BHAKTAPUR: District Education Officers from across the country have pledged to increase the pass percentage in the School Leaving Certificate Examination by 10 per cent this year.

The DEOs expressed their commitment during a four-day-long workshop on ‘Effective Implementation of Policies and Programmes in Education’ that Department of Education had organised on August 25-28. Representatives from the Ministry of Education, Department of Education, Regional Education Directorate and senior trainers were present at the workshop.

The education officers have also vowed to increase the result of individual schools by at least two per cent every year and contribute to the national result. The SLC pass percentage has been declining for the last five years.

Only 41.47 per cent out of the total examinees passed the SLC examination last year. Similarly, only 28 per cent students from the community schools had passed the test.

The commitment letter, which was made public amid a programme at the DoE office, said, “This year’s SLC result will be increased by at least two digits. Schools will be running classes for minimum 192 days and remain open for 220 days a year to ensure students’ learning right and teach full day on Fridays by engaging students in extra-curricular activities after school hour in the coming days.” During the workshop, the participants had issued a 15-point roadmap for the improvement of quality of education for fiscal year 2013/14.

As per the roadmap, schools and district education offices will help government achieve its Education for All target by 2015 and increase access to Information Technology in schools. The roadmap also aims to improve transparency in scholarship given by private educational institutions.

source:the himalayan times,30 August 2013