Monday, 14 April 2014
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
IELTs to be taken in Delhi
KATHMANDU, APR 02 - Hundreds of Nepali students are compelled to travel to India spending thousands of rupees to take International English Language Testing System (IELTS), a popular English proficiency test, due to lack of adequate quotas.
A significant rise in the number of students opting for overseas studies has shot up the demand of English tests--one of the requisites for admission into popular academic destinations in Australia, USA and UK.
According to Suchita Shrestha, MarComms and Learning Centre Manager at British Council, the sole body responsible for IELTS in the country, all the dates for the test are full till September.
This has left those opting for June/July intake in trouble. Education Consultancy Association Nepal (ECAN) estimates 200 students, who are planning for June/July intake, have been flying out to India, mainly Delhi, every fortnight for the tests.
"It's an unnecessary burden for us," said Sachdev Basnet, an MBA graduate, who is going to India for IELTS next week. For a test which could be completed for Rs 13,800 in Nepal, Basnet explained, a candidate will have to spend around Rs 50,000, including travel and accommodation costs and exam fee in India.
Those who are unwilling to travel to India will have to wait for January/February intake, according to ECAN officials. The volume of students taking IELTS has gone up by 80 percent this year compared to the previous year, said Shrestha. "The target of around 17,000 we set for April 2013 to March 2014 was achieved in six months by October 2013." The British Council conducts three tests a month, with around 1,000 students taking it in a single sitting. Ram Chandra Poudel of ECAN explained the number for IELTS candidates has soared as prospective students for Australia has shot up this year.
The Ministry of Education record shows more than 17,000 students have taken No Objection Certification (NOC) letter in the past eight months; out of them 9,000 are for Australia alone.
"The British Council has declined to increase quotas despite our repeated requests," Poudel lamented. He said an ECAN team will be urging the IDP in India to resume its service in Nepal to allow more students to take the test. The IDP (Australia) had been running IELTS tests in Nepal for a decade before closing its service last year.
Posted on: 2014-04-02 08:34
Kantipur Daily
PARIS (FRANCE), APR 02 - Among various stolen artifacts bearing historical and cultural significance of the country, two statues dating back to 12th and 13th centuries have been gathering dust at museums in Paris . And although two decades have passed since the government of France realised the statues were stolen and approached Nepali authorities with an intention to return them, the government of Nepal has yet to take significant steps to retrieve the artifacts. Of the two statues, the 12th century stone statue of Lord Vishnu standing between goddess Laxmi and Garuda was reportedly stolen from Chyasalhiti, Patan towards the end of 1970s, while the 13th century statue of Shiva-Uma perched atop Kailash Parbat was stolen from Nasamna Tole, Bhaktapur on the night of May 23, 1984.
Both statues have been gathering dust at the storage facility in Musée Guimet museum in Paris . The museum had removed the statues from public display after receiving proofs from historian, Late Lain Singh Bangdel who spotted the statues while on a trip toParis , that the statues were stolen.
“We have been ready to return the statues ever since we were informed that the statues were stolen,” said chief curator of the Nepal-Tibet section at the museum, Natalie Bazin. The Department of Archaeology in Nepal had forwarded a letter requesting the return of the statues in 2000. However, as there were certain official procedures to be followed, Bazin believed that the Nepal government could not prioritise the matter due to political turmoil.
However, refuting the claims made by the museum, Ambassador to France Mohan Krishna Shrestha said they did not have any knowledge about what happened earlier but now that the museum had made its intentions clear, they were waiting for an official letter of intent from the museum to speed up the process to return the statues home.
Meanwhile, the museum has stated its plans to return the statues after organising a grand exhibition displaying artifacts related to Nepal in 2016, which coincides with the 50-year anniversary since the first exhibition of Nepali artifacts was held in Paris during the visit of the Late King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah. Bazin reasoned that as the statues had been on display in the museum since decades, it was essential for the French to know why they were being returned.
Posted on: 2014-04-02 08:36
Posted on: 2014-04-02 08:36
Kantipur Daily
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