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NATIONAL
SLCRESULTS
Low Pass Rate
Only one third of the examinees are able to cross the
'iron gate'
By A CORRESPONDENT
T
heresults of this year's School Leaving
Certi ficate (SLC) examinations
- regarded as iron gate among Nepalese
dents - came as shock to two third of
le students.
Among the 2, l3,807 students who
had sat for the exams three months ago,
o nl y 3 1.62 percent managed to pass. The
low pass rate has raised the eyebrows of
many. Last year the pass rate was around
45 percent.
plagued by uncertainty and lack of employment
opportunities. Some even go to
the extent of saying that these students
who have failed and have nowhere to turn
to could be lured by violent elements.
One remarkable feat of this year's
SLC was lhal bOlh the toppers (boy and
girl) belonged to schools away from the
capital. Earliertheschools of Kathmandu
used la dominate the toppers' list.
Swachhanda Sangmen, of Bidur English
Boarding School, Bhadrapur, Jhapa
topped the list securing 714 marks -
" With such a low rate , __________________,
of passing students, a big
lump of government's investment
on education has
gone waste," said a principal
of pri vate school.
As the government
";Qends around ten percent
of its total expenditure on
Iheeducation, such low passing
rate means that its in­
~c';tlllent has not been utiproperly.
The reason
behind this could be many
GREEN NEPAL PARTY
Successful
Convention
A two-day second general
convention of the Green
Nepal Party calls for rooting
out corruption from politics
Although the two-day general convention of
lhe Green Nepal Party (GNP) was a small
gathering of people. it sent a strong message
in political circles that it is the only pany that
follows the rules of transparency and accountability.
Unlike the convention~ of the big par·
ties, the GNP meeting was devoid of fanfare
and disputes. It has shown the way to the other
big parties that small is always beautiful when
it comes to propounding new concepts.
Founded four years ago through the ini·
tiative of Kuber Prasad Sharma and other
like-minded politicians. the GNP has now
been able la generate hope among the small
panies that they do have a future. "Hariyali
Nepal Party should lead the movement la
reunite all small parties for the benefit of the
country," said Dr. Meena Acharya, general
secrelary of Nepal Praja Parishad. the oldest
political party of Nepal.
From former prime minister Kirtinidhi
Bista to formerspeakt'T Damannath Dhungana
and from the first general secretary of ePN·
ML and left intellectual C.P. Mainali w RPP­
Nationalist leader Rajcshwor Devkota. politicians
oraB hues hailed the role of GNP in the
including quality of teach- School students: Who is to blame for poor results?
Cl'S. teaching-learning environment
or the syllabus.
89.24 percent. Amo ng the girls, Rarnila current national polilical context.
Others like Sahadev Bhatta of the Shilpakar of Everest Boarding School. Leaders from small panies like Hemanta
Omce ofthe Controller ofExarninations, Bhaktapur, topped securing 686 marks- S.C of Commul1J5l Party of Nepal Uniled,
which conducted the exams, believe that 85.74 percent. Lok Narayan Subedi oftheCommunistPartythe
newly introduced stringent rules about According to the Office of the Con- Marxist and K.S. Shahi of Samykla PraJatantra
Parry also emphasized the need to
checking exam papers and addition of a trailer of Examinalions, of the 2,13, 807
subject - stretching the total marks from
strengthen unity among small panies.
students who sat forthe exams, 1,60.123 Chaired by president of GNP', high
700 to 800-could have affected the pass
were in the regular group while 52,884 command and founding chairmclll Kuber
rate.
were in the exempted group. The number Sharma, the newly elected chairman of Ihe
This year the office introduced the of boys were 1.23,252 and girls were party. Badri Pra5sd Khaliwacta, urged other
system of coding and dec9ding, parallel 90,555. parties 10 join the GNP's campaign against
set of question papers in compulsory subjects
This year the results of the SLC were corruption. The second general convention
and decentralization of evaluation published more lhan three months after it elected a seven· member high command with
centers.
was taken in April. Due to this delay many Kuber Sharma as president and Badri Prasad
Whatever be the reason, the high failure
rale is sure to hit the YQuths already
Khatiwada as chairman of the puny's central
ten-plus-two colleges had already started
committee.
enrolling studenlS on a provisional basis.. L _______________
SPOTLIGHT/JULY 20, 2001
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