KATHMANDU, Jan 9: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) is under scrutiny for spending millions in the name of discussions and meetings, raising questions about financial accountability.
Abhishek Ghimire, advisor to Education Minister Mahabir Pun, revealed that roughly Rs 70 million has been spent recently on allowances for meetings held to draft the School Education Act and its regulations—without producing any significant outcomes.
At a time when the government faces serious financial constraints in managing early childhood development (ECD) education, a detailed study by Minister Pun’s expert team exposed that MoEST staff and officials have spent crores in the name of workshops and discussions.
Ghimire noted that even internal research showed multiple meetings had been held throughout the current fiscal year in the name of drafting the Education Act and its regulations, yet tangible progress was minimal. Meanwhile, allowances for attending these meetings were disbursed without fail.
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He added that budgets had been allocated under specific headings for workshops, drafting regulations, monitoring foreign-affiliated colleges, overseeing educational consultancy agencies, and even for snacks, allowances, and service facilities for staff of the NOC branch. Funds were also spent on digitizing NOCs, but no substantial work was completed, the study revealed.
The investigation highlighted a recurring problem: in the MoEST, budgets are often exhausted in the name of meetings, workshops, and monitoring, yet results remain elusive. Colleges with foreign affiliations continue to impose unnecessary financial burdens on students and parents, unregistered consultancy agencies operate unchecked, and students planning to study abroad are being exploited—all while the ministry spends heavily on “monitoring.”
Ghimire emphasized that the study concluded budgets were misused by assigning unnecessary headings. The MoEST is now planning to cut such expenditures and redirect funds to ECD management.
“When the Ministry of Education requested funds from the Ministry of Finance to manage ECD teachers, it was told that no budget was available. Minister Mahabir Pun then tasked us with investigating unnecessary spending within the ministry,” Ghimire told Republica. “During the investigation, we discovered that roughly Rs 70 million had already been spent just on discussions and meetings for the draft Education Act and regulations. And this is just one example—unnecessary spending is happening throughout the ministry.”
He added, “After a new minister took office, we completed the 10th amendment of the education regulations. Work on creating various guidelines—such as the Educational Consultancy Guidelines, ECD Teacher Guidelines, School Management Guidelines, Teacher Staffing and Transfer Guidelines, School Monitoring Guidelines, and other directives—is now in its final phase, without any additional financial expenditure.”
This clearly shows that regulations and guidelines can be finalized even without extravagant meeting allowances.
Ghimire further explained that MoEST is now preparing directives to manage ECD teachers while cutting unnecessary costs, following Cabinet decisions. “Based on agreements with teachers and Cabinet decisions, the government has formed a committee under Professor Dr. Minakshi Dahal to oversee ECD teacher management,” he said. “The committee is studying key issues such as ECD restructuring, teacher salaries, allowances, service benefits, and integrating ECD into the school system. Over half of community schools currently have no students; merging these schools alone could resolve 50% of the teacher management problem.”
Ghimire also revealed that the ministry has repeatedly discussed teacher and education-related issues with Finance Minister Rameshwar Khanal, questioning why cuts are made in education programs, why Cabinet decisions are not implemented, and why ECD teachers and staff have yet to receive minimum salaries.
Laxmikishor Subedi, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Teachers, noted that although the Cabinet decided on April 30 to provide minimum salaries to ECD teachers, implementation is still pending. “There are 32,000 ECD teachers nationwide. The Nepal Teachers’ Association demands integrating ECD into schools and creating a primary tertiary-grade staffing structure for these teachers,” Subedi said. “Currently, ECD teachers receive a monthly salary of Rs 12,000—Rs 10,000 from the central government and Rs 2,000 from local governments—while the minimum salary should be Rs 19,550.”
