KATHMANDU, July 8: Sujan Karki did consider joining a recently established +2 school in his Jungu village in rural Dolakha after passing his SLC exams last year. But, the 16-year-old had no choice but to come to Kathmandu and study Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) at Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus under Tribhuvan University (TU). [break]
"The +2 school in my village is too expensive for my family to afford," says Karki. "While I can study a full year for just Rs 1,700 here at RR College, it costs about five times more there."
It was not just about the expensive fee. Karki had two other considerations to come to Kathmandu for higher studies. The +2 school in his far-flung village does not have the stream he wanted to pursue and also does not have competent faculty.
Karki is lucky because some of the TU campuses that run PCL programs are still in existence. But once the PCL program is phased out altogether effective from this academic session, as proposed by TU, the alternatives for students like Karki will shrink further.
"The TU´s move is nothing but an attempt to deprive students from lower middle class of higher education," adds Karki. "The government should first provide alternatives for students like us to study in cheaper fee as we are doing under TU."
Of the total SLC graduates, 20,000 odd students are found choosing PCL under TU every year mainly due to financial reasons.
While the TU is adamant about its recent decision, student unions seem to have anticipated the plight of students like Karki and are up against the university´s move to scrap PCL.
The student unions and the university are at loggerheads since it first announced in 1996 to phase out the PCL by 2000. However, the only state-run university in the country was forced to shelve its decision in 2004 and 2006 due to protest from student unions.
TU officials say they have a reason to phase out the PCL, popularly known as Intermediate Level. They argue that the decision is aimed at developing Nepal´s higher education system at par with the global standard as other countries recognize education up to grade XII as school level. "What we are doing is in the best interest of the students as TU´s running of PCL has raised questions about our credibility abroad," argues Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Madhav Sharma.
However, student unions do not subscribe to this view, arguing that the decision will just deprive students from the lower middle class the opportunity of higher education as +2 schools are expensive for them to afford.
Lekh Nath Neupane, the president of Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Students´ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), says since the government has declared education up to grade XII as school level education it cannot shy away from its responsibility to provide free education to school students.
"The TU ran the Intermediate level for the past 50 years but now it is trying to shy away from the responsibility saying that the PCL does not fall under university education," he argues.
Student unions are also concerned about the poor physical infrastructure and human resources at +2 schools. The government provides nothing but a little amount worth the salary of two teachers for each +2 school. "This is barely enough to provide quality education," argues Ram Kumari Jhankri, chairperson of UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students´ Union (ANNFSU).
Expensive as they already are, there are concerns among students that +2 schools also do not provide as many options for subjects as TU provides under the PCL. Even though the number of +2 schools has already reached 1,976 so far, there are only a few that run classes in science and management streams in rural districts.
President of Nepal Students´ Union (NSU) Pradip Poudel argues that existing +2 schools cannot absorb all SLC graduates.
Of the total 215,024 SLC graduates last year, some 23,000 students had enrolled in PCL in TU campuses, and the existing +2 schools are not expected to absorb 256,459 SLC graduates this year.
Poudel said that the decision to phase out PCL should not be implemented until the government fails to ensure free education up to grade XII.
TU receives 92 percent of its total expenses from the state coffers as grant, while eight percent of its expenditure is met through the university´s internal resources making TU campuses much cheaper.
While the decision to phase out PCL looks an appropriate idea, it should be implemented only after making necessary homework and developing plans to address the concerns of students, opine education experts.
They feel the government should allocate the grant being given to the TU for PCL and transfer the teachers teaching there to the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB), which governs +2 schools.
koshraj@myrepublica.com