WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 334 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 23.9 C -6.5 C Sunday, January 31, 2021 | 18-10-2077 Dipayal Jumla Oli, despite leading caretaker Cabinet, on spree to inaugurate and award projects Inaugurating them is an attempt to influence elections which the poll body should look into and awarding them risks future governments not owning them, observers say. ANIL GIRI KATHMANDU, JAN 30 If there has been any direct act of defiance by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli against his ally-turned-foe Pushpa Kamal Dahal, it was on Saturday when he addressed a mass meeting in Chitwan, Dahal’s electoral constituency. Oli also inaugurated the local city hall of Bharatpur Metropolitan City and the ring road there. Conspicuous by her absence was Bharatpur mayor Renu Dahal, daugh- ter of Pushpa Kamal and chair of a faction of the Nepal Communist Party. Oli decided to go ahead with the RSS inauguration despite the mayor’s KP Sharma Oli in Chitwan on Saturday. opposition because it was too good an opportunity to be missed for his elec- have been urging Oli not to take deci- tion hustings, and that it was in father sions that have long-term ramifica- Dahal’s constituency seems to have tions and we have been opposing his been an added attraction. move,” said a Standing Committee According to a leader belonging to member of the Dahal-Nepal faction of POST PHOTO: DIPENDRA ROKKA the faction led by Dahal and Madhav the communist party. Terraced fields worked by farmers for potato plantation at Doleshwor in Bhaktapur. Kumar Nepal, since the Oli govern- On January 25, Oli inaugurated ment has turned into the caretaker a bridge over the Rapti river in one as elections have already been Rapti Valley, the capital of Lumbini announced, the prime minister does Province. Later Oli and Shanker not have the moral authority to inau- Pokharel, chief minister of Lumbini gurate development projects. promised other half a dozen projects Ad hoc decision to allow math as a compulsory “Since day one after the Oli govern- in and around Dang district. ment became the caretaker one, we >> Continued on page 2 subject in grades 11 and 12 under fire Court had rejected a petition to make the subject compulsory but told the government to make a final decision. Now students can choose it or Social Studies and Life Skills. BINOD GHIMIRE According to officials at the Hoping that the court would halt the KATHMANDU, JAN 30 Curriculum Development Centre, the introduction of the new curriculum, subject was introduced to provide private school operators, when classes In normal times classes for grade 11 students with communication, critical began in September, continued teach- begin in July. But this year, given the thinking, problem-solving and deci- ing the old curriculum. pandemic they began only in sion making skills along with teach- However, the Supreme Court, four September. ing them the social aspects of Nepali months after the petition was filed, As if that was not an issue enough, society. gave the go ahead to the new curricu- the Curriculum Development Centre “It also provides thinking, social lum on January 12. had prepared a new curriculum and emotional skills,” Ganesh On the issue of making Mathematics for grades 11 and 12 from this Bhattarai, director at the Curriculum a compulsory subject, the court academic year switching to a sin- Development Centre, told the Post. asked the Ministry of Education to gle-track curriculum from the earlier According to Bhattarai, thinking revisit its decision to exclude system of having different streams for skills enhance logical faculty of the Mathematics as a compulsory subject Science, Management, Humanities students while interpersonal relation- and thus leaving the decision up to the and Education. ship, cooperation, leadership and ministry whether or not to incorpo- rate the subject in the curriculum. It asked the ministry to consult with experts and the concerned stakehold- ers before taking any decision regard- ing the subject. On Thursday, backtracking on its decision from last year, the Ministry of Education announced that Mathematics would be included as a compulsory subject. However, students who don’t want to study Mathematics can take Social Studies and Life Skills Education, the National Curriculum Development and Evaluation Council led by Minister for Education Krishna Gopal Shrestha decided. “Though the Supreme Court had given a go ahead without incorporat- ing Mathematics, the council made POST ILLUSTRATION the decision to this effect to end the dispute over the curriculum,” The rationale behind the new cur- team building skills are imparted to Bhattarai told the Post. “This, howev- riculum was that the eighth amend- the students under social skills. The er, doesn’t mean our earlier decision ment to the Education Act in 2016 course is designed to provide self-man- [to have Mathematics only as an elec- integrated grades 11 and 12 into the agement and dealing with different tive subject] was wrong.” high school system from the earlier situations under emotional skills. Thursday’s decision has, under- higher secondary system. The govern- But not everyone was happy with standably, come under fire. ment in January last year decided to the decision, especially one to exclude Education experts say the adopt the new curriculum. Mathematics as a compulsory subject. government shouldn’t be taking ad According to the new curriculum, A newly formed Mathematics hoc decisions on serious issues like students in grades 11 and 12 would Concern Group even knocked on the the curriculum. study three compulsory subjects— door of the Supreme Court demand- “The council should have a proper English, Nepali, and Social Studies ing a halt to the adoption of the new answer to what led it to exclude and Life Skills—and choose three curriculum without Mathematics. Mathematics from the curriculum more from among 80 electives, taking With the country going into a earlier and why is it incorporating the number of subjects to six from five lockdown in March, that was extended now,” said Tanka Nath Sharma, for- earlier. for four months, the cancellation of mer dean at Kathmandu University Social Studies and Life Skills was a the grade 10 School Education School of Education. new addition. Examination and the decision that Sushan Acharya, a professor its results would be based on at Tribhuvan University, said a lot internal evaluation of the indi- of work goes into designing a curricu- vidual schools, the confusion in lum with its long term effect on the education sector was unprece- students’ learning taken into dented. consideration. School operators, especially “The government cannot make such those of private ones, asked the knee-jerk reactions,” she told the Post. government to introduce the new “I disagree with the very decision to curriculum in the next academic make Mathematics as an alternative year rather than during the time to Life Skills Education. While stu- of Covid-19 pandemic while the dents should be learning Mathematics, Supreme Court was looking into life skill education should also be a the petition demanding that the part of the education system.” new curriculum be not adopted. >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Number of leprosy patients on the rise in Bagmati Province According to the data of Health Directorate in Hetauda, the province has 367 leprosy cases in the current fiscal year, a rise from 209 cases in the last fiscal. PRATAP BISTA According to Jayaram Duwadi, HETAUDA, JAN 30 tuberculosis and leprosy officer at the Health Directorate in Hetauda, Thirty-nine-year-old Kanchhimaya the number of leprosy patients in Chepang of Khairang in Raksirang Bagmati has increased in the current Rural Municipality Ward No. 9 has fiscal year. lost her fingers and toes to leprosy. “We have 367 leprosy cases in the She said she was also driven out of running fiscal year, a rise from 209 her village after she contracted the cases in the last fiscal,” said Duwadi. disease. The government distributes free “Two years ago, my wife almost got medicines to leprosy patients from paralysis due to the disease. The vil- various government-run health insti- lagers ostracised her, as they feared tutions across the country. she would transmit the disease to oth- According to the data of the Health ers. We kept her in a flimsy makeshift Directorate, there are a total of 20,044 tent in the forest. But her life was leprosy patients reported across the saved after she received treatment in country. Among them, 337 are chil- Raksirang,” said Pote Chepang, dren. The data showed that there are Kanchhimaya’s husband. 271 leprosy patients in Province 1,554 According to him, Kanchhimaya patients in Province 2, 367 in Bagmati, recovered from the disease by taking 420 in Lumbini, 100 in Gandaki, 84 in medications prescribed by a doctor. Karnali and 228 in Sudurpaschim Similarly, Bishnu Sharma, a local Province. resident of Hetauda Sub Metropolitan City and a former leprosy patient, also got rid of the disease after taking medicines. There are a total of “If I had relied on shamans, like the 20,044 leprosy other villagers did, I would still be POST PHOTO: ANISH REGMI with the disease,” he said. patients reported An elderly man looks at the surroundings from a hilltop with a single tree at Bungamati, Lalitpur on Saturday. According to doctors, leprosy caused by Mycobacterium leprae is across the country, transmittable. That is why most patients do not speak openly about according to data.