Preparing to Maintain National Level Examination for class 12 Instead of SEE:
The legal system of Secondary Education Examination Class 10 (SEE) is being changed. Due to the corona epidemic, the existing law is being amended to maintain the national level examination of secondary level only in class 12 in the coming year. On the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, the Government of Nepal (Council of Ministers) has decided to grade the 28th Jestha, 2077 Secondary Education Examination, Class 10 (SEE) examination on the basis of internal assessment. The decision is considered positive in the education sector.
With the implementation of federalism in the country and the issuance of the policy of declaring secondary education as grades 9 to 12, educationists have been raising the voice that it is not necessary to conduct SEE examinations for grades 10 at the national level. As the federal education act has not been issued by the government and the structure of the board has not been prepared at the state level, the SEE of class 10 has been continued at the national level.
The Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives has also directed the government to make arrangements for the SEE examination of class 10 at the national level. After the implementation of the Education Act, 2028 BS (Eighth Amendment), 2073 BS, the then Higher Secondary Education Council was disbanded and transformed into the National Examination Board. The Board has been bringing the work related to class 10 to 12 examinations under its jurisdiction. Formerly known as School Leaving Certificate (SLC), the examination started in Nepal in 1990 BS. There are separate examination control offices for class 10 and class 11 and 12 under the board till now.
Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel said that the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs is currently discussing the drafting of the Education Act in line with the federalism to be tabled in the federal parliament.
The Ministry of Education had formed a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Chandra Mani Poudel to suggest alternatives to the examination. Before submitting the suggestion to the Council of Ministers, a task force was formed with Joint Secretary Deepak Sharma as the convener. Gehnath Gautam, Director, Center for Education and Human Resource Development, said that the end-of-school examinations would be conducted under the auspices of the National Examination Board. He says it would be appropriate to get it verified.
Ram Raja Khakurel, Controller of Examinations for Class 10 under the Board and a member of the Suggestion Task Force, said that it was not possible to conduct last year's SEE examination at the pre-determined center due to the corona epidemic.
The Eighth Amendment to the Education Act (2028) states that ‘examinations for class ten of secondary education and at the end of a secondary level shall be conducted by the Board but basic level examinations shall be conducted by the District Education Office’. It has been said that the examination at the end of class ten will be conducted at the regional level and the examination at the end of the basic level will be conducted at the district level and other arrangements related to the conduct of the examination will be as prescribed.
Due to the lockdown that has been going on since last Chaitra 11, the teaching and examination of all levels of schools have been postponed. Four lakh 82 thousand 219 students had applied for the SEE examination of class 10 last year and one thousand 995 examination centers were fixed. The examination of class 12 scheduled to be held from 8th of Baishakh and the examination of class 11 scheduled to be held from 25th of Baishakh was also postponed due to the bandh. The government will soon decide on Class 11 and 12 examinations.
