The Parliamentary Committee on Women, Children and Social Welfare is preparing to table a bill on eighth amendment to the Education Act (1972) to restructure private schools.

As the committee is waiting to put the bill before the House, private school lobbyists are scrambling to affect changes in some  provisions proposed in the legislation, chiefly the one that requires schools to register as a cooperative company and to impart free basic education.

The umbrella bodies of private schools ans colleges-- Private and Boarding Schools Organisation Nepal (Pabson) and Higher Secondary Schools Association Nepal (Hissan)-- are not in favour of the bill that the government had proposed in January to complement to the School Reform Sector Plan adopted in 2009. The recently general convention of Hissan has demanded constituting a national education commission before introducing any law or policy on education.

The bill, if endorsed, will outlaw the current practice of operating schools as private companies. The law, however, will not apply to schools that are operational before it has come into effect. The bill also proposes golden handshake deal for temporary teachers.

Thirty-nine lawmakers have registered amendments to 182 provisions of the bill. The committee will only make necessary changes to the bill based on discussions with various stakeholders.

  Ranju Jha, chairperson of the committee, said a meeting has been called to give the bill its final shape.

“The bill will be tabled in the upcoming Parliament session after discussion next week,” said Jha. She believes the bill would end the problems seen in the country’s school system for decades.

One lawmaker shared that despite the pressure to change several provisions in the bill, the committee is trying to table it without derailing from its main motive of school restructuring.

source:the kathmandu post, 21 may 2016