Private school operators have expressed “surprise” over what they term a sudden decision by the government asking them to set aside 10 percent reservation for scholarship to students from underprivileged groups.

“This was unexpected news for us. In fact, we were working with the government to provide 2 percent reservation in scholarships to conflict-hit students and children of families of martyrs,” said BN Sharma, vice president of Private and Boarding Schools Organization of Nepal (PABSON). Sharma added that even if this decision is ‘imposed,’ they cannot implement it now in the middle of the academic year.

“We can implement new scholarship provision in the next academic year only and we are not in a position to provide 10 percent quota,” he added.

Likewise, Karna Bahadur Shahi, general secretary of National-PABSON, accused that the Ministry did not consult with them while announcing the percentage. “This is not practical. Perhaps some schools have capacity to provide 10 percent quota but not all of them can do so,” he argued.

Baburam Pokharel, principal of VS Niketan College and advisor of PABSON, said that the government should not announce such mandatory quotas. “There are many schools that are not in a position to provide big chunk of scholarship due to their poor financial capacity,” he said. He, however, conceded that the private schools, too, must demonstrate social responsibility and try to help the underprivileged students.

Earlier, the cabinet approved the draft bill to amend the Education Act with provisions making it mandatory for private schools to set aside 10 percent of seats to underprivileged groups such as girls, Dalits and indigenous people.

Government spokesperson and State Minister for Information Dilendra Prasad Badu said the cabinet has endorsed the bill, which would now be presented before the parliament for final approval.

Government officials claim that the new provision would benefit backward section of society. There are around 800,000 students in over 10,000 private schools across the country at present. The new bill also proposes to set up criteria to select the students for scholarship under reserved quota.