Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: The National Private and Boarding Schools’ Association of Nepal (National PABSON) has expressed serious concern over the government’s decision of announcing a two-day public holiday. Issuing a press release today, National PABSON President Geeta Rana Chhetri and General Secretary Pratap Bahadur Thapa drew the attention of PABSON to the issue.

As per the decision of the Council of Ministers on April 5, the government decided to give public holidays on Saturdays and Sundays in a week with the objective of reducing the consumption of petroleum products and saving foreign exchange reserves. According to the National PABSON, the decision will have a long-term impact on the academic calendar at the school level.

According to National PABSON, two days of holidays in a week will create an additional 40 days of holidays annually, which will pose a serious challenge in completing the curriculum set by the government on time. Concerns have also been expressed that this will affect the teaching and learning process and directly affect the entire teaching-learning process.

Similarly, the decision to shift the start date of the academic session from April 15 to April 15 will also put more pressure on the academic calendar, according to National PABSON. It will be difficult to manage a two-day holiday for parents dependent on daily wages and it will also have social and economic impacts.

However, in order to implement the government’s decision, National PABSON has directed its member schools to make necessary arrangements. Arrangements have been made to start new admissions from April 15 and start classes from April 29. They have also requested to maintain at least 220 days of teaching and learning activities for the academic session 2083 by adjusting various holidays, managing school time without putting extra burden on students and increasing the use of information technology.

In addition, training, seminars, competitions, parents’ day and parent-teacher meetings should be conducted on Saturday or Sunday. According to the Education Act 2072, the fee management should be determined on the basis of monthly, annual and service.

The National PABSON has requested all the schools under its jurisdiction to run the educational activities in a systematic way as per the decision of the government and the court.