KATHMANDU, Sept 26: A parliamentary committee has directed the government to immediately make arrangements for students who returned from China due to COVID-19 to back and continue their studies. A meeting of the Education and Health Committee under the House of Representatives held at Singha Durbar on Sunday directed the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to take immediate diplomatic initiative to send the students who have been stranded in Nepal due to COVID-19 to China for study.
Chairperson of the committee, Jaipuri Gharti Magar said that the government has been instructed to immediately make arrangements to send thousands of stranded students to China for continuation of their studies by taking necessary diplomatic initiatives in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The students who had gone to China for study are in Nepal. They have been living in Nepal for two years,” Magar said. “They have asked that we take diplomatic initiatives to send them back to China. I think that the MoFA should have a one-on-one discussion with the officials of the country and the Ministry of Education should make arrangements to send students to study through diplomatic initiatives. Thousands of students are stranded. Their future is in jeopardy.”
Why the delay?
During the meeting, the committee members alerted the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to immediately solve the problem of students who could not go back to study in China.
Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Hari Prasad Lamsal expressed his commitment to make necessary arrangements for the students going back to study in China as per the instructions given by the parliamentary committee. Currently, the number of students going to China to study alone is 7,480. Joint Secretary Lamsal also clarified that the government would allow Nepali students to study in different countries only after consulting with the universities concerned.
