KATHMANDU, Jan 22: How many students can a teacher ideally handle in a classroom? The answer may vary from one country to another and one institution to another.
When you come to know that in an institution 21 teachers are tutoring 13 students, that too in Nepal, you may think it should be the most expensive educational institution in Nepal with excellent quality of education. [break]
But it is not for the sake of excellence that the Postgraduate Campus in Biratnagar is running Master’s Degree classes on History, Culture and Botany with 21 teachers while the number of students is just 13. Rather, the Campus is doing this out of compulsion.
“We can not close down any department just because the number of student has declined in a particular year,” said Prof Soorya Lal Amatya, Rector of the Tribhuvan University. He said subjects like History and Culture has been less attractive in recent days, but this will not prevail for long.
In the Campus, the History class has seven teachers for two students, Culture has six teachers for three students and Botany has eight teachers for eight students, the Auditor General’s Report made public recently revealed.
All the teachers are permanent employees of the University so it can not dismiss them from the job, nor can it merge the classes. TU’s Central Campus in Kirtipur is also running some classes with very few students.
The University spent Rs 3.857 million on teachers’ salary alone to tutor the 13 students enrolled in the Campus in Biratnagar last year. The amount TU has spent for these students is more than four times the average per capita spending on TU students that stands at Rs 77,000, the report said.
The report has not termed the spending as irregular but hinted that such spending would add financial burden to the University that runs through government funding.
Private school teachers place an ultimatum to withdraw decision...
