By Manoj Kumar Karna
The intermediate level is the phase of education between school and higher education levels. The mode of study, that is, the hyperactive nature of studious student in the adolescent age is often compared with the ‘image’ of a housefly or the larval stage of the insects. Moti Nissani writes in his famous essay ‘Why Go to University?’ that a student goes to university to achieve the higher education after sacrificing her/his all desires for some years which is very fantastic dreamy part of human life.
The Nepali universities, especially Tribhuwan University (TU), had two ways to educate the students at the intermediate level, namely, intermediate level in TU and the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) till the mid-2060s BS. In the years of 2065/2066 BS, the team of TU administrative under Vice-chancellor Madhab Prasad Sharma, Rector Sooryalal Amatya and Registrar Bhimraj Adhikari took a ‘bold’ decision to phase out the Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) also known as the Intermediate level. It is noticeable that in those years, there was no other any new university which was conducting the PCL except Nepal Sanskrit University for Sanskrit certificate. The ‘adverse effects’ of scrapping the PCL from TU without providing a competitor of the then HSEB, currently known as National Examination Board (NEB) has now been seen. Of course, it was a long marathon race in those years of the 2060s BS for TU while doing the PCL phase-out and there was a rumour that the then TU head authorities had to ‘arrange close door meetings’ frequently with the main central leaders of the student wings of the political parties.
When there was more than one institution to allow the intermediate level or 10+2 level or technical equivalent certificates through technical courses such as CTEVT and others in Nepal, there was fierce competition among such institutions to give the best service of education and slogan to attract the school level passed students. It was very strange to notice that while comparing the result of the PCL in TU and the Plus 2 of the then HSEB, the TU students were getting back papers more but were comparatively stronger than the same faculty of the student who was passing out by the same academic session from these two institutions. The then HSEB’s results were to come as a maximum percentage of passing out in the final annual examination. While the students in TU were from the poor financial background and had to bear much students’ politics and locking the padlocks every year in the campus account section and the office of the campus chief during the enrolment at the beginning of the academic session, the HSEB students had no such political disturbances to bear. TU was changing its course material and textbooks after every five years but its competitor NEB has still the same English course, for example, till date. It shows that the board is not upgrading its course or its authorities are either bound by ‘unseen forces’ or unable to upgrade the course of study. It was accused that the students’ locks in the account in TU’s campuses were provoked and artificial and the target was to defame the reputation of TU so as it will be compelled to phase out the PCL which happened also. It was strange to notice that the TU’s authorities were fully determined to scrap the PCL always by reminding the promise of TU to its monetary funding international institutions but the very TU’s authorities were never to give any alternative competitor to the HSEB for future.
There is no satisfactory experience of witnessing the examination of the answer sheet of the HSEB-cum-NEB’s students every year since 2062 BS. Many examiners do not work in any college but their ‘qualification’ of examining the answer sheet is the personal contact to the board officer or the former post in any particular students’ wing whose staffers are dominating in the NEB. The most tragic is that these very people get an entry in the scrutiny board of the examination from where they torture those examiners who either speak against them or examine the answer sheet honestly and make pass out in own packet comparatively fewer students.
The above described faulty system of the Plus 2 system of Nepal must be considered along with reformation of the course material instantly for quality education.
The writer works at Patan Multiple Campus, Patandhoka, under TU
People’s Review Print Edition
Login to add a comment