Tribhuvan University (TU) is the oldest and the most celebrated university of Nepal. The degree earned from TU is well recognized not only in Nepal but also abroad. Although TU’s administration and management is discontented time and again by the students and its stakeholders, it has earned a good reputation. Unlike the degree earned in Bihar or some other parts of India, about which the people have general thinking that certificates can also be bought, a degree earned from TU is never questioned or doubted. TU has maintained the assurance of quality education till date. When the private engineering colleges were intended to open in the affiliation of TU, it had a great deal of apprehension as to what will be the quality of education or will the colleges be able to produce quality engineers as Pulchowk Campus(PC) etc. It therefore made Institute of Engineering (IOE) the care-taker and the overseer of all the private engineering colleges affiliated to it so that the engineers produced by the private engineering colleges are equal in caliber to the engineers produced by PC.
The purpose behind giving all the responsibilities of TU-affiliated private engineering colleges to IOE was intended for the benefit of the private engineering colleges. Yet they have to suffer. This is because of PC’s influence on IOE. IOE keeps tampering on the convenience of private engineering colleges and favouring PC while taking its important decisions. PC has monopoly on setting question-papers, publishing examination schedules, checking answer-papers and publishing the results. The main theme of giving responsibilities of private engineering colleges to IOE has been thus strayed on to mere benefits of PC.
PC’s domination on setting question-papers and checking answer-papers has flourished the money making prospects of the teachers of PC, which, on the other hand, has hammered the stomachs of full-time teachers of private engineering colleges. Private engineering colleges invite them to take classes so that the performance of their college is appreciable in the final examinations. These teachers take more than twice the money that the colleges pay to their full-time teachers who work fully-dedicated from the morning till evening. They take away most of the credits for the success of the students leaving very little to the full-time teachers. The colleges are happy paying the teachers of PC because by doing so they are not only ensuring the maximum pass percentage in the final examinations but also buying the peace of mind to the management heads of the college. And from the perspective of PC teachers, they are happy to take classes in all the colleges affiliated to TU making more than Rs 1 lakh a month, which, otherwise working within PC only, would confine only to Rs 15 thousands to 20 thousands per month.
I do not intend to air my grievances against the earning opportunities of PC teachers. It is a common ambition of Nepalese to have a house in Kathmandu and to possess a car. It is not for them to blame. It is the outcome of the government’s failure to implement decentralization in country. Earning money per se is not so bad. But once a person grows passion to earn money, he slowly starts neglecting by what means it may come to him. The more means the money flows towards oneself, the better it is. But to become a rich man in a short period of time is not easy without resorting to the unfair means. Some PC teachers, too, have found such means. Their first and the foremost step is to create their demand in the market of private colleges which they play very skillfully.
It is said that a clever miscreant is the one who never breaks the rules but who finds loop-holes in them. The clever teachers of PC, therefore, play the game of ‘Artificial Demand Creation’ (ADC) apparently abiding by the rules of IOE. As the first step of the ADC-game, they prepare question-papers with not sufficient questions for the average students to pass. Some questions are also selected out-of-syllabus which they have usually covered in PC in a lecture or two. No foul has been committed up to this much. There is no such rule as to nab the teacher for asking tough questions or the questions on the topics not covered in private colleges even though they are out-of-syllabus. But this much is not sufficient to win the game. One more step is yet to be played. The main objective of Step Number One is to make as much students of private engineering colleges not to attempt the questions as possible. Before the second move, there are some safety measures to be considered. Step Number Two deals basically with checking answer-papers. While checking the answer-papers it should be kept in mind that no PC students should fail. An exception or two will do. There is a fairly good solution for this. The questions asked out-of-syllabus will be attempted only by the students of PC though most of the answers they give will not be precise. Since the PC students have apparently worked hard by attempting such tough questions - they are awarded full marks - even to those who have simply touched it. Now the time has arrived to move Step Number Two. In this step they check the answer-papers of private engineering students tightly and skew the marks, especially of those who have surpassed the pass-marks by just few marks. After the completion of Step Number Two, almost all the students of PC will have passed and most of the students of private engineering colleges will have failed.
The ADC-game is such a game in which there is only one player and the victory is always certain to its player. After playing the ADC-game the player of the game, the teacher, will be in high demand to the private engineering colleges affiliated to TU. The teacher is then invited by such colleges suffering heavy failures to come over and take classes to the following batch opening for him/her the doors of money making opportunities. This game has been continuously played and will continue to be played until it is out of IOE’s notice. This abominable game should be stopped as soon as possible either by making a rule that no PC teacher should be allowed to teach in TU-affiliated private engineering colleges, or, if it is not possible, it should be made mandatory for all the TU-affiliated private engineering colleges to appoint the PC teachers to teach all the subjects of engineering under a suitable arrangement of IOE.
The purpose behind giving all the responsibilities of TU-affiliated private engineering colleges to IOE was intended for the benefit of the private engineering colleges. Yet they have to suffer. This is because of PC’s influence on IOE. IOE keeps tampering on the convenience of private engineering colleges and favouring PC while taking its important decisions. PC has monopoly on setting question-papers, publishing examination schedules, checking answer-papers and publishing the results. The main theme of giving responsibilities of private engineering colleges to IOE has been thus strayed on to mere benefits of PC.
PC’s domination on setting question-papers and checking answer-papers has flourished the money making prospects of the teachers of PC, which, on the other hand, has hammered the stomachs of full-time teachers of private engineering colleges. Private engineering colleges invite them to take classes so that the performance of their college is appreciable in the final examinations. These teachers take more than twice the money that the colleges pay to their full-time teachers who work fully-dedicated from the morning till evening. They take away most of the credits for the success of the students leaving very little to the full-time teachers. The colleges are happy paying the teachers of PC because by doing so they are not only ensuring the maximum pass percentage in the final examinations but also buying the peace of mind to the management heads of the college. And from the perspective of PC teachers, they are happy to take classes in all the colleges affiliated to TU making more than Rs 1 lakh a month, which, otherwise working within PC only, would confine only to Rs 15 thousands to 20 thousands per month.
I do not intend to air my grievances against the earning opportunities of PC teachers. It is a common ambition of Nepalese to have a house in Kathmandu and to possess a car. It is not for them to blame. It is the outcome of the government’s failure to implement decentralization in country. Earning money per se is not so bad. But once a person grows passion to earn money, he slowly starts neglecting by what means it may come to him. The more means the money flows towards oneself, the better it is. But to become a rich man in a short period of time is not easy without resorting to the unfair means. Some PC teachers, too, have found such means. Their first and the foremost step is to create their demand in the market of private colleges which they play very skillfully.
It is said that a clever miscreant is the one who never breaks the rules but who finds loop-holes in them. The clever teachers of PC, therefore, play the game of ‘Artificial Demand Creation’ (ADC) apparently abiding by the rules of IOE. As the first step of the ADC-game, they prepare question-papers with not sufficient questions for the average students to pass. Some questions are also selected out-of-syllabus which they have usually covered in PC in a lecture or two. No foul has been committed up to this much. There is no such rule as to nab the teacher for asking tough questions or the questions on the topics not covered in private colleges even though they are out-of-syllabus. But this much is not sufficient to win the game. One more step is yet to be played. The main objective of Step Number One is to make as much students of private engineering colleges not to attempt the questions as possible. Before the second move, there are some safety measures to be considered. Step Number Two deals basically with checking answer-papers. While checking the answer-papers it should be kept in mind that no PC students should fail. An exception or two will do. There is a fairly good solution for this. The questions asked out-of-syllabus will be attempted only by the students of PC though most of the answers they give will not be precise. Since the PC students have apparently worked hard by attempting such tough questions - they are awarded full marks - even to those who have simply touched it. Now the time has arrived to move Step Number Two. In this step they check the answer-papers of private engineering students tightly and skew the marks, especially of those who have surpassed the pass-marks by just few marks. After the completion of Step Number Two, almost all the students of PC will have passed and most of the students of private engineering colleges will have failed.
The ADC-game is such a game in which there is only one player and the victory is always certain to its player. After playing the ADC-game the player of the game, the teacher, will be in high demand to the private engineering colleges affiliated to TU. The teacher is then invited by such colleges suffering heavy failures to come over and take classes to the following batch opening for him/her the doors of money making opportunities. This game has been continuously played and will continue to be played until it is out of IOE’s notice. This abominable game should be stopped as soon as possible either by making a rule that no PC teacher should be allowed to teach in TU-affiliated private engineering colleges, or, if it is not possible, it should be made mandatory for all the TU-affiliated private engineering colleges to appoint the PC teachers to teach all the subjects of engineering under a suitable arrangement of IOE.
