KATHMANDU, MAR 09 - For the nearly 470,000 students who will appear for the ‘iron-gate’ School Leaving Certificate (SLC), the continuing power-cuts will spell trouble this year as well. With Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) unable to do much about the 11-hour outages, it seems students will have to study in candle light or use other means for the examinations.

Manila Thapa, a student of Heritage Boarding School who is appearing for the exams this year, said, “Not only me, but my parents are also facing a problem because of the outages. They cannot afford any alternatives such as inverters, and feel guilty about it. I do not like this situation at all.”

Also, the schedule of the power cuts hits the students where it hurts most by occurring more in the mornings and evenings (when the demand is higher), as that is the time most students set aside for their studies. Gagan Neupane, another student who is appearing for the SLCs this year, said, “As the exams approach nearer, the duration of the power cuts increases. Forget studies, we cannot even do our home work properly.” Yunise Subedi, another student, added, “The government keeps saying we have the capacity to produce 83,000 megawatts of electricity and yet we are living in such darkness. Our resources aren’t being used wisely.”

According to Danda Pani Bashyal, spokesperson for NEA, there are no chances of any reduction of load shedding during the examinations. He said, “SLC exams are held in March-April, which is the driest season of the year. Until the snow on the mountains begins to melt, power cut timings will remain the same.” He said that power cuts can only be minimised after June. “The government has not yet made any effective plans to solve this problem. We have to be more efficient in reducing power cuts on a long term basis.”

Despite NEA’s warnings, students have at least one thing to rejoice from. Last year, power cuts during the SLC exams lasted for 18 hours, which is a far cry from this year’s maximum of 12 hours of outage. Rajit Bhusal of Gaurishankar Higher Secondary School said, “I think we are lucky to face only 11 hours of power cut.”

Sabitri Subedi, mother of Yunise, requested the government to minimise the power cuts at least on the days of the examinations. She said, “The children aren’t well-prepared at all. The government should understand the problem of the students.”

Posted on: 2010-03-09 04:27

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