KATHMANDU: The National Campaign for Education (NCE) Nepal has drawn the attention of the government and the bodies concerned with the ‘need’ to allocate 20 percent of the total budget to the education sector in the upcoming fiscal year.
The Campaign has reminded the political parties about their commitments to increasing budget allocation to education in their recent election manifestos. At present, around 10 percent of the total budget is allotted to the education sector.
NCE Nepal chair Rajendra Pahadi said the existing budget allocation to the sector is not sufficient to advance toward the implementation of fundamental rights relating to education and the related international commitments.
As the NCE said, free tuition, availability of school mid-day meals, scholarships, first aid facilities, and the management of educational materials are necessary to implement the Compulsory and Free Education Act 2075 (2018), and the existing size of the education budget is not sufficient to ensure all these provisions.
The Campaign recently submitted a memorandum towards this end to Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Ashok Kumar Rai, and National Planning Commission member Dr. Ram Kumar Phuyal.
As said by NCE Nepal general secretary Sudarshan Sigdel, in response to the memo, the Finance Minister said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year would come within a framework determined by the available resources and the education sector was the government priority despite an economic sensitive atmosphere in the nation.
The Education Minister said the investment in education was for a long-run impact, but the expected investment had not been possible due to various reasons.
Comment