Preparing to Open School in Karnali Pradesh:
The Karnali Province government is preparing to open schools in places where there is no health risk as schools across the country are closed due to the federal government's continued curfew to prevent the Corona epidemic. The state government has twice sought written permission from the central government in May and June to open a school in a place where the coronavirus infection has not been detected, but no decision has been received so far.
Although the federal government has the right to issue lockdown across the country, as the responsibility of running and managing the school level is constitutionally at the local level, the state government has instructed the concerned body to open the school by making a decision. Karnali Province has 10 districts.
Teknarayan Pandey, Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnali Province, who participated in today's 11th series of discussions on virtual technology organized by Community School Management Committee Federation of Nepal, said that there is no alternative to operating schools in Upper Karnali district Explained. The proposal of the provincial government has reached the Corona Prevention and Management Center (CCAC) through the federal government, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology.
Chief Secretary Pandey said that they were affected by the decision of the Center to suspend the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) in March due to the dilemma of federalism, centralization, and localization.
He informed that the officials of the Ministry of Social Development and the Province Education Development Directorate have been instructed to clean up the quarantine schools at the local level and open them by managing the teachers. The provincial government has concluded that the study should not be stopped for a long time as the annual examination has to be held in Mangsir after the start of the academic session in Phagun in the Himalayan district.
Karnali Province has 2,719 child development centers, 3,187 schools, and 56 campuses and about 600,000 students. The recruitment program and distribution of textbooks had already started in the Himalayan district of the province. Atmaram Bhattarai, a representative of Save the Children working in the Nepal Education Group (Education Cluster) set up for disaster risk response, said that the schools could be reopened gradually as 41 local levels of the state, i.e. 52 percent, were free of the corona. Only 18.40 percent of children in the province have access to the Internet.
According to the information identified by the education group so far, the number of children in the province is 9.54 with access to Nepal Television, 5.91 with access to local television, 83.19 with access to Radio Nepal, 74.16 with access to local FM and 9 percent 20,7460 without access to any electronic communication.
The federal government has taken the policy of continuous learning through alternative methods from July 20 by issuing 'Alternative System Learning Facilitation Guideline, 2077 BS'. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology had issued the directive on 31st May and directed to make it available online, radio and television from 15th June. At present, 8 million students are studying in about 35,000 schools across the country.
Dharmajit Shahi, working secretary at the Ministry of Social Development, said that the state government would soon take the necessary initiative to continue teaching as an alternative and to open the school immediately. Vice President of the Confederation of Nepalese Teacher (CNT) Tilak Kunwar clarified that they are ready to go to school if security is provided.
Confederation of Nepalese Teacher (CNT) President Krishna Thapa said that schools and lessons should be conducted by increasing the activities of the school management committee and ensuring the safety of teachers and students. CNT Karnali Province President Govinda Koirala urged the concerned school management committee to give the right to decide to open the school. According to FNCCI General Secretary Gunaraj Moktan, the organization has been facilitating the learning of alternative systems by discussing the problems, challenges, and successful practices.
