The Vice Chancellor of Tribhuvan University, Prof. Dr. Kesharjung Baral, has called on political parties to cease deploying their associated student and employee organizations within the education sector. During a session of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee in the House of Representatives on Thursday, Baral emphasized that the extensive participation of political fraternal associations is causing disruptions in university activities.
"There are student, staff and faculty organizations of every political party and I have to deal with them every single day," Baral stated. "Fraternal organizations were necessary in the past during the Panchayat era, but now it is time for parties to rethink the utility of such groups in educational institutions."
The VC asserted that Tribhuvan University will be run in an impartial manner without favoring any political interests. However, he accepted that implementing a full academic calendar has been challenging due to excessive political interference on campus.
"As many parties as there are student bodies, staff unions and faculty associations, they keep showing up with their demands. Most of our time gets stuck in dealing with them," Baral explained. "We must stop unnecessarily mobilizing these fraternal organizations. It is impeding our efforts to follow an academic calendar and conduct examinations properly."
Baral revealed that there have been cases where professors had to work under the supervision of junior lecturers due to influential political connections, creating an unhealthy environment. "It is difficult to implement the calendar system at the university until it is freed from such politicization. But we will still try our best," he stated.
The VC also raised concerns about foreign colleges affiliated with international universities operating in Nepal without proper monitoring or quality control mechanisms in place. He stressed the need to establish regulations to oversee their activities.
Baral acknowledged that Tribhuvan University has not been able to introduce new courses aligning with current market demands but assured that this issue would be addressed going forward. He said implementing an academic calendar is not just limited to Tribhuvan University, but will also involve coordinating examination schedules like the SEE and those of other universities in the country.
