Jul 5, Kathmandu: As many as 78 nursing schools across the country have been closed due to non-fulfillment of the mandatory provision of the 100-bed hospital.  Medical Education Act 2018 AD states that a school that wants to teach nursing should have its own 100-bed hospital.

The Act stipulates that this provision must be fulfilled within two years of its issuance. All these educational institutions were run in association with the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). But in the past, due to the Corona pandemic, the school administrators have complained that they have not been able to provide the physical infrastructure and the two-year period has been insufficient.

Nirmal Sapkota, general secretary of the Forum for Health and Technical Sciences, said that 4,600 employees lost their jobs when the educational institutions established by law were closed without notice. According to him, the enrollment quota of 2,747 students has been wasted due to the non-enrollment of nursing subjects in 78 schools. Before the implementation of the provisions of the Act, the enrollment quota for nursing subjects in technical schools across the country was 4,067.

He said, “The argument that the nursing subject we taught a year ago should be of quality but not now is not satisfactory. We need to open the way for new students to be admitted. ” Former chairman and advisor of the same organization said Kashyap Poudel, “Four thousand employees, including teachers and other service workers, have lost their jobs.

In the past, even though there was a 50-bed hospital, the sudden new rules in the institute which was conducting uninterrupted nursing studies ruined the investment of crores of rupees in this sector. ” Poudel complained that even though they were ready to accept the government's policy, they were in a lot of trouble as they made unrealistic arrangements by giving a very short time.

Due to the act, 137 technical SLC level programs and 237 educational programs have been closed. Medical Education Commission has said that its only responsibility is to implement the legal system. With the new policy arrangement, nine thousand 390 students have been deprived of technical SLC level studies in healthy subjects. According to the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), 20 percent of students enrolled in higher education choose technical education.