KATHMANDU, July 11: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has urged students not to enroll before the scholarship results are announced to ensure that the scholarships provided for class 11 this time are not wasted.

KMC Mayor Balendra Shah (Balen) urged students via social media on Wednesday to wait for the scholarship results. His objective is to encourage as many students as possible from across the country to participate in the scholarship examination and benefit from the scholarships provided by the KMC.

Mayor Balen has also requested students across the country who wish to study in Class 11 on a scholarship to fill out the online form opened by the KMC. "An exam for selecting students for scholarships in institutional teaching institutions conducting Class 11 within Kathmandu Metropolitan City for the academic session 2024/25 will be held on July 19," Mayor Shah requested. "I urge all students to fill out the form by 11:59 PM on July 13."

Balen has urged students who have filled out the scholarship form not to enroll before the results are published. He said, "If enrolled, it will not be possible to facilitate the scholarship."

The Head of the Education Department of KMC, Gobinda Sharma, stated that 4,624 scholarship quotas have been allocated for institutional educational institutions conducting Class 11 within the Kathmandu Metropolitan area for the academic session 2024/25. He mentioned that students seeking to benefit from the scholarships must wait for the results.

He mentioned that last year, due to insufficient information, 50 percent of the scholarship quotas were left unutilized. Therefore, this year, all shortcomings have been rectified, and the scholarship application forms have been opened on time after publishing the notice. He said, “This time, students have full confidence to reap the benefits offered by the metropolis.”

KMC has opened online application forms for scholarships aimed at students across the country who have passed the SEE with the objective of enabling them to fully utilize the scholarships. Engineer Shailendra Jha, a member of the Urban Planning Commission under the metropolis, mentioned that they have created a conducive environment for remote students by opening online application forms promptly after the SEE results were published.

They have announced that many institutional schools within the metropolitan area will conduct entrance examinations for new admissions to Class 11 on July 13. It has been determined that eligible students applying for scholarships must have achieved a minimum GPA of 1.6 in their SEE exams. They must have completed their SEE from community schools."

However, the provision has been made for permanent residents of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, residents affected by the landfill site, and students studying on scholarship rights to also be eligible for scholarships. Engineer Jha informed Republica, “To apply, birth certificates or citizenship certificates or residence permits must be submitted for permanent residents of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.”

He added, "Residents of the landfill site area, residing permanently in Wards No. 1, 2, 3 of Kakani Rural Municipality, Nuwakot District, and Wards No. 1, 3, 4 of Dhunibesi Municipality, Dhading District, will be eligible to apply for the scholarship. These students must submit a recommendation letter, along with citizenship or birth certificate, from their respective wards."

The students should have studied in an institutional school up to class 10 on scholarships.

In institutional schools, a minimum of 10 percent of scholarship students provided by the municipality is considered as 100 percent, according to which 40 percent of students studying in community schools and 5 percent of students studying on scholarships in institutional schools.

In addition, a quota of 14 percent has been allocated for all students residing permanently within Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and one percent quota has been set for students studying in community/institutional schools in landfill site affected areas," said Engineer Jha. The remaining 40 percent seats will be considered fully for students studying in community schools, with 33 percent for girls and 15 percent for indigenous/ethnic groups.

Similarly, quotas of 12 percent for Madhesi, 9 percent for Dalit, 17 percent for Khas-Arya, 2 percent for Muslim, 4 percent for Tharu, 2 percent for persons with disabilities, 4 percent for backward region individuals, and 2 percent for families of martyrs/disabled citizens have been determined," Engineer Jha stated. "For the purposes of this section, 'backward region individuals' refers to those who reside permanently in Achham, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Jumla, Dolpa, Bajura, Bajhang, Mugu, and Humla districts," He added. "According to the reservation criteria, if the number of eligible students is not met, priority will be given to Kathmandu Metropolitan City residents," he further stated.

Last year, the KMC managed scholarships for the first time, resulting in inadequate provision of information. As a result, there was limited preparation regarding metropolitan scholarships last year. This led to students missing out on their scholarships because they were unfamiliar with document uploads, prioritizing college matches, navigating online processes, and even basic website usage.

Last year, scholarship exams were conducted for education, science, management, humanities, law, and technical subjects. The total number of exam seats was fixed at 4,345. A total of 6,017 candidates participated in the exams, out of which 4,551 successfully passed the full scholarship exam. However, 50 percent of the scholarship quota remained unused.