The Education, Health, and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives has reached a consensus to include provisions in the School Education Bill allowing the establishment of schools with private investment.
During a meeting held on Friday in the committee’s office at the Singha Durbar, an agreement was reached to allow private investment in schools under certain conditions.
As per the agreement, such schools will operate as service-oriented, public welfare-oriented and gradually non-profit institutions, as stipulated in the bill.
The committee has agreed on the provisions under Section 4 of the School Education Bill, which outlines how schools should operate.
Initially, the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML were reluctant to include the term "non-profit" in the bill. Education Minister Raghuji Panta had also argued that private investments could not be labeled as "non-profit."
However, during Friday’s meeting, NC lawmaker Dig Bahadur Limbu insisted that unless the bill included the phrase "gradually non-profit," it would not pass.
"This is a matter of our vision. If we cannot even say ‘gradually non-profit,’ then this bill will not pass," he said.
Following this, UML lawmaker Chhabilal Bishwakarma said that since the Constitution defines education as a service-oriented sector, there should be no issue with including the phrase "gradually non-profit" in the bill.
"The state’s very nature is public welfare-oriented. There’s no harm in saying ‘gradually non-profit.’ The term ‘service-oriented’ is in the Constitution itself. Therefore, it can be described as service-oriented, welfare-driven, and gradually non-profit," he argued.
The committee then reached a consensus on the issue.
Currently, establishing schools under the Companies Act is prohibited. The eighth amendment to the Education Act has allowed schools to operate only under educational trusts (guthis).
However, the new bill will include provisions allowing schools to operate under the Companies Act as well.
In earlier discussions, lawmakers had lobbied for mandatory conversion of schools established under the Companies Act into educational trusts. Many lawmakers had even registered amendments to include such a provision by setting a specific timeframe for converting such schools into trusts.
However, the government has opted to encourage schools to convert into trusts rather than making the transition compulsory.
The government has proposed incentives including exemptions on land registration fees, customs duties on vehicles imported for school purposes, customs duties on educational and laboratory materials, and other concessions for privately-funded schools opting to transition into public educational trusts.
This would make it optional, rather than mandatory, for schools with private investment to convert into public trusts.
Privately-funded schools must adhere to national standards for education quality and fee structures. They will be allowed to charge fees within the limits set by the local level and must make their fee structure public two months before the academic session begins.
