SEE Age Limit Dispute Between Ministry and NEB
The National Examination Board has refused to implement the decision of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to remove the provision that students appearing in the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) must have completed 14 years of age.
Highlights
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The Ministry of Education decided on 2078 Chaitra 2 to remove the 14-year minimum age requirement for the SEE exam and formally instructed the National Examination Board (NEB) to implement it.
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NEB has not implemented this decision even after more than four years and still requires students to have completed 14 years of age to sit for SEE.
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A recent NEB notice for SEE 2083 clearly states that students must be 14 years old by the end of Chaitra 2083, which goes against the ministry’s directive.
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The NEB software is set up so that applications from students younger than 14 are automatically rejected.
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Stakeholders say this situation harms capable younger students (often from government schools or those who skipped early grades) and contradicts the ministry’s policy decision.
Stakeholders have said that this has resulted in serious interference with the future of younger students who are ready to sit for the SEE. They have expressed surprise that Mahabir Pun, who became the Minister for Education as a representative figure of the Gen Z generation that emerged from protests demanding good governance, rule of law and an end to corruption, has ignored this issue.
They remarked that Mahabir Pun, who took office as Education Minister as a representative of the Gen Z generation that rose from a movement calling for good governance and an end to corruption, appears to be silent on this matter.
On 2078 Chaitra 2, through a ministerial-level decision, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology directed the National Examination Board, in accordance with sub-section (1) of Section 4 (j) of the Education Act, 2028, to implement from 2078 onwards the provision that the age limit of 14 years would not be maintained for the Grade 10 SEE examination. Although this letter from the ministry was registered at the board on 2078 Chaitra 7, the board has still not implemented the decision even after more than four years.
The Examination Control Office, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur, under the National Examination Board, had published a notice on Kartik 19 regarding filling out the registration form to be included in the Secondary Education Examination Grade 10 (SEE) 2083. In clause number three of that notice, it is clearly stated that students who filled out the registration form in 2082 to be included in the SEE 2083 must have completed 14 years of age by the end of Chaitra 2083. The board’s action has been taken as a direct violation of the ministry’s decision.
However, Education Minister Pun, serving in a government formed in response to the Gen Z generation’s call for good governance, appears to be unaware of this issue. A stakeholder stated that the board has treated his simplicity as a weakness and, by publishing a notice contrary to the ministry’s decision, has not only tried to pull the minister into controversy but has also seriously interfered with the future of students sitting for the SEE.
Through a letter signed by Geeta Sharma, Section Officer at the Ministry of Education, the board was informed about the age limit for the Secondary Education Examination on 2078 Chaitra 5, and the board received this letter on 2078 Chaitra 7. However, it has been found that the examination board has still not implemented the ministry’s decision.
Until a few years ago, there was a provision that students had to have completed 16 years of age to sit for the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination. To meet this age requirement, diligent students used to increase their age when filling out the examination form. As a result, the recorded age of many students became inaccurate and did not match their citizenship documents, creating administrative complications that still persist. After this, the age limit was removed and brought down to 14 years.
In private schools, due to class systems such as playgroup, LKG, UKG and Grades 1 and 2, it was calculated that students would reach 14 years of age by the time they sat for the SEE. In government schools, however, there is no such system.
Because of this, it has been reported that students enrolled in government schools can reach the stage of taking the SEE earlier than students who are admitted from the beginning in private schools. One stakeholder said, “Capable and fast-learning students who skipped levels such as playgroup, nursery, LKG and UKG and enrolled directly in higher grades reached Grade 10 by the age of 13. But the 14-year age limit prevented them from participating in the SEE, so the Ministry of Education decided on 2078 Chaitra 2 to remove that age limit and sent the decision to the examination board for implementation.”
However, the examination board has still not implemented that decision and is running software that maintains the requirement that students wishing to participate in the SEE must have completed 14 years of age.
That software has been configured not to accept applications from students who have not yet reached 14 years of age. As a result, the stakeholder has accused the examination board and the ministry of seriously interfering with the future of students sitting for the SEE.
