The Grade 12 examinations, initially slated to begin on Thursday, April 24, have been postponed by 10 days and will now commence on Sunday, May 4, according to an announcement made by the National Examination Board (NEB) on Tuesday evening. The decision follows an instruction from Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the state-owned news agency RSS reported.
The postponement comes just a day after Bidya Bhattarai resigned as Minister for Education, Science, and Technology, amid growing pressure from an ongoing protest movement by public school teachers.
Read: Education Minister Bhattarai Quits Amid Intensifying Teachers’ Protest
NEB Chairperson Mahashram Sharma confirmed the revised schedule.
Earlier in the day, the board had convened an emergency meeting and initially resolved to go ahead with the exams as planned, proposing to mobilize civil servants if required. However, civil servants also refused to take part in the examination process, raising serious concerns about proceeding without teacher involvement.
Later that evening, Sharma and other NEB officials held a meeting with Prime Minister Oli at Baluwatar. Following the meeting, the Prime Minister advised the board to postpone the exams, prompting an official revision of the schedule.
Earlier plans had placed full responsibility for exam administration on the District Examination Coordination Committees, under the leadership of Chief District Officers, supported by other government staff.
The delay in the exams is directly tied to the protest movement led by the Nepal Teachers’ Federation, which has been demanding the swift issuance of the School Education Act. For the past three weeks, thousands of community school teachers have been staging demonstrations in Kathmandu. Teachers have intensified their campaign by suspending teaching and other duties.
Approximately 500,000 students are expected to participate in this year’s Grade 12 examinations. A total of 1,591 examination centers have been designated, including one in Japan. Each center will be staffed by a center chief and assistant chief, along with around 2,000 administrative personnel. In addition, at least one office assistant per center and roughly 20,000 security personnel will be deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the exams.
(With inputs from RSS)
