Kathmandu: The Ministry of Education will now allow private tuition centres, preparing their clients for School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam, to conduct counseling sessions and carry out the exam’s internal assessment.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Distant Education Committee (DEC), chaired by Education Secretary Shankar Prasad Panday, on June 13.

Prior to the decision, only government-run schools were allowed to conduct such sessions and evaluate students enrolled with them.

Bal Ram Thapa, vice president of Educational Institutes Association (EIA), lauded the government move. “Private tuition centres can now prove their mettle and demonstrate they are as capable as government schools.”

Private tuition centres were dumbfounded when the government scrapped the provision of private SLC through the sixth amendment to Education Regulations.

Although the government is rigid about enrolling students of tuition centres in open schools, its decision to allow tuition centres to conduct counseling sessions and carry out internal evaluation shows the government appreciates our work, Thapa remarked.

Laxmi Ram Poudel, executive director at National Centre for Educational Development (NCED) said the centre will train tuition centre teachers to run counseling sessions and conduct internal evaluation. “We are also preparing curricula for various subjects for open school students,” he informed.

Currently, more than 8,000 individuals study in 85 NCED-managed open schools in 75 districts. There are around 10,000 individuals preparing in more than 60 private tuition centres in various parts of the country for the SLC.

source: Himalayan News Service(2011),"Tuition centres to run counselling sessions ", The Himalayan Times, 20 June 2011