KATHMANDU, MAY 12 -
Foul play on a massive scale has taken place in the scholarship quota allocated by the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) to higher secondary level students.

HSEB selects three percent of the total number of +2 students from across the country — which last year was 12,000 — on a “merit basis” and directs all its affiliated higher secondary schools to provide free education to them. Each college is to provide free education to the students.

Currently, around 12,000 Plus Two students, who received the scholarship, are studying in 2,510 higher secondary schools across the country, according to chief of the HSEB’s Accreditation Division Durga Prasad Aryal. The students are supposed to be from marginalised and rural communities and inclusion should be the key factor for the selection process.

However, the facts depict a different picture. Students from upper class families have grabbed most of the scholarships. “Only ten percent of students in our college under the quota represent the marginalised and rural communities,” said Nirmal Adhikari, coordinator of Trinity College. The same is the case at Golden Gate College. “Just six students out of 50 who got the scholarship are from the backward community,” said coordinator Devi Ram Sharma. “There has been nepotism and favouritism in the selection process.”  Though HSEB claims that the students are selected on “merit basis,” Sharma claimed more than 80 percent scholarship students have poor academic results. 

Coordinators of other colleges in the Valley, including SV Academy, Trinity, Crimson and a dozen other colleges, said the scholarships have failed to yield the desired results. The colleges are tight lipped because of fear that HSEB could cancel their licence or take harsh action. “We cannot but accept the HSEB recommendation,” said a +2 college owner requesting anonymity.

However, HSEB Vice-chairman Upendra Kumar Koirala claimed, “This scheme has fully benefited students from poor and marginalised communities. If there are shortcomings in the process, we are ready to correct it.”





NEPOTISM?

• 
      HSEB selects 3 percent of total number of +2 students from across the country


• 
      Directs all affiliated higher secondary schools to provide them free education


• 
      Students supposed to be from marginalised/rural communities


• 
      Students from upper class families grabbing scholarships


• 
      College officials allege nepotism/favouritism

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