no more than one teacher for one subject at one level in the same school, and if there are more than the minimum staff, based on the updated details of the school in the center's integrated educational management information system according to the subjects in the same schedule, the concerned local level must decide within seven days of the vacancy whether to fill the vacant teacher position by transfer or by advertising through the Teacher Service Commission. Information about this must be provided to the concerned school and the Education Development and Coordination Unit.’

The regulations mention that for the purpose of accumulating sick leave for teachers, such leave must be certified by the local level education officer based on the principal's recommendation at the end of each academic session.

A provision has been made for the family of a teacher to receive a pension if the teacher dies before completing seven years of service while employed or after starting to receive a pension. If the deceased teacher has a preferred person among the family members living together in the same household, that person will receive the pension, and if the preferred person also dies or if there is no preferred person, the closest heir in the same household will receive it.