KATHMANDU, April 8: The government has set the dates—start the new academic session on April 28 and complete admissions between April 15 and 27. But on the ground, private schools appear to be operating on a different timeline altogether.
Many private schools have already conducted entrance examinations and completed student enrolment, effectively bypassing the government’s schedule. In contrast, community schools—especially the better-performing ones—have followed the directive, halting admissions after entrance tests. Yet, local governments have failed to act against private schools or ensure refunds of the fees already collected.
At the heart of the issue lies a bigger question: Who is actually regulating private schools? With no clear answer, parents say arbitrary fee practices are rising unchecked. In Kathmandu and Lalitpur metropolitan cities, private schools have not even submitted their fee proposals, leaving a regulatory vacuum.
Officials at Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) admit that the fee determination committee has been unable to function due to the absence of key members, including education officials and ward chairs. Without them, the process has stalled.
Meanwhile, there is no proper record of how private schools conducted admissions or how much they charged. According to the Education Regulations, schools are not allowed to charge admission fees, and annual fees are capped at two months’ tuition.
But in practice, parents say the opposite is happening. Private schools in Kathmandu and Lalitpur have already enrolled students by charging both admission and annual fees at will, said Suprabhat Bhandari, president of the Nepal Parents’ Federation.
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Parents allege that a private school in Kalanki charged as much as Rs 25,000 under the guise of an annual fee. “The law clearly states that fees must be fixed two months before the academic session begins,” Bhandari said. “And once a student is admitted, admission fees cannot be charged again.”
He added that even annual fees require government approval—something private schools have not sought. “They have not even submitted their fee proposals, and local governments have yet to fix the fees. This has given private schools a free hand to charge as they wish. The government must step in,” he said.
The Parents’ Federation says it has received numerous complaints, adding that a similar situation prevailed last year, when fees were left unregulated and schools charged arbitrarily.
Semantamani Acharya, chief of the Kathmandu District Education Coordination Unit, confirmed that no process has yet begun to collect or approve fee proposals. For now, private schools are operating based on previously fixed rates.
“We have received complaints that schools are charging both admission and annual fees. We have warned them that admission fees can only be charged once,” Acharya said.
He added that discussions on fee proposals will begin only after the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) answer sheets are evaluated. “Since school education falls under local governments, fees will be determined in coordination with them,” he said.
At the local level, officials cite capacity constraints. Prakash Sapkota, chief of the education department at LMC, said just seven staff members are responsible for overseeing all 318 schools across 29 wards—279 of them private.
“All seven staff members handle both administrative and academic responsibilities. With such limited manpower, it is difficult to manage the education sector effectively,” Sapkota said.
He acknowledged that while regulations limit admission fees to a one-time charge and annual fees to two months’ tuition, some parents themselves have agreed to pay higher fees in certain schools.
The LMC has now directed private schools to submit their fee proposals by mid-April. However, Sapkota said the sudden government decision has already disrupted academic calendars and even delayed the printing of teachers’ diaries.
“The new proposals are likely to include fee hikes, as schools have been increasing fees by around 10 percent annually,” he said. “All schools are expected to submit their proposals by mid-April.”
The delayed start of the academic session has particularly affected community schools. While some are preparing to begin admissions from April 15, private schools had already conducted entrance exams earlier, selected students, and completed enrolment.
Krishna Adhikari, president of the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organization Nepal (PABSON), defended private schools, saying they rely on fees to operate.
“Private schools are preparing to begin the academic session from April 28 in line with government rules, and all will submit their fee proposals by mid-April,” he said. “We have directed schools to charge admission fees only once, as per the law.”
