A majority of schools operating without registration for years have applied for accreditation at the Ministry of Education following latter’s directive to obtain permit within a month or face closure. With 10 days remaining for the deadline, 11 out of 14 schools that were running without registration have initiated the process.

In its public notice on January 14, the ministry had instructed all the schools with foreign affiliation, mainly with the Central Board of Secondary Education

(CBSE) India, to get registered within a month with a warning of closure if they do not oblige. The Social Committee of the Cabinet had asked the ministry to shut down all the schools with

foreign affiliation operating in the country without permission from the new academic session which begins in Mid-April. The government record shows that 14 schools—13 affiliated with the CBSE and Lincoln School accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges—have been operating without registration in Nepal.

Apart from Modern Indian, Nepal Bharat Maitri and Lincoln, all other schools

have started the registration process fulfilling all due process, according to the Department of Information (DoI) under the Ministry of Education.

The Kendriya Vidyalaya, situated on the Indian Embassy premises does not need registration as it is being run by the Indian mission itself. However, it is not authorised to enrol children other than those of the embassy staffers.

Sources at the DoI said Rupy’s International School, Rai School, Chandbagh,

three DAVs in Birgunj, Biratnagar and Lalitpur, Delhi Public School, Alok Bidhdya Ashram, among others, have submitted application to come under government jurisdiction.

Schools need to deposit between Rs500,000 to Rs1.5million depending upon the level of the grades. According to the Education Act, every school should have permission from the concerned district education office, get registered at the Company Registrar’s Office or Guthi for operation, and pay taxes as per the national standard.

The ministry had stopped providing equivalent certificates to the students graduating from the unregistered foreign-affiliated schools to pressure them for registration.

Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel, in his 18-point roadmap published in September, had announced that those schools under a government-recognised board.