KATHMANDU: The private schools in the country are to announce admission for a new academic session from June 3 with social distancing in place.

The Private and Boarding School Association of Nepal (PABSON), National Private and Board School Association of Nepal (N-PABSON), Institutional School Teacher’s Union Nepal (ISTU-Nepal) jointly published a press statement today, bringing this to the knowledge of public and concerned agencies.

The government in its newly unveiled budget for the new fiscal year 2020/21 has mentioned that the teaching-learning activities for the new academic session would be conducted virtually or through the e-learning system considering the COVID-19 risks.

The lockdown enforced at the end of the previous academic session had led to the closure of all educational institutions across the country.

Prime Minister KP Oli in his address to the nation on May 26 had announced that the works relating to running new academic sessions would be forwarded very soon observing all precautions against the deadly infection.

Following the PM’s address, the umbrella organizations of the private schools across the country and teachers of the community schools decided to resume the long halted academic activities keeping all precautionary measures in place.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, however, has not made any concrete decision towards this end.

The Ministry towards the beginning of May had appealed to all the community and private schools across the nation not to begin any new academic sessions or take admission for new classes until further notice.

In the press statement, the PABSON, N-PABSON, ISTU have urged the government for its facilitation to arrange training/orientation to the teachers and school staffers to run new academic sessions in a new manner in the wake of COVID-19 crisis.

These organizations have also appealed to the government to define the virtual/online teaching as a formal class and to provide textbooks despite the ongoing lockdown.

The government has also been drawn the attention to consider exemption on the charges of the internet and electricity to the schools once the virtual learning (e-learning) starts.