BROTHER MURDERS ALL THREE MEMBERS OF HIS YOUNGER BROTHER'S FAMILY AND FLEES

ELDER BROTHER FLEES AFTER MURDERNING ALL THREE FAMILY MEMBERS OF YOUNGER BROTHER IN SARLAHI

Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: An elder brother overnight killed all family members of his younger brother, his wife Sukhara Debi Sah and their child.at a village in Sarlahi
State-owned Radio Nepal reported the gruesome newsbreak in its morning hourly news.
The bodies of the slain younger brother, his pregnant wife and 10-year old child were recovered by police along a riverbed Tuesday morning by police,
The suspected mass murderer is absconding.
One crude pistol and two bullets were recovered from the riverbed. MORE
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60 YAK HERDERS OUT OF CONTACT IN DHADING SINCE FRIDAY

Kathmandu,2 Aug.: More than 60 yak herders are out of contact since three days from north Dhading Tipling-9 VDC after a landslide blocked a road, Annapurna Post reports from Dhadingbeshi.
Villagers are out of touch after a landslide blocked a road at Ghoseni Manevhir Friday night
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DEUBA WINS OVER SUSHIL KOIRALA

Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: The latest political development has caused a stir in the main opposition Nepali Congress, and what party President Sushil Koirala to senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba today [ Monday] could pull the rug from under parliamentary party leader Ramchandra Paudel, Prakash Acharya writes in the Himalayan Times.
Congress senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba. who has been flexing mucles for quite some time to snatch PP leadership from Paudel,today called on Koirala to win his confidence to get himself fielded as the next prime minister.
“Koirala though assured Deuba that he would field the latter as the prime ministerial candidate, he requested Deuba Deuba not to lay claim to the PP leadership,” a highly placed source told this daily seeking anonymity.
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UNPRECEDENTED Rs. 2.5 LAKH SALARY FOR NEW NEA CHIEF
Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: The newly appointed managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Dipendra Nath Sharma will be drawing a monthly salary of Rs 2.5 lakh, The Himalayan Times reports.

The hefty remuneration to Sharma is likely to raise other officials' hackles, and questions are being raised whether NEA would see smooth functioning when there is such a disparity in salary. Sharma's deputy and other high-level officers are drawing a mon thly salary of around Rs 30,000.


A former MD of NEA doubted whether someone with such an extremely handsome salary would get proper support from his staff who do most of the job and are underpaid. According to him, an MD at NEA used to get Rs 39,000 whereas his deputies drew Rs 30,000. The general managers had to be content with Rs 25,000. “How can an organisation function when there is such a huge difference in salary among the staffers," he said.

As per NEA’s organisational structure, there are four deputy managing directors and five general managers who work directly under MD. The Ministry of Energy, however, said it was working out to narrow the gap. "The bylaws will be amended and performance-based incentive will be introduced," said Energy Minister Gokarna Bista.

The newly appointed managing director said he had proposed Rs 1.75 lakh as leadership incentive and Rs 1.25 lakh as performance incentive besides his salary (Rs 39,000), but the ministry agreed to pay him Rs 2.5 lakh. “It has almost been agreed upon,” added Sharma. But Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel said though the ministry was positive on the proposal, it was yet to finalise it. “We are still in negotiation stage and will finalise the issue very soon,” said Paudel.

It is said that Sharma demanded such a hefty amount citing the risk he had to bear by leaving the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, where he was working as the joint secretary. But Sharma said, “I am still a government employee and have not left the job.”

Another former MD, however, told this daily that Minister Bista had asked Sharma to join his ministry as director general of the Department of Electricity Development. "But Sharma was brought to NEA after he refused the earlier proposal," he said. A three-member panel headed by former water resource secretary Suryanath Upadhyay had selected Sharma as the new managing director of NEA.

Sharma, who received his appointment letter today, said, “This is an opportunity for me. I have challenges ahead to fix a troubled organisation."
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MORE ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION NEEDED






Kathmandu, 2 Aug : Educational experts have said that the government’s policy to revamp management of public schools and boost their academic standards with focus on teaching and learning in English medium was positive, Rajesh Dahal writes in The Rising Nepal .
They, however, also suggested that the government should bring a new policy to improve the quality of public school system and its teachers initiating the change in the medium of instruction.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, joint secretary Lekh Nath Poudel of the Education Ministry said that the Education Act had provided rights to the public schools to start teaching and learning in the English medium.
The ministry was also encouraging the public schools to go for English medium instruction to enhance their competitive edge with private schools, he added.
"The public schools have the right adopt English as their medium of instruction, but they need to develop their capabilities for this. They also have the right to choose the Nepali medium," he said.
He said that the ministry brought a new act to improve the quality of public schools but no assistance was forthcoming for them to switch on to English medium teaching and learning.
According to the ministry, more then one dozen public schools of the valley started instruction in the English medium. Similarly, one dozen out of valley public schools also started English medium instruction.
Nepal Parents Association Chairman Shuprabhat Bhandari said that the English medium would promote quality education in the nation but this alone would not suffice in boosting the overall performance of the public schools.
He said that discriminatory education systems in the private and public sectors produced big gaps.
"The private schools have two years’ foundational courses for children before they begin studies in class one. On the other hand, public schools start imparting education from class one and there is no any foundational course prior to that," he said.
He said that the government and, especially MoE, should bring a new policy for public schools, including foundation classes to end the discriminative education systems.
"The medium is not a single problem of school level education. The problems start from the basic level. The private schools have 14 years of educational programs (including two years for foundation and the plus two) while the public schools have 12 academic years. So, school education will not be

qualitative without ending the discriminative education system," he said.
Bhandari said that the English medium would help reform the education system but this alone would make the schools competitive.
National Private and Boarding Schools Association of Nepal (NPABSON) general secretary Ritu Sapkota said that the government should analyze the public demands to start English medium teaching and learning.
He said that the governments should provide assistance to the public schools which started the English medium instruction. He suggested the government would rather do well to study international practices before implementing the policy.
Sapkota said that the government should identify the problems of urban-based public schools and rural-based public schools before starting the English medium teaching and learning.
He said, "The private sector is ready to support the government to implement the English medium teaching-learning project. The government should introduce two years of foundation (pre-primary) courses in public schools to build their capacities for English medium learning. "
Educational expert Surendra Koirala said that the government policy to transform public schools into English medium was positive. He, however, suggested that the MoE should promote English medium teaching-learning in rural areas and out of valley.
He said that the ministry would need to assess the quality of teachers involved in public schools and take further steps to ensure they deliver.
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