Kathmandu, June 22: As the quality of education declines, the trust of parents and students in community schools has declined. The number of students in community schools has also decreased due to the poor quality and lack of student-friendly environments. In such a situation, the government has reached a point where more than half of the community schools must be merged or closed.

According to the Economic Survey 2081/82 released by the Ministry of Finance, 73 percent of the 35,447 schools run across the country are in 25,876 communities. In 2080/81, 35,876 schools were operating across the country. Of these, 74.1 per cent were community schools.

This data shows a decrease in the number of community schools between the two fiscal years. The number of students in public schools is also declining. Parents' interest in community schools has also been decreasing due to the inability to adapt to changing times.

Of the 25,876 community schools currently operating in Nepal, 15,273 have less than 100 students. Spokesperson and Joint Secretary of the Ministry Shiva Sapkota said that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is going to introduce a policy to merge or close such schools one by one. According to him, the ministry is studying how to manage community schools with less than 100 students.

“The government has been increasing the size of the budget to improve the educational quality of community schools," Sapkota said, "99 percent of the teachers of community schools are trained, but the teaching and learning achievement has not increased."

“These schools have not been able to win the trust of parents and students. As a result, the number of students in public schools is decreasing. There are more than 15,000 schools with less than 100 students. The ministry is preparing to move forward by making a policy and program regarding the merger or closure of such schools," he said.

People’s News Monitoring Service.