National
New law envisions teaching council to test teachers’ qualification and issue licence
The government is working to set up an entity that will test the qualification of teachers before issuing licences for them to take up a teaching profession.Binod Ghimire
The government is working to set up an entity that will test the qualification of teachers before issuing licences for them to take up a teaching profession. This process, according to officials, will be similar to the ones followed by the Nepal Medical Council and the Nepal Nursing Council.
Medical doctors have to pass the Nepal Medical Council exam and nurses must pass the Nepal Nursing Council test to get their licenses before they can start their practice.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in the draft of National Education Bill has envisioned setting up the council, likely to be named Nepal Teachers Council, which will grant the teaching licence, set up the qualification test and register eligible candidates for teaching.
The bill has to be endorsed by the federal parliament by March 4, the day the first Parliament meeting completes a year, as envisioned in the constitution of Nepal.
Anybody willing to take up the teaching profession in government schools must have a teaching licence from the council after March 4.
“The council will grant the licence, after a qualification test, which is a must for anyone to become a teacher in public schools,” reads a provision in the bill. “It will also provide suggestions to the government to make teaching profession decent and systematic.”
The council will also make recommendations to the government to develop and revise the education policy and the curriculum. Till date, the Teachers Service Commission has been providing a teaching licence after a test. Only those who acquire a teaching licence from the commission are allowed to apply for a teacher’s posting in public schools.
The licence issued by the commission will still be valid even if the council comes into operation. Some 700,000 have acquired license from the commission so far.
The new council will also update and renew the list of teaching permit holders along with categorising the schools based on their performance.
Respective district education offices have been categorising the schools after evaluating their infrastructure, enrolment size, and a list of other requirements.
The provision to form the teaching council was included in the bill based on the suggestions from the High Level Education Commission which submitted its report to the government two weeks ago.
The government, however, is yet to make public the report which has recommended converting all private schools into not-for-profit entities within a decade. The private sector has been opposing the recommendation which is the primary reason behind government’s delay in the publicising the report.