Students In Dilemma

Like every year, this time too, Nepal celebrated its National Education Day on Asoj 2. And generally, on this day, the government also distributes Nepal Bidhyabhushan, prestigious medals, under different categories. The medals are presented to the students who have topped their respective faculties. It is distributed with the purpose of motivating students and encouraging more excellent results from the students belonging to undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD levels. 

But over the last five years, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has failed to distribute the awards. This year too, there was a state of confusion until the eleventh hour.  The ministry issued the name list of medal recipients on the National Education Day. But it has postponed the task of awarding the students for an indefinite time. A shortage of financial resources has been cited as the reason for that. Apparently, the ministry currently has only Rs. 6 million, but it requires as much as Rs. 600 million to distribute the medals. As the deserving students have also not been felicitated for some years, the list of students to be awarded has increased significantly.  Now, there are around 900 plus students who are eligible for the award. For the year 2080 B.S. itself, the ministry has collected a list of 300 students.

The ministry does not talk about discontinuing the practice of medial distribution and releases the names of the students annually. It has stated that it would organise a medal-awarding ceremony at some later time on any education-related occasion. There are a number of discussions on this matter. One of it being whether the award should be given out in the future or not. Some educational experts have opined that the government should stay within its budgetary limits. They have suggested that such events should not be held if it does not have adequate resources means to do so. 

Others have stated that instead of using gold and silver metals for the medal, it could switch to some other metals that are comparatively cost-effective. And there are also criticisms on how the government has the means and resources to spend on unproductive and unnecessary areas, but not to felicitate its own citizens. The ministry in itself has even stated that it may just provide certificates, in case it cannot manage necessary budget. It has also forwarded suggestion to amend its medial distribution directives, saying either certificate or both medal and certificate could be provided in the upcoming Bidhyabhushan distribution event.

Amidst these confusions and lack of immediate decision making, the prestigious award has been in credit for many students. National-level award distribution is a matter of big prestige for the students and quite an encouragement as well. However, it is little embarrassing to see how the ministry has continued collecting applications for the medal, with no concrete direction. There must be clarity on the part of government’s actions.

In the case where the government is not able to carry out these events, it might be good to discontinue with them. It should not be giving the students a hope and false sense of excitement. 

It should also stop putting itself in a burdensome situation, as taking more applications, i.e., a rising number of awardees. Because the tradition of this prestigious award has continued for a long time now, if it can, it should think of proper alternatives that can be adopted to carry out the current event, without much pressure.